GRE not needed in MIT(EECS) ??

[akmkat_bd]

Hi,

Plz look at this link (dept of EECS):

http://http://www.eecs.mit.edu/grad/faqs.html

Goto section 13, it says "GRE is not required".

and look at the department-wise requirements borchure:

http://web.mit.edu/admissions/gradua...tment_info.pdf

It also says the same thing, "GRE not required".

I was wondering why...

[CalmLogic]

I think Purdue has the same policy if I remember correctly.

I guess it's because MIT gets so many (over)qualifed candidates that it would be redundant to ask them for the GRE since their profiles are already exceptionally good.

[w_guy]

Yes Purdue does not require GRE for computer science neither does Brown.

[w_guy]

same with UIUC

[akmkat_bd]

So if someone has a good number of research publications in reputed journal or conference, in that case will they overlook GRE scores ??

my question, what kind of qualification is actually needed (if someone wants to do research degree)??

1. very high GPA ?
2. Work experience in relevant research field ?

3. good publications in targeted field of research ?
4. good records in international programming contest ?

5. with no GRE???

or anything else??

[CalmLogic]

John Hopkins (at least for computer science) says they basically prioritize very roughly as follows for PhD admissions criteria:

Letters of recommendation >> Records of projects and/or research >> reputation of undergraduate institution + transcript >> GRE scores
JHU Department of Computer Science

Given the overlap between LORs and projects/research, it's safe to say that research potential is the most important thing. Similarly:

site:urch.com research potential - Google Search

[moomber123]

There is a trend in recent years to dump GRE by reputable schools, especially in science/engineering disciplines. This makes sense for the following reasons:

1.) Asian countries (China being the most notorious) have historically been very clever at coming up with ways to "break the system." Schools are fed up with perfect GRE score applicants who turned out not speaking a word of English after they came here. This is not just good test taking skills I am talking. Outright cheating has been reported.
2.) What sense does it make to compare students' knowledge of words like "prevaricate" or "vituperate" when they are going to do research on algorithms or machine learning? The math section of the GRE is also much below the math expectation of those programs anyways.
3.) Research has shown that GPA/LOR combo can be a far better indicator of success. Of course, there are always going to be those excellent students who don't care to maintain their GPA because they are too into their own stuffs. But LOR can usually point those students by saying "this student is excellent in research, s/he spends most of his/her time doing research with me and don't quite worry about scoring the top score in the midterm exams." What GRE does is to produce a bunch of good test takers who might or might not possess the required scholarly qualities to do well at grad school.

All this means one thing: instead of banking of acing one exam and go off to great school, the road to admissions to great graduate program is a slow and steady one, starting from day 1 in college.

[CalmLogic]

Very good points

[MDK]

2.) What sense does it make to compare students' knowledge of words like "prevaricate" or "vituperate" when they are going to do research on algorithms or machine learning? The math section of the GRE is also much below the math expectation of those programs anyways.

On the other hand, it seems that universities use the verbal score as a quick reason for rejecting applicants unless he/she has something compensating for the low verbal score.