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Should I take the GRE?

Should I take the GRE?

This is a question that mostly all pre-PAs face at one point or another. Should you take the GRE? Is it a waste of time and money, or does it open up more program doors that you want? Will you do well for it to be helpful? Should you take one of the new exams that are coming out? All valid questions. I will try to methodically guide you through these in the list below.

1. Reasons to take the GRE

First, you need to have a general list of where you genuinely want to go to PA school. If you need help with this, see the blog titled, “How to choose your PA program” and put your stats into myPAbox. Once you have your list, personally I say if there is even one school that you really want to go to that requires it and you qualify in all other senses, I would just take it. It’s a drop in the bucket of the many prep items you do. But make sure you qualify in the non-GRE related aspects, and that this is actually a program you are fairly interested in.

2. Reasons to not take the GRE

If you do not have any schools you are interested in going to that require it, the answer is no. There is no need to take it to “look good” – it will do nothing if it is not required. If a school or two requires it and you aren’t very interested in that program, then you need to weigh that to see if those programs are worth taking it for, or if you are okay removing them from your list. Finally, if you have a program(s) on your list that requires the GRE but you are also missing other required aspects, that would be another reason to reconsider not necessarily taking the exam for that program. Given you have several other aspects you would need to acquire, above all you need to make sure you meet these minimum requirements.

3. Getting a good score

Another worry lies in ones GRE performance. As a general rule of thumb, you should aim for a score above 300. If you get below a 300 that is not the end of the world, just make sure you are above the programs required minimum score. That would be the only reason to retake the GRE, if your score is below the required threshold (if the program even has a required threshold). If you want tips on how to study and perform better on the GRE, see the blog titled “How to score well on the GRE”.

4. Other exams?

In general, the other pre-PA exams you may be asked to take aside from the GRE include Casper and the PAcat. Casper is a situational judgement test, essentially an ethical based exam that some schools ask for. The PA-CAT is essentially the MCAT for PA school. Neither of these are super common, and have not been unanimously rolled out at this point. Check with your programs that may require these on if there is any minimum score they are requiring.

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