Admissions requirements and statistics question

[NeuroNerd86]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anybody knows why some schools do not disclose any information on what average GPA/GRE they expect from their applicants. Furthermore, some schools don't even post the minimum criteria, besides the bachelor's degree and the general GRE. I'm just wondering if it can be due to the differences in the applicants' other activities, such as research experience and publications, and therefore the average grades/scores do not give the right idea of what kind of applicant a school is looking for. Or can it be due to some other reasons?

Just wondering if anybody knows!

[swisnieski]

Probably because schools do not expect a certain GPA or GRE. There's a fellow who got into the doctoral program in psychology at Stanford (the #1 psych program in the country) with a 2.8 GPA.

Grad school admissions is a holistic process, and they don't want to discourage potentially good candidates who have one weakness (like a low GPA) by posting stats.

[alexis]

I like to try and tell myself they don't post the average GRE scores because they aren't super high (and only the top programs who are really competitive like to brag about it), and most schools care more about other parts of the application...no idea if it's true, but makes me feel better about my chances!

[NeuroNerd86]

Alexis, I concur:)! Swisnieski, I actually know a person who got into some ridiculous biomed program at Stanford with 3.1. Oh hope!

[swisnieski]

Alexis, I concur:)! Swisnieski, I actually know a person who got into some ridiculous biomed program at Stanford with 3.1. Oh hope!

Let's hope it's not just Stanford that's open-minded about low GPAs, eh?

[fuzzylogician]

I like to try and tell myself they don't post the average GRE scores because they aren't super high (and only the top programs who are really competitive like to brag about it), and most schools care more about other parts of the application...no idea if it's true, but makes me feel better about my chances!

Actually in my experience it's usually the lower ranked programs that publish GPA/GRE cutoffs. The higher ranked programs don't publish these stats and I think they use a more holistic approach.