Subject: Graduate Records Exam
Forwarded to: Provost

I think that the GRE requirement for graduate student admission should either be waived under special circumstances or if it remains a requirement, assistance should be provided to students who find it difficult to take the exam for various reasons. At the University of Texas at Arlington, an example of a special circumstance that they allow for waiving the GRE is for UTA Computer Science and Engineering graduates with a GPA of 3.0 or better (see http://www.uta.edu/gradcatalog/admission_reqs#special ). This practice could easily be implemented over the various schools at UHV. I think this could be both an incentive for students to complete their undergraduate degrees at UHV with high GPAs as well as a reward for the same. Furthermore, I recently read an article in the Victoria Advocate stating that UHV and VC were taking extra measures to increase enrollment among minority groups. I think this would possibly help with this as well.

Alternatively, because it is not always convenient for UHV students to drive to Houston or Corpus Christi (2 of the nearest sites) to take the exam due their family and work obligations, I would like to make 2 more suggestions: make UHV a GRE exam site or organize a GRE test-taking carpool/shuttle system that allows students to more conveniently schedule and take the exam with others as a group.

To me it’s a shame for both the students and UHV when UHV disallows graduate school enrollment just because they have not taken the GRE. I know that UHV allows students to take up to 12 hours without the GRE, but this should even prove further upon completion whether the student is graduate school material, right? If the student has completed those hours with a high GPA, doesn’t this already prove that the student will be very likely to complete their graduate degree along the same lines? In most degree plans those 12 hours are already 1/3 of the courses required to complete the degree.

Ultimately, because UHV has proven to take certain considerations to assist in accommodating the widely untraditional student body from all backgrounds and age groups, shouldn’t this be another courtesy and consideration for those students as well?

Thank you.

Response: Dear Student,

Thank you for sharing your ideas about the UHV requirement that prospective graduate students need to submit GRE scores as part of the application process. Faculty have found the GRE to be a useful diagnostic tool in assessing students probability of success in graduate school. Your ideas merit consideration and I will discuss them with the Deans at our next meeting.
 

I think the online class search format could be improved. The UHCL website allows you to search by graduate / undergrad courses, which is helpful. It would also be nice if the courses listed in the "course offerings" could be linked to the page that describes the course. Thanks.

Response: Thank you for your suggestion, and we will look into the possibility of adding "graduate / undergrad" search options for the online course lookup. As for your second suggestion, we do provide a link to a course's specific "page" if the instructor has provided us with the URL information. Thank you.
 

Response: Please look for a response next month.