Importance of GRE?

[smizuki]

I am debating whether to take the GRE in November or in February. If I am not satisfied with my score if I were to take it in November, would it look bad to take it again in February? Also, I know every school is different, but is there a general consensus on the level of importance of one's GRE score relative to the rest of the application?

[d3t3rm1n3d]

It honestly depends on the school.

[TK2S]

It depends on the school, but the all around person concept is something to be focused on. People want to know why do you want to be a PA...honestly. How well are you prepared to handle the academic load. If your study skills are weak or mediocre, do something to show yoursellf (thus ultimately the PA admissions) that you can handle the academic load (But don't be afraid, just be determined). Mastering the GRE could indicate how well you can process information quickly and succinctly and take an examination. Because there are a LOT of exams in PA school. A retake should not be bad unless you did nothing different, a retake can indicate how well you recover or how quickly can you adapt, and also resilience. What you do before PA school and practice can be a learning experience to prevent from causing harm to a patient (thus being the best provider you can be).

What else?...Again the overall person... Do something to show that you work well in a medical environment.

[just_me]

Yep depends on the schools. Many set minimums: no lower than xx in each section or no lower than xxxx combined and well it doesnt matter at all to programs that do not require it.

[GingersHuman]

I would take it in November, just in case you want to retake it in February. It's always good to leave that option open! Plenty of people retake the GRE. Two times is different than five times, however!!! :)

[lancer_dancer01]

The main program that I wanted to attend didn't require the GRE so I never took it. This made me apply to other schools that didn't require the GRE as well as back up in case I didn't get into my top choice. In the end I was accepted to my top choice. If I wouldn't have been accepted I was planning on taking the GRE next spring but now I don't have to.

[sartort]

I could be wrong because I only took it once, but I thought they just changed it so you could select which scores you sent to schools now. If that's the case, you could just send the best ones. It usually only looks bad if you do worse is my understanding.

[harvey]

You can definitely pick which scores you send to schools now so take it multiple times if you think you will improve!!

[nobat]

What is the requirement of Foreign Medical Graduate to apply for physician assistant program?

[Mordechai]

I have not taken the GRE and was accepted into 4 of the 7 programs I applied to. One of which told me to take it before school starts and to try to do my best, though it won't affect my acceptance. They are studying the correlation between success in their students and their GRE scores.

[Bryce83]

I agree that it totally depends on the school. I took the GRE because some of the schools I applied to required students to get a satisfactory score. The requirement comes from the graduated school not from the PA program from my understanding so just do your best. Talk of my score never came up in the interviews.

[DoTheEvolution]

67 percent of GRE takers did better than me on math, and I didn't do math in college (one College Algebra course was all), but I excelled in math in high school. ... It depends on the school, but my opinion is that the GRE math matters less than the verbal and analytical writing portion. We don't need pre-calc skills to be a good PA; we do need good comprehension, writing and analytical skills, however. Frankly, I was annoyed by having to take the GRE. It shows very little, in my strong opinion, in our abilities to handle the rigors of PA school. Something like an MCAT-lite exam would be much more relevant.

[Swarley]

Refer to the "Ask a PA Admissions Director" thread in the Pre-PA forum. He states a competitive GRE score is 301. I think he said you need to score above 50% in math and verbal. The essay may or may not matter to the school.

Do you have schools in mind? Check their incoming class stats to determine the score they prefer (if they don't post it in their admissions requirements).