School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
Sci Adv. 2019 Jan 23;5(1):eaat7550. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat7550. eCollection 2019 Jan.
This study aims to understand the effectiveness of typical admissions criteria in identifying students who will complete the Physics Ph.D. Multivariate statistical analysis of roughly one in eight physics Ph.D. students from 2000 to 2010 indicates that the traditional admissions metrics of undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Quantitative, Verbal, and Physics Subject Tests do not predict completion as effectively admissions committees presume. Significant associations with completion were found for undergraduate GPA in all models and for GRE Quantitative in two of four studied models; GRE Physics and GRE Verbal were not significant in any model. It is notable that completion changed by less than 10% for U.S. physics major test takers scoring in the 10th versus 90th percentile on the Quantitative test. Aside from these limitations in predicting Ph.D. completion overall, overreliance on GRE scores in admissions processes also selects against underrepresented groups.
这项研究旨在了解典型入学标准在识别将完成物理博士学位的学生方面的有效性。对 2000 年至 2010 年期间约八分之一的物理博士生进行的多元统计分析表明，本科平均绩点（GPA）和研究生入学考试（GRE）定量、词汇和物理学科考试等传统入学指标并不能像招生委员会假设的那样有效地预测完成情况。研究的四个模型中有两个模型发现本科 GPA 与完成学业有显著关联；GRE 物理和 GRE 词汇在任何模型中都不显著。值得注意的是，在美国物理专业考生中，GRE 定量考试成绩在前 10%和后 90%之间的考生，其完成率变化不到 10%。除了这些在预测博士完成率方面的局限性之外，招生过程中对 GRE 分数的过度依赖也不利于代表性不足的群体。
