The role of the GRE in graduate admissions is being intensely debated, both within SPH and at our peer institutions. There are compelling and countervailing arguments regarding its necessity and impact on biasing admissions to the disadvantage of underrepresented populations. The observational data advanced to support both sides of the argument have limitations. In Fall 2019, the Divisions of Epidemiology and Biostatistics both embedded a randomized GRE score redaction study into their admissions process to attempt to answer a simple question, one that sidesteps the fraught debate about the qualities of the test itself: does seeing GRE scores have an impact on how applications are evaluated? Both studies came to the same conclusion: applicant scores and rankings were essentially unchanged regardless of whether or not committee members saw or did not see a GRE score as part of the application. Based on this evidence, along with the fact that GRE access and administration is likely to be problematic this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are proposing that the School of Public Health eliminate the GRE as a requirement across all programs in the upcoming Fall 2020 admissions season. The elimination of the GRE requirement would be a one-year pilot, and we intend to collect additional data and re-evaluate this policy in Spring 2021. In this webinar, we will describe our experiments, findings, and recommendations, and provide ample opportunity for additional questions and discussion.

Join the webinar: https://umn.zoom.us/j/94179998795
Webinar ID: 941 7999 8795
Telephone: Dial: +1 651 372 8299