GRE Not Required

This website lists PhD programs which do not require GRE scores. This is an ongoing project; the way things are going this website may soon be obsolete!

In response to the pandemic, departments across the US have dropped the GRE. Some have done so on a temporary basis, others have made the change permanent. I try to keep this up to date, but pandemic-initiated changes have been hard to track. So please double check with department websites before you make the decision to not take the GRE.

I am adding links to field-based lists as I come across them. Please share these lists with me by commenting to this page (or anywhere on this site). If you are applying to graduate school this year (2021, for entry F 2022) and if a department’s website indicates they are requiring the GRE, reach out to them to check — PhD programs are very motivated to remove obstacles to applications.

If you are faculty and would like to see a reliable, comprehensive list of departments in your field not using the GRE, consider starting and sharing a spreadsheet (you will see links on this site to spreadsheets in English, BioMed).

Many departments that require GRE scores do not rely on them in admissions — they ask for them because the campus requires it. More and more departments are initiating the process of revising departmental and university requirements — we are in a period of massive transition on this score. If you have low GRE scores and are applying to a place that requires them, ask how they will be used in admissions. I would not want to waste an expensive application fee on a program that has numerical cut-offs. (As an advisor, I would not encourage students in my field to apply to programs that approach admissions this way: it is not a great sign.)

I hope that the information on this website makes it easier for more departments to move away from using GRE scores and allows applicants in some fields to avoid taking this test altogether.

Applicants should confirm information on this site by consulting department websites themselves. A number of departments do not require GRE scores but signal that they are nevertheless helpful and in some cases necessary in order for applicants to be considered for campus-wide fellowship awards. Consult the section of a department’s website dedicated to applying to the PhD program to learn more, and email the department’s grad admissions staff if their policy re GREs is not clear.

Share information about programs I’ve missed by commenting on the site. Thank you!

Background Reading —

American Psychological Association: The GRE—What it tells us, and what it doesn’t

A test that fails

An Unlikely Campaign to Move Beyond GRE Scores (ETS discourages graduate departments from excessive reliance on GRE)

Biomedical Ph.D. program at University of Michigan drops GRE

GREs don’t predict graduate school success. What does?

GRE? Good Riddance! (UCSF)

Inside the Graduate Admissions Process

Julie R. Posselt: Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gatekeeping

Predictors of Student Productivity in Biomedical Graduate School Applications

The GRE: What it tells us, and what it doesn’t