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February 18, 2013 2:06 PM

GRE scores are supposedly valid for five years after the testing year in which you tested. Such is the case with the GMAT and LSAT also. MCAT scores are valid for 2-3 years. My question is, has anyone ever had to retake a test because their scores were too old, even though the scores hadn't reached their "expiration date"? Has anyone encountered an academic / grad admissions department that encouraged a test retake because previous scores weren't fresh / recent enough? (Admitters and admittees are both welcome to respond.)
posted by ditto75 to Education (4 answers total)

When I caught a wild hair and thought about a return to law school, the schools I was inquiring with advised that they would take scores as old as five years, up to 10 with other circumstances (i.e. was in school during that time and I would have to pay an additional fee for using an old test score), but most of the schools also said that they would weigh their preferences to newer test scores.
posted by banannafish at 2:20 PM on February 18, 2013

It depends on your field. For Ph.D. science admissions (which I'm most familiar with, and which my department is in the midst of), test scores (and even GPA) are qualifiers. You meet the minimum, and then above that, it doesn't really matter. I would guess that borderline cases they might look at how old the score is. I can't imagine that they would throw an application with a 5-year-old score in the trash, but there's a lot of subjectivity, like, "Well, his GPA isn't great, but he does have a good GRE... oh, but it's 4.5 years old. Let's waitlist him."

So for me, it's quibbling over a qualifier; only important if everything else is borderline. Letters and research experience are much more important.
posted by supercres at 2:20 PM on February 18, 2013

A friend of mine recently applied to med school and re-took the MCAT because his scores were a couple years old. Pretty important, from what he said, for med schools.
posted by DoubleLune at 2:48 PM on February 18, 2013

Not graduate tests, but I have friends who had to retake the SAT after taking it for placement testing before 10th grade. The scores were still valid (I'm pretty sure they last up to five years) but the colleges they were applying to wanted the scores to be more recent.
posted by obviousresistance at 7:56 PM on February 18, 2013