More women from all racial groups taking GRE
By Naoki Naruse
If college tests are a sign, then the 1990s may just prove to be
the decade of the woman. Or at least, the decade of some women.
From 1981 through 1992, the number of U.S. citizens who took the
Graduate Record Examinations General Test (GRE) jumped from 157,000
to 240,000. However, women from all racial and ethnic groups formed
the gist of that jump, according to a study done by the Educational
Testing Service, the agency that administers the test.
The GRE is a multiple-choice examination designed to measure
students’ verbal, mathematical and analytical skills. More and more
graduate and professional schools are requiring their applicants to
take the GRE as a supplement to their grades and class history.
During the same study period, the number of examinees from
traditionally underrepresented backgrounds doubled, except American
Indians, who showed no increase.
Jerilee Grandy, a research scientist at the testing service,
found that Asian American females accounted for the greatest hike
since 1983, with an increase of 244 percent. Similarly, Latinas
jumped 236 percent. White females rose a comparatively small 106
percent.
The results were based primarily on self-reports by examinees
who completed a background information questionnaire sponsored by
the testing service.
Representatives from the testing service said they were not able
to explain the changes among test-takers, but added that population
shifts may have something to do with it.
Analysis of the data must be taken with a grain of salt, Grandy
said, because immigration increases may account for some of the new
statistics.
Charlotte Kuh, executive director of the GRE, offered some other
possible explanations. She said women have wanted to be in the work
force and to get better jobs since the late 1960s and that may be
the reason for more women, from all backgrounds, taking the
test.
"For minorities, graduate schools have been making an enormous
effort to increase minority enrollment. Faculty (are trying) to
create a climate that’s more welcoming to minority women," said
Kuh, adding that a change in graduate education should be a future
consequence of that new climate.
The changing face of GRE test-takers also reflects the evolution
of female college students in the past few decades.
Women made up only 30 percent of all biological science students
in the 1960s, whereas today, they account for more than 50 percent,
Kuh said.
"This report should be a valuable addition to information
available to policy-makers and scholars of graduate education," Kuh
said. "It describes the growing diversity of American applicants to
graduate school and the change in choices among types of graduate
programs."
The GRE’s format has slightly changed over the years, including
a new system where the examinees can take the test on computers.
But changes in the ethnic composition of test takers are not
directly related to the format changes, said Rob Durso, program
director for research and development at the testing service.
The service evaluates all the test questions beforehand to make
sure the questions are not biased against women or minorities, Kuh
said.
Many female students said they really didn’t have a choice
between taking the test or not  they said they want to attend
graduate school and the GRE is just another factor in helping them
get there.
"I’m going to a grad school and (the GRE) is required. That’s
why I’m taking it," said Maricar Maderazo, a Pilipino American
majoring in psychology.
Shayani Senanayaka, a senior biology major, is planning to take
the GRE in December. "No one really motivated (me to take the
GRE)," said Senanayaka, a native of Sri Lanka. "(Although, some of
my friends) made me think about it more seriously."