****Attention Program Advisors and Admissions Officers for Graduate Programs******
Due to recent changes in the Graduate Record Examination, adjustment to interpretations of test scores is necessary. Information about the revised Graduate Record Examination and concordance tables with regard to the ‘old’ Graduate Record Examination is available at the ETS website: http://www.ets.org/gre/institutions/scores/interpret/
The Rules Committee of the Graduate Council understands the need to keep the evaluation of applications moving smoothly during this period of transition. The following passage states the proposed changes from the Rules Committee for use of the new scoring system of the GRE.
While the changes have not been approved by the Full Graduate Council, the Rules Committee encourages admissions directors to use these rules for guiding admissions decisions in the interim. If you have any questions, please contact the Office Graduate Studies and Research [270-745-2446].
Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
The GRE General Test measures the verbal and quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills. If required by the program the student is applying to, standardized test scores must be received by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research prior to admission. In these cases, the admission decision will be based upon the undergraduate transcript, the GRE score, and other materials required by the program to which the student is applying.
Registration materials for the GRE and GMAT are available at the Counseling and Testing Center, the Office of Graduate Studies and Research, http://www.gre.org, or http://www.gmat.org, or by calling 1 (800) 473-2255.
If a student has a master's degree from an accredited institution in a field of study related to the desired program, the student may request that the completed master's degree be considered as a substitute for the GRE General Test. Each department has the discretion to approve this exception to the GRE requirement. Depending on the program, some admissions decisions are based upon the undergraduate grade point average, the GRE General Test score minimums (139 on the Verbal and 139 on the Quantitative), a minimum undergraduate GPA of 2.7 and the GAP score. The GAP score is the sum of the GRE Verbal & Quantitative scores times the overall undergraduate grade point average.
For example, a GRE score of 278 (139 on Verbal + 139 on Quantitative) and a grade average of 3.5/4.0 would produce a GAP score of 1,022. It is important to note that GRE scores in each area must be at the minimums or above. In the previous example, a 130 on the Verbal section and a 150 on the Quantitative section would disqualify admission regardless of the GAP score calculated. Because GAP is a product of both the GRE score and undergraduate grade point average, both the GRE and transcript record are essential for making an admission decision. The GRE General Test also includes a writing component; some programs have established a minimum Analytical Writing score requirement.
Programs requiring a GAP score require a minimum of 790, although individual degree programs may be higher. Previous graduate course work does not have any bearing on admission requirements, i.e., GAP score calculation.
