M. B. Weissman
The usefulness of GRE scores
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
many us physics departments considering dropping use graduate record examinations gres making admissions decisions see example commentary alexander rudolph physics today june 2019 page 10 concerned exams contribute professions nonrepresentative demographics american physical society aps panel public affairs looking adopting similar position decisions may influenced widely publicized science advances paper entitled typical physics phd admissions criteria limit access underrepresented groups fail predict doctoral completion casey miller coauthors11 c w miller et al sci adv 5 eaat7550 2019 httpsdoiorg101126sciadvaat7550addendum c w miller et al httpsarxivorgabs190611618although paper uses data provided many physics departments found serious statistical flaws analysis contrary conclusions proper statistical analysis even incomplete published features data indicates equalweight sum quantitative physics gres somewhat better undergraduate grade point average predicting graduate22 b weissman httpsarxivorgabs190209442i believe key issues raised include need transparency statistical literacy handling data effects graduate admissions policies also important systematic uncertainties estimating effects using gres admissions decisions would remain even proper analysis complete data22 b weissman httpsarxivorgabs190209442 typical attempt estimate causal parameters observational data33 greenland epidemiology 14 300 2003 therefore may worth trying robust way get information effectsgiven fairly large number physics departments uncertain gres role admissions process aps could ask departments volunteer randomized controlled trial departments would assigned greaware admissions others greblind admissions ideally assignments would switched year beyond graduation rates various outcomes interest could tracked departments could participate longterm followup even committed two years randomized admissions policy incremental costs already laborintensive selection procedures small perhaps even negative one counts time saved decision makingalthough information obtained might inconclusive least setup could model approaching policy issues scientifically honestly thats important consider credibility really big issuesclimate examplehas challenged people wrongly claim pushing political positions disguised sciencereferencessectionchoosetop pagereferences 1 c w miller et al sci adv 5 eaat7550 2019 httpsdoiorg101126sciadvaat7550 google scholarcrossref isiaddendum c w miller et al httpsarxivorgabs190611618 google scholar2 b weissman httpsarxivorgabs190209442 google scholar3 greenland epidemiology 14 300 2003 google scholar 2020 american institute physics