The future of graduate admissions is being redefined as the “GRExit” movement takes hold. Admissions programs at universities around the state and country are becoming increasingly lenient about the requirement of standardized test scores from their applicants. While each institution decides its own set of standards, the historically large focus on standardized tests for evaluating students is starting to be left behind. With greater considerations for student success in graduate school, it becomes a question of effectively predicting which applicants will contribute the most, according to Peter Harries, interim dean of The Graduate School.
“First of all, it’s designing an application that captures what you think is needed,” Harries said. “Looking at them holistically, what you think they add to the program, what they bring that the program doesn’t have, and considering them in the broader perspective of the program’s goals.”
Standardized tests are becoming less emphasized because recent research has shown them to be poor measures of a student’s true capacity. A 2017 journal article concluded, “admissions committees of biomedical doctoral programs should consider minimizing their reliance on GRE scores to predict the important measures of progress in the program and student productivity.”
Other factors considered include the varying levels of success across different ethnic groups and how related socioeconomic factors leave them at a competitive disadvantage in admissions.
The use of alternative measurements such as quotas, minimum cutoff scores or other methods immediately removes a portion of qualified candidates who would be better considered holistically, Harries said.
“We want to bring in people who we think can be successful,” Harries said. “Graduate education is expensive, and not everyone is cut out for a Ph.D. program. A lot of people have never had that intimate experience with having to generate their own ideas and research and find it daunting.”
Harries said when selecting students for a certain program, The Graduate School looks at the students’ self-reported experiences and successes and the pool’s overall strengths, weaknesses and perspectives.
“I think admissions has become more competitive,” said Miles Calzini, a second-year graduate student in chemistry. “I think it brings a better group of students because we get more applicants. More people are applying because they don’t have to submit a standardized test.”
According to Harries, every eight years, each graduate program is externally reviewed at State to ensure the curriculum is up-to-date and there is diverse recruiting.
“We bring in a third party just to look at the program, to look at each program and say, ‘Is this program doing what it should?’” Harries said.
Currently, NC State has 220 graduate programs and 19 don’t require an entrance exam.
