Why do american universities need GRE scores?
I have never been able to fathom why do american universities need GRE scores? Being researchers in engineering domain, we do not need to possess such a huge sea of words to express ourselves. In fact, most of the research papers contain only very simple daily use words. The engineers and researchers in science domain like to be laconic and they prefer mathematics instead of english to express their thoughts. And, this is no mysterious secret unknown to the great professors sitting in the admission committees of big universities. I am in fact, very sure that none of the students remember half of the words they mugged for GRE by the time they catch the plane to US of A. I duly agree that English being the most prevalent mode of expression, a minimum proficiency in english is essential. But, GRE puts undue pressure by asking really difficult words, tough comprehension and what not. Why does one need to memorise and mug hundreds of synonymns and antonymns? In fact, I could never fathom why GRE contains analogies? The writting section is more or less justified because everyone is aspected to do a lot of writing in his future research work.
To me, GRE test just seems to be a huge source of revenue for the US univs which have a huge appetite to devour the money from the pockets of poor denizens of developing countries. 140$ each head and thousands of students appearing for the tests at hundreds of test centres all over the world makes few easy millions for ETS. And, as I have heard they are planning to introduce american history in GRE very soon, if this goes true, it will do nothing but aggravate the misery of poor students besides making the test even more ludicrous. And, if by some misfortune, some poor but bright student does not fare well at the GRE test, this serves as an abortion of his premature research career. I know there are going to be few raised eyebrows for this analogy. But, I am ready to bear the heat. And I am very sure sooner or later, these US univs will realise the futility of GRE test and do away with it.
posted by Unknown at 4:48 PM
8 Comments:
I think that ur opinions are not very correct. Firstly, poor GRE performance does not convert to end of research career. Ppl take GRE to qualify for studying mainly in the states. If they are so very interested to pursue studies in the states, then why should not they be aware of the history of the states. Quality of spoken english especially in research domain is quite high in comparison to what we have out here in India, and it bodes us well to have a comparable vocabulary if we intend to fit in. Words that u say we have to "mug up" are quite frequently used in USA. Comprehension is something I believe is a very good measure of the attentiveness and receptive quality of a person and should be a component of all competitive examinations, which is why I disagree with your arguments about not including comprehension in IIT exam pattern. And if learning new words doesnt interest someone then no one is forcing him to do that .. I always felt nice when I new a couple of words more than my batchmates .. try to cultivate that habit .. it'll never harm you .. and if you have the habit of reading . then you wont forget the words that you remember for GRE so easily ..
Thanks Sahoo for your views, ya comprehension is a good quality but it is hard to cultivate very easily. For Poor students who got educated in Hindi medium govt. schools, learning english is not that easy. Moreover, language learning skills plummet precipitously with age. I know that a good vocabulary is a treasured possession, but had it been that essential for research, I am sure we would have similar requirements for researchers in India and Europe as well. Next, your suggestion saying the research career does not come to an end with bad GRE score is valid, but why should a bright student be debarred from avaling the best of facilities at univs like MIT, stanford and others, just due to a poor vocab. And, when we do not remember Indian history, I am sure many americans do not remember their history too, so what is the point in making us mug it up? learning american history should be a requirement for getting US citizenship and not for Phd admissions.
Not getting admission to US university doesnot mean end of research career.
Bye,
Monu.
The most important thing GRE does is to filter out the motivated candidates. If there had been no GRE, almost 80% of the junta at IIT had apped like they do for writing CAT. This criteria allows only those students to apply for admission who are serious enough.
first of all.........MIT, Stan among others give primary importance to ur undergrad academic performance and only a cut off GRE score is required (which is usually not very high)......so ur suggestion tht a below-par score in GRE lays a shroud over one's research career is very incorrect. next USofA is not the only destination for budding researchers..there are plenty of other options, it's only tht seldom do people avail of it. One more thing, the subtlity of difference among different choices in the analogies section really tests the ability of one's brain to a good extent........it's true that taking GRE can be a very costly affair but studying in IIM's is no mean affair as well......so Plz keep in mind tht English or for tht matter any stream (not just mathematics and physics) can test one's mental prowess.
the last comment was written by me
Man Mohan
Thanks all for your precious comments, it seems that the House is in favor of GRE. If GRE is that important, why univs utside USA do not need any such tests? Next, may be not getting admission in USA does not end a research career, but undoubtedly it delivers a serious blow, since today USA possesses the best of research facilities in almost all the realms.
Thanks to shashi for supporting my views.
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