Dear Iron Mike,
Thank you for an interesting question. On face value, it seems that
there is no much difference, and even some reputable departments (for
example, the Canadian McGill), do not require GRE results for some of
the candidates.
However, a closer inspection, reveals, that "Ninety-three percent of
reporting doctoral departments and 81% of the master's departments
required GRE general test scores. Forty-nine percent of doctoral
departments and 32% of master's departments required GRE psychology
subject test scores." (SOURCE: John C. Norcross, "GREs and GPAs: The
Numbers Game in Graduate Admissions", Eye on Psi Chi (Vol. 1, No. 2,
pp. 10-11), 1997 <http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_158.asp>).
In other words, GRE, at least the general one, is the norm, and the
exception is schools that do not require GRE results and only
recommend them.
GRE scores are also central to the admission process: "Keith-Spiegel,
Tabachnick, & Spiegel (1994) contend that the top three criteria for
admission to a quality PhD program are a high GPA (3.5-4.0), high GRE
scores (1,200 and above), and strong letters of recommendation."
(SOURCE: Jesse E. Purdy, "Get Involved!" Eye on Psi Chi (Vol. 5, No.
2, pp. 4, 7), 2001 <http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_70.asp>).
Other studies also point to the imporatnce of the GENERAL GRE ("Your
score on the advanced Psychology GRE is less important than your
Verbal and Quantitative scores (Bonfazi, Crespy, & Rieker, 1997;
Landrum & Cashin, 1991; Munoz-Dunbar & Stanton, 1999; Purdy, Reinehr,
& Swartz, 1989).", SOURCE: Lynn H. Collins , "Does Research Experience
Make a Significant Difference in Graduate Admissions?", Eye on Psi Chi
(Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 26-28), 2001
<http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_67.asp>). If you'll read
Collins' article in its whole, you'll see that different
specialisations (clinical psychology, organisational psychology, etc.)
have different priorities, and that should also assist you to decide
whether or not to apply for those schools who do not require the test,
or to take the test and apply to all schools possible.
To sum up: I recommend that you'll take the "general" GRE in any case.
Reagarding the subject subtest, this could be avoided, depending on
the programme you're applying to. It seems from the Psi Chi site, that
the subject subtest is not considered as important for the admission
process or for evaluating the competence as a psychology student, and
therefore, many departments do not require that you'll take it.
Read more
=========
Margaret W. Matlin and James W. Kalat, "Demystifying the GRE
Psychology Test: A Brief Guide for Students" Eye on Psi Chi (Vol. 5,
No. 2, pp. 22-25), 2001,
<http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_66.asp>.
My search strategy
==================
A simple search for [gre required psychology] reveals many
departemental sites, that discuss their addmission requirements. In
order to avoid those, I added the term -site:edu, which meant that I
avoided sites with the suffix .edu (for universities).
<://www.google.com/search?q=gre+required++psychology+-site%3Aedu&num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8>.
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
further clarification on this answer before you rate it. |
