Search results

The purpose of this paper is to understand demographic group (race, first-generation college graduate, gender, age) differences among perceived family and faculty social and family financial support within the US graduate school admissions pipeline in the social sciences.

Using data from a cross-sectional convenience sample survey (N = 99), this paper looks at ordinal social support variables (faculty member support, family social support and family financial support) by demographic groups. This paper uses a Mann–Whitney U test to compare first-generation status, race and gender and a Kruskal–Wallis H test to compare age groups.

This paper finds that applicants over 27 years old had significantly less faculty support in the graduate admissions pipeline compared to other age groups; differences in faculty support across race were marginally significant (p = 0.057). Regarding family social support, this paper finds first-generation applicants, male applicants and applicants over 27 years old report lower levels of support. Finally, this paper finds first-generation applicants and applicants over 27 years old report lower levels of familial financial support.

Previous literature on graduate admissions – published in this journal (Pieper and Krsmanovic, 2022) and others – does not consider experiences up to and before applicants hit the “submit” button on graduate applicants, which the authors term the graduate admissions pipeline. Instead, most previous literatures focus on faculty committees and validity of required application materials. Thus, this study begins to answer Posselt and Grodsky’s (2017) call to develop an understanding of applicant experiences and support within the graduate admissions pipeline.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether implicit bias exists within the graduate admissions process at a large public research university in the Southeast United States. Additionally, this research sought to identify the type of strategies graduate faculty in the USA use to assess their implicit bias and the support they may need to better recognize and gauge implicit bias during the graduate application review process.

This study used the use of a qualitative, phenomenological research design by conducting individual interviews with graduate faculty members that serve on admissions committees.

The findings revealed six themes in relation to the purpose of the study – bias recognition, faculty perceptions of their own bias, faculty perceptions on the bias of others, strategies for the application review process, admission committee safeguards and the need for implicit bias training.

The study outcomes are discussed in relation to the prior research and literature on this phenomenon. Additionally, the study presents research and practical implications, including actionable strategies for how its results can be practically applied.

This chapter examines a 5-year case (Stake, 2005) which examines the structure and culture of the graduate admissions process of Indonesian applicants to a College of Education degree program in the Midwest United States. This chapter focusses on what steps are involved in the sponsorship, application and admission of international applicants to a graduate program. It was determined that the sponsorship of in-bound international students is a highly detailed and complex process engaging multiple agencies on tight timelines. This process is further complicated by single points of failure, slow decision-making and structural barriers. It was determined that because there are internal unpublicised ways to address some challenges, it is helpful to recruit and retain highly knowledgeable advocates to support the process.

Graduate admission has become a critical process for quality assurance in tertiary education. Hitherto, most research has investigated the validity of admissions instruments. However, surprisingly little work has been conducted on the overall organization of admission, which often remains “informal, ad hoc, and lacking in continuity.” The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to systematically design an admissions process for effectiveness, fairness, and the ability to continually improve, and determine how to condense and analyze the massive amount of data available from student records to obtain high-value feedback for admissions decision making.

An admissions process was systematically designed based on results from process management theory. Tenets of decision theory were applied to the organization of decision making and validity theory was utilized for validating admissions instruments. Performance of the implemented process was evaluated via student records covering a seven-year period.

The authors have designed a four-phase admissions process that ensures high quality through screening, scoping, selection, and evaluation/feedback. The last phase introduces closed-loop control and facilitates stabilization and continual improvement. Additionally, the authors have established a three-stage decision-making hierarchy that promotes consistency and equal treatment in admissions. The evaluations of undergraduate achievements and GRE® General Test scores indicate that both are valid admissions instruments in the European context. Finally, the evaluation of the implemented process provides evidence that decision making has effectively improved over the years and has become more consistent.

The systematic design of the admissions process presented generalizes well and is a significant contribution to the organization of decentralized graduate admission.

With the job market as it is for many college graduates, it is more important than ever that students choose those professional and graduate schools which will best meet their individual needs and help them achieve their goals. The process of graduate school selection is often difficult, but libraries can facilitate the process with a good collection of specialized guides to graduate schools, frequently obtainable at little cost.

We explore the validity of Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) scores and grade point averages (GPAs) for predicting comprehensive student performance in an accelerated-cohort masters of accountancy (MA) program from 2002 through 2009. We confirm findings of prior studies that graduate accounting student performance increases in GMAT scores and undergraduate GPAs; however, undergraduate GPA is significant only for U.S. students. International student performance is overwhelmingly explained by language ability, as measured by GMAT verbal and analytical writing scores. When performance is defined as job placement with a public accounting firm after graduation, we find no significant association between performance and either GMAT scores or undergraduate GPA. Additionally, the factors that are significantly associated with obtaining a job in public accounting differ for U.S. and international students. These findings may have implications for admission decisions and curriculum design of U.S. graduate accounting programs.

The twofold purpose of this study was to determine if selected variables were predictors of: student performance in the MBA programme; and student performance on the MBA MFT exam.

This study focuses on MBA graduates at a US university who have successfully completed the entire programme requirements. Real student performance data, collected from 2007 to 2012, were analysed using multivariate regression techniques.

Results suggest that academic performance in an MBA programme is positively related to undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and GMAT exam score, two of the most common admissions criteria in use today. Additionally, performance in an initial skills-building course exhibits a strong positive correlation with performance in subsequent MBA courses. With respect to performance on the Major Field Test (MFT-MBA), our results indicate that students who do well in the MBA programme tend to score at a higher level than those with lower overall GPAs.

The research study was limited to MBA graduates at a business school in central Virginia. Further studies can determine whether differences in predictors of success in the MBA programme from those found in this study might exist.

Results of this study provide practical implication for MBA programme curriculum development and assist MBA admission committees in designing MBA programme admission criteria.

An extensive literature exists about the variables that influence the performance on the MFT exam at the undergraduate level. This is the first study to explore these relationships at the graduate level.

The decision to select one amongst many choices of higher education institutions (HEIs) is a complex process. At a theory-building level, this study investigates the determinants of students' decisions as they consider investing in a long-term credence service higher education (HE) contract in pre- and in-pandemic and the implications for education managers. The second aspect is how disruptive global events influence such choice-making.

The study hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the driving factors and their weight in students' decisions seeking admission into B-schools (Business schools). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and t-test validate the determinants and test hypothesized differences.

Results reveal that core faculty quality, industry exposure, institutional brand name, placement offered, return on investment and specializations offered are the preferred choice criteria. The results reveal that choice criteria in the pre-and in-pandemic differ significantly.

The application of the SEM approach on a large primary database of students during the pre and in-pandemic periods to understand the changes in the choice of B-school for admission is the original aspect of the paper. Insights from the four hypotheses which got rejected provide value to stakeholders. As the pandemic is rearing its head once again across the globe, this study would be able to inform admissions managers on how to navigate for admissions success.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the evidence on whether grade inflation has led to an increasing emphasis on standardized test scores as a criterion for law school admissions.

Fit probabilistic models to admissions data for American law schools during the mid to late 1990s, a period during which trends of grade inflation can be observed, and detect changes in emphasis on grades and standardized test scores as admissions criteria over time.

The juxtaposing trends of grade inflation and of the increasing predominance of standardized test scores in law school admissions suggest the possibility that grade inflation has had a negative impact on the value of grades as a signal of student ability.

The empirical evidence of potential undesirable consequences of grade inflation may persuade education professionals to take active measures to control the inflationary trend.

Viewing grades as a signal of a student's ability, this study is the first attempt to measure the responses of signal receivers to grade inflation using real‐world, behavioral data.