I coordinate the master's degree program in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Western Kentucky University. Over the last two years I have become increasingly interested in selection criteria and their role in decisions regarding students who want to pursue graduate study in Student Affairs. It is my understanding that most graduate schools use the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as a component in their admission processes. In the eight years that I have been teaching graduate-level courses, however, I have found little connection between the quality of work exhibited by students and their GRE scores. Further, many students with somewhat low GRE scores have gone on to become quite successful in the Student Affairs profession.

In recent years, many colleges and universities have begun to re-evaluate their graduate programs in terms of accountability and overall quality. One of the strategies frequently employed in an effort to enhance perceived "quality" has been to raise admissions standards; i.e., raising the minimum undergraduate GPA and/or the minimum Combined GRE score required to gain admission to a particular graduate program. Philosophically, this practice has several implications that warrant further scrutiny. For example, how does raising minimum admissions requirements affect the institution's ability to attract students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds?

The December 1995 issue of Psychological Reports contains an article I wrote entitled, "Observed differences in Graduate Record Examination scores and mean undergraduate grade point averages by gender and race among students admitted to a master's degree program in college student affairs." That article examines the undergraduate GPA and GRE scores of every student admitted to the master's degree program in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Western Kentucky University during a 10-year period. (I refer to this article in a letter I wrote to The Chronicle of Higher Education in November 1997.

Specifically, the GRE scores and undergraduate GPAs were examined for 218 students admitted to the program from August 1985 through May 1995. Analysis of Variance revealed that men and women did not differ significantly on their GRE scores, although the women had a mean undergraduate GPA that was significantly higher than that of the men. Moreover, significant differences in both GRE scores and undergraduate GPA were found when applicants were grouped according to race. Finally, the Pearson product-moment correlation between scores on the GRE and undergraduate GPAs was statistically significant, but too weak to be of any practical value.

These findings seem to support the notion that use of the GRE as an admission criterion for college student affairs graduate programs may be problematic and warrants further scrutiny. Widespread use of the GRE only underscores the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the test's relative strengths and weaknesses when used predictively.

Establishing higher cut-off scores on the GRE for admission to graduate programs in Student Affairs is not an effective way to enhance the quality of those programs. Such an administrative practice indicates a severe lack of understanding of both the nature of quality and the personal characteristics needed for success in Student Affairs work. In reality, raising minimum GRE scores only serves to restrict access from individuals who are capable of succeeding in the profession and making significant contributions to its future. As a profession and as a society, we have simply got to get away from this type of unjustified overreliance on test scores.

Anyway, I am interested in pursuing this line of inquiry on a broader scale. I am particularly interested in your reactions and recommendations as they relate to further research into the viability of using the GRE as a key component in graduate school admissions decisions. If you have any ideas, suggestions, recommendations, or if you would just like to receive a copy of the research article which appeared in Psychological Reports, report mentioned above, please contact me.