[white.1917]

Our Graduate Studies Committee is currently considering whether to continue using the GRE as an admissions requirement, and we’d like to hear from programs that have had or are in the process of having this discussion. These are the main things we would like to know:

Have you dropped or considered discontinuing the use of GRE scores as an admission requirement?
-Why did you consider dropping the GRE?
-If you have reached a decision, which arguments did your faculty find most compelling?
-Did you have any studies or internal data that you used to make that decision?
If you have dropped your GRE requirement, have you noticed any differences in:
-Number of applicants
-Number of applications from underrepresented minorities
-Quality of applicants

I can answer the first set of questions for our program. We are having this discussion because some members of our Graduate Studies Committee are compelled by the current movement to discontinue the use of GRE scores because they believe that the use of GRE scores can unfairly disadvantage otherwise admissible students. Resistance to dropping the GRE comes from losing a data point that can help highlight the current strengths of students whose GPA or other factors don’t adequately convey their current ability, and because other components of the application packet (e.g. letters of recommendation, completed research opportunities) are highly subjective and depend on things like the student’s access to extracurricular opportunities. The strongest arguments in favor of discontinuing the use of the GRE have been that the GRE scores don’t convey enough useful additional information to determine a student’s potential success in our program to justify making every applicant pay for the test, study for it, drive to a testing center, sit for the test, etc.

Please share thoughts from your program so that we can learn from what’s going on across the university.

• This topic was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by white.1917.

[ash.33]

Taylor–Good questions. Here’s what EEOB has to report:
Have you dropped or considered discontinuing the use of GRE scores as an admission requirement? Yes
-Why did you consider dropping the GRE? The only portions some faculty felt useful was either Analytic or Quantitative but none felt it predictive of success and found coursework and fieldwork experience much more valuable
-If you have reached a decision, which arguments did your faculty find most compelling? Far too costly for non-predictive results; Graduate School elimination
-Did you have any studies or internal data that you used to make that decision?
If you have dropped your GRE requirement, have you noticed any differences in:
-Number of applicants dramatic increase from past 2 years (almost double last year’s applicants and 50% more than 2 years ago) without sacrificing quality!
-Number of applications from underrepresented minorities dramatic increase—now almost 1/3 applications represented a minority group.
-Quality of applicants—we actually had a stellar group of applicants –across the board! We were very excited to see the increase in applicant diversity and we are glad we made this decision!

Also, I will note our Enrichment fellowship success rate has greatly decrease since this Graduate School decision though and I’m wondering if other departments are experiencing similar results?

[galley.4]

Hi all,

Thanks for starting this thread and contributing. My department is also considering this matter, so it is very timely.

Corey, regarding your response re: EEOB’s experience, I have a couple questions:

1) what is your typical applicant pool like in terms of domestic vs. international applicants? is the growth in applicants mostly domestic, international, or both?

2) for my department in the College of Engineering, an applicant’s previous institution and whether the program is accredited is a consideration (we require GRE for those not coming from an accredited program). Is this a consideration for your program?

Thanks,
Dina

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