“The Environmental and Ocean Sciences Graduate Program at the University of San Diego welcomes diverse, innovative, and intellectually engaged students. We believe that diversity and inclusivity are great drivers of research and discovery. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) has not only been found to be a very poor indicator of success in graduate school, but has a significant bias against underrepresented groups (click here for more information and references).
The Environmental and Ocean Sciences Graduate Program will therefore no longer consider GRE scores for admission decisions. Applicants should not request that GRE scores be sent to USD or self-report GRE scores with their application.”
Super excited that my department unanimously approved my motion to dump the GRE from our graduate program. UNANIMOUSLY. This is so heartening. Don’t get me wrong - I did well on the GRE, and those scores undoubtedly helped me get where I am today. But I also think it is responsible for some of the inequities in academia. Also, it is kind of lame.
There are a lot of ways in which the GRE fails, but the short version is that it is a poor predictor of success, by most metrics you would want to use. Worse, this poor predictor is also biased against underrepresented and low income applicants. I wrote a little more about it on our department website. There is lots more work to be done, of course, to create fairer holistic ways to admit students, but I am glad to be able to join the growing number of graduate programs who have joined #GRExit!