Moneta-Koehler Liane, Brown Abigail M, Petrie Kimberly A, Evans Brent J, Chalkley Roger
The Office of Biomedical Research Education & Training, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America.
Department of Leadership, Policy & Organizations, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Jan 11;12(1):e0166742. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166742. eCollection 2017.
Historically, admissions committees for biomedical Ph.D. programs have heavily weighed GRE scores when considering applications for admission. The predictive validity of GRE scores on graduate student success is unclear, and there have been no recent investigations specifically on the relationship between general GRE scores and graduate student success in biomedical research. Data from Vanderbilt University Medical School's biomedical umbrella program were used to test to what extent GRE scores can predict outcomes in graduate school training when controlling for other admissions information. Overall, the GRE did not prove useful in predicating who will graduate with a Ph.D., pass the qualifying exam, have a shorter time to defense, deliver more conference presentations, publish more first author papers, or obtain an individual grant or fellowship. GRE scores were found to be moderate predictors of first semester grades, and weak to moderate predictors of graduate GPA and some elements of a faculty evaluation. These findings suggest admissions committees of biomedical doctoral programs should consider minimizing their reliance on GRE scores to predict the important measures of progress in the program and student productivity.
从历史上看，生物医学博士项目的招生委员会在考虑入学申请时，非常看重研究生入学考试（GRE）成绩。GRE成绩对研究生成功与否的预测效度尚不清楚，而且最近也没有专门针对GRE总成绩与生物医学研究领域研究生成功之间关系的调查。范德堡大学医学院生物医学综合项目的数据被用于测试在控制其他招生信息的情况下，GRE成绩在多大程度上能够预测研究生阶段培训的结果。总体而言，GRE成绩在预测谁能获得博士学位、通过资格考试、缩短答辩时间、发表更多会议报告、发表更多第一作者论文或获得个人资助或奖学金方面并无用处。GRE成绩被发现是第一学期成绩的中等预测指标，是研究生平均绩点和教师评价某些方面的弱到中等预测指标。这些发现表明，生物医学博士项目的招生委员会应考虑尽量减少对GRE成绩的依赖，以预测项目进展和学生产出的重要指标。
