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Faculty Perception of the GRE as a Graduate Admission Requirement

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 5: Graduate Student Experience and Decision-Making

Tagged Division

Graduate Studies Division (GSD)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43697

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/43697

Download Count

108

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Paper Authors

biography

Animesh Paul University of Georgia

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Animesh was born in Tripura, India, and raised in a liberal modern “brown” military upbringing. He prefers the pronouns “He/They” and considers himself a creative, sanguine, and outgoing individual. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Technology focusing on Electronics and Electrical Engineering from KIIT University. He is now a part of the Engineering Education Transformation Institute as a Ph.D. student under the advisement of Dr. Racheida Lewis. His research is in Engineering Education, focusing on equity, inclusion in the classroom, and easing student transition to the workforce catering to STEM graduates.

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Deborah Moyaki University of Georgia Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0009-0005-7441-0306

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Deborah Moyaki is a doctoral student in the Engineering Education and Transformative Practice program at the University of Georgia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Educational Technology and is excited about the possibilities technology offers to the learning experience beyond the formal classroom setting. Her research focuses on improving the educational experience of engineering students using virtual reality labs and other emerging technologies.

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John Ray Morelock University of Georgia Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8043-5060

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Dr. Morelock is an Assistant Professor of Practice with an emphasis on engineering education research, and the Associate Director of Educational Innovation and Impact for UGA's Engineering Education Transformations Institute (EETI). In addition to coordinating EETI’s faculty development programming, Dr. Morelock conducts research on institutional change via faculty development, with an emphasis on innovative ways to cultivate and evaluate supportive teaching and learning networks in engineering departments and colleges. He received his doctoral degree in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where he was a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. His dissertation studied the teaching practices of engineering instructors during game-based learning activities, and how these practices affected student motivation.

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Racheida S. Lewis University of Georgia Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-1934-3199

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Racheida S. Lewis, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia in the Engineering Education Transformations Institute (EETI) and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Lewis believes in creating a diverse engineering field and strives to do so through connecting with teaching, and mentoring future engineers. She has devoted her life to this mission through her leadership and lifetime membership in the National Society of Black Engineers. Ultimately, Dr. Lewis aspires to bridge together research and pedagogy within the academy to improve engineering education within the field and across disciplines.

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Abstract

Over the last few decades, high standardized test scores, particularly the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), have been one of the crucial requirements for graduate admissions. Scholars have debated whether standardized tests serve as an equitable requirement for all students, considering their reflection of demographic characteristics of students unrelated to their intellectual capacity. The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 revived interest in this discussion, as students could not visit testing facilities to complete these exams and had minimal resources to take them home. Higher education institutions, considering the limitations, began to waive the standardized test requirement or list test scores as optional. However, institutions are still deciding if they should keep the GRE as a requirement or remove the requirement permanently. While there is research and comparative studies on the correlation between standardized test scores and students' performance in graduate school, there is little or no research on faculty's perception of standardized tests as a graduate admission requirement. However, faculty serve as admission committee members and eventually work as mentors and advisors for graduate students; therefore, their perceptions of the GRE will be crucially influential in determining the future of this test for graduate school admissions.

This study describes faculty perceptions of the GRE in the context of the engineering graduate (MS Thesis and Doctoral Programs) admission process, considering the lessons learned during the height of COVID-19. Participants in this study are engineering faculty members at a public Southeastern R1 institution in the United States. Quantitative data employing the 5-point Likert scale and qualitative data employing open-ended questions were collected using an online survey. The survey assessed participants' perceptions of the GRE's reliability, relevance, inclusivity, and equitable standards as a graduate admission requirement. These data were analyzed to answer the following questions: (1) How do faculty members perceive the importance of the GRE for admission to MS Thesis and Doctoral programs? (2) How do faculty members' perceptions of the GRE differ across faculty groups (Tenure, discipline, race, ethnicity, gender)?

In this paper, we present data on the percentage of faculty that think the GRE should no longer be a requirement for graduate admissions considering equitable access and the changing atmosphere around student recruitment and retention. We further present findings on the significant difference in perceptions of faculty based on tenure, discipline, race, ethnicity, and gender. We discuss the implications of these results for making graduate programs all-inclusive and accessible while contributing to existing research on standardized tests and diversity in graduate admissions.

Paul, A., & Moyaki, D., & Morelock, J. R., & Lewis, R. S. (2023, June), Faculty Perception of the GRE as a Graduate Admission Requirement Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43697

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