This study examined the characteristics of accredited DPT programs that require or do not require the GRE as part of their admissions process. It compared the academic, demographic, and racial attributes of the admitted students, stratified by the programs that do or do not require the GRE for admission.
The required data were extracted from the Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service and program websites. The extracted program-level data were the type of program (public/private), GRE as a prerequisite, student residency (in-state/out-of-state), and education cost. The extracted student variables were gender, race, and ethnicity. Performance matrices such as overall grade point average (GPA), pre-requisite GPA, first-time National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) pass rate, and graduation rates were extracted. Two DPT students extracted the data in duplication and were blinded to each other’s extraction to improve accuracy. The program, student, and performance matrices were compared between the programs stratified by GRE as an admission requirement using independent sample t-tests and chi-squared tests for the numerical and categorical variables, respectively. P values of 0.05 were considered significant for the analyses.
The results showed that the programs not requiring the GRE for admission had a higher total education cost (US Dollars) compared to programs that require the GRE (in-state: 118k±32k vs. 95k±34k; p0.001) (out-of-state applicants: 129k±26k vs. 122k±28k; p0.038). The students in the programs that do not require GRE had lower overall GPA (3.51±0.18 vs. 3.59±0.19; p=0.002), lower pre-requisite GPA (3.47±0.16 vs. 3.55±0.18; p0.001.), and more likely to be out-of-state students (36.57±23.34 vs. 27.39±21.84; p=0.001). The demographic and racial profile of students were similar between programs that do or do not require the GRE for admission. Graduation rate (96.38±4.32 vs. 96.48±4.42; p= 0.865) and first-time NPTE pass rates (85.95%±10.74 vs. 88.23±10.74; p=0.112) did not differ between GRE-required and non-GRE programs.
The results suggest that DPT programs that do not require the GRE have higher education costs, are often private institutions, admit students with lower average GPAs, and do not have a higher proportion of racially or demographically diverse students. Nonetheless, graduation and first-time NPTE pass rates are similar between these programs.
Removing the GRE as an admission requirement may not achieve the purported goal of increasing the number of racially or demographically diverse students in DPT programs. We recommend reconsidering the criteria for holistic admission by including life experiences that illustrate traits such as resilience, leadership, and community engagement to optimize the enrollment of racially or demographically diverse students.
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