The PIBS training community is holding a Town Hall to discuss the possibility of no longer utilizing the GRE General Test in the admissions process for our 14 Ph.D. programs.
Follow the conversation on Twitter with #PIBStalksGRE and see the description below for resources and written statements from current U-M Faculty on both sides of the issue.
——-
Over the past few years, an increasing number of education studies, editorials, and journalistic pieces have questioned the GRE as a tool for graduate admissions. (http://bit.ly/PIBStalksGRE_background)
The reasons fall into three main categories:
(1) doubts about the value of the GRE as a predictor of success in grad school and beyond;
(2) concerns that GRE scores are skewed based on the sex, race, and socioeconomic status of the student; and
(3) the potentially prohibitive or discouraging cost of the exam, and unequal access to test facilities and high-quality test-prep resources.
Currently, GRE General Test scores are required in all applications to PIBS. We do not have an official “cutoff” score, below which applications are not considered, though the individual program-specific admissions committees within PIBS are free to use the GRE in any way, including as an official or unofficial cutoff. The Rackham Graduate School does not require U-M grad programs to collect GRE scores, and does not make a specific recommendation for their use, except to recommend that cutoffs not be used (http://www.rackham.umich.edu/faculty-staff/information-for-programs/resources-for-recruiters/holistic-review-of-applications). NIH T32 training grants, NRSA fellowships, and NSF GRFPs no longer require GRE scores.
Last month PIBS Director, Dr. Scott Barolo, raised this issue with the PIBS faculty and staff, and asked volunteers to form “pro” and “con” teams and write brief “white papers” presenting the best arguments for, or against, the use of the GRE, which you can read here: http://bit.ly/PIBStalksGRE
——
Twitter: https://twitter.com/umpibs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UMPiBS
Web: https://medicine.umich.edu/medschool/education/phd-programs
source
