Graduate school test looks at personality

Because nearly half of all students who start doctorate programs don't finish, educators have long wondered how best to judge applicants to graduate schools and reduce that attrition rate.

[Josie]

Yes, academia. We have yet have another way to codify and dehumanize every aspect of my applications.

If graduate schools want the write personality, they can get to know their candidates face-to-face. Being a doctoral student, I understand what it means to get to know the people who will be my colleagues for the next 20 years of my life. The GRE is not going to tell you anything meaningful about the person that I am.

[Professor Backwards]

Josie wrote:

Yes, academia. We have yet have another way to codify and dehumanize every aspect of my applications.
If graduate schools want the write personality, they can get to know their candidates face-to-face. Being a doctoral student, I understand what it means to get to know the people who will be my colleagues for the next 20 years of my life. The GRE is not going to tell you anything meaningful about the person that I am.

...want the write [sic] personality...? Very impressive composition there, Billy Shakespeare. What were your verbal scores on the GRE? I take it you were not admitted.

[Nick]

So you have to have the 'right personality' to go to graduate school now?

I'm assuming liberal people are favored over non-liberals?

I would love to see an example of this test.

[wag]

One more hurdle. What a waste!

[GetReal]

I'm guessing the size of the bankroll is a major component that could determine an applicant's ability to stick out an advanced degree. I'm not the only person to drop/restart due to finances.

Maybe they could just have you insert your net worth on the upper right corner of the application? On the upper left, the size of your trust-fund. On the lower right corner, the amount of debt you are willing to incur in order to complete a degree. On the lower left, you put your FICO score.

That should given the school a good indication of your ability to stick it out.

[Shields Up Captain]

There's a point that academia has here.

I was in night school for six years in a row getting my undergrad and MBA. I saw these weak people start grad school and become part of various project teams for courses. The team becomes reliant on them and then they quit for various reasons. Some unavoidable and some easily avoidable yet the rest of the team is SOL as a result.

Graduate school is a serious time time commitment and by leaving your project mates high and dry is a load of BS.

So either individualize the curriculum and make it less relevant to real life or figure out who the quitters are before hand.

[Randy]

ETS is supporting the use of yet another test that they will profit from on a massive scale? Big surprise there.

I'm a school psychology grad student myself with a heavy background in assessment. Try asking someone who knows anything about these "personality" tests how useful they are in any practical way. I can't think of a single personality assessment that would come close to providing useful information here. The very best you could do is make predictions about which students will work better together in group projects; trying to determine which students will drop out is laughable.

Even among my peers and coworkers in psychology these assessment results are frequently abused and misinterpreted. You want to find out how well people cope under extreme pressure and sleep deprivation by using a paper-and-pencil assessment? What a joke.

[xyzzz]

GetReal wrote:

I'm guessing the size of the bankroll is a major component that could determine an applicant's ability to stick out an advanced degree. I'm not the only person to drop/restart due to finances.
Maybe they could just have you insert your net worth on the upper right corner of the application? On the upper left, the size of your trust-fund. On the lower right corner, the amount of debt you are willing to incur in order to complete a degree. On the lower left, you put your FICO score.
That should given the school a good indication of your ability to stick it out.

I agree!