Graduate record examination and deaf students

This paper investigated a major problem confronting deaf would-be graduate students: The Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Two related topics were included: special graduate admission policies with regard to minority and handicapped students, and Self-Evaluation reports on Admission as required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The purposes of the study were to see whether the GRE is valid for handicapped students (including deaf students), whether universities have special graduate admission policies for handicapped students, and whether there is a difference in attitude toward handicapped students between universities which are familiar with then and those which are not. The information was gathered by a review of related literature, and from replies of 20 universities to letters asking for an explanation of any special graduate admission policies for minority or handicapped students, and from Self-Evaluation reports submitted by 12 of the universities. Major conclusion of this study are (1) the GRE is not valid for handicapped or minority students; (2) graduate admission policies differ, with sane universities not requiring the GRF. , others requiring it but not having clear "cut-off" points; and (3) universities unfamiliar with handicapped students tend to write general self-evaluations and have inadequate supporting services while the opposite was true for those familiar with handicapped students.