Web Editor’s Note: This story was written for the MCOMM 3309 – News Editing & Reporting Class
In order to better serve their students and prepare them for the job force, many graduate programs at WT have decided to eliminate their GRE requirement.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all admittance process,” Cheree Burleson, Graduate School admissions coordinator, said. “For example, the social work program said that the GRE doesn’t tell anything they needed to know about the students.”
In some fields, she explained, such as art, music, agriculture and technical design, the GRE is not necessarily a fair representation of how a student will perform. “The subtests really did not help predict who will be a good clinician,” Dr. Larry Barnes, graduate advisor for Communication Disorders, said.
While for some majors, aspects of the GRE as especially important – the mathematics section for an engineering major, for example – how an art student performs on the math section of the GRE is not representative of their abilities in a particular field.
“We decided that we didn’t think the GRE really provided us with a sense of how someone would do in Social Work graduate work, so that is why we decided not to use it,” Dr. Mo Cuevas, Social Work graduate advisor, said. “We use [their] GPA from undergraduate work, references and an essay for admittance into the program.”
The response thus far has been favorable.
“We now have a larger amount of students applying, who before had low GRE scores, but still had the potential of being a good clinician,” Barnes said. “The new students coming in based on the new criteria are better suited than those admitted on just GRE and GPA…We definitely [are admitting] higher quality students.”
However, getting into these programs still requires an effort. The new requirements will force students to be more skilled in their field, and they will have to prove it.
“Potential students are evaluated on areas related directly to their chosen field,” Dr. Benjamin Brooks, graduate advisor for the Department of Music, said “For example, a potential Master of Arts student hoping to pursue music composition will submit a portfolio of works with recordings, transcripts, and a letter of intent.”
The Graduate School advises students interested in applying for a program to contact their office to see if taking the GRE is necessary. The Graduate School can also inform students of what the admittance process will entail and how to be prepared.
