<p>One of the schools (undergrad) that I am looking at appears to require students to pass the GRE subject test associated with their major in order to graduate. On top of this, one has to score in the top 15-20th percentile to graduate summa cum laude. Should this be viewed as red flag?</p>
<p>???
What school is that? That doesn’t sound right. </p>
<p>That sounds like admission to grad school.</p>
<p>Please provide the link.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.whitman.edu/academics/courses-of-study/biology/policies-and-requirements/graduation-requirements”>http://www.whitman.edu/academics/courses-of-study/biology/policies-and-requirements/graduation-requirements</a></p>
<p>ok…that is wierd! I looked up chemistry and it doesn’t seem to have that req’t…unless I’m looking in the wrong place.</p>
<p>Seems like too much for a bio major. I imagine many are premed and taking the GRE is a waste.</p>
<p>It’s a bit of a strange requirement, and I wonder who pays for the exam, but I don’t think it’s too much for a biology major from a good program. A biology major should be able to pass that exam easily with minimal review. I took it when applying to grad school, more than a year after graduating. I scored well above the 90th percentile with minimal review, and the requirement for the major at Whitman is only 30th percentile. I even got somewhere near the 85th percentile in the subsection that I didn’t take any upper level courses in, so even pre-med focused people in a strong program like Whitman’s should do fine. </p>
<p>I would view this as a plus, actually. It demonstrates that they actually care that their biology majors have a solid and broad understanding of their discipline when graduating. They also have comprehensive exams, another sign that this is a rigorous program. At least in my field, Whitman’s biology program is well respected, and I can see why. If that level of rigor isn’t what you are looking for (e.g., want to focus on pre-med), that’s something to consider, but I wouldn’t call it a red flag.</p>
<p>Perhaps it may be of interest to find out what the historical score ranges and percentiles on that GRE subject test were. If the department is concerned about it to make the GRE subject test required for all majors, perhaps it is something that prospective students for that major may want to know as well.</p>
<p>The 30th percentile passing requirement is what I found alarming. It seems to suggest that students are likely to be unprepared for the exam. If this were the case, however, I doubt they’d continue to mandate the exam. On the other hand, the 85th percentile requirement for honors implies either a high level of confidence in the program’s top students, or a desire to limit the number of students receiving departmental honors. One scenario comes to mind: If an individual earned near perfect grades, but didn’t do particularly well on the test (that is, scored anything below the 85th percentile), would their shot at an honors diploma be gone? That seems a bit harsh, but then again, I don’t know much about the GRE bio test and its level of difficulty. </p>
<p>I’m going to ask around about the score ranges – that’s a good point. </p>
<p>I simply want to make sure that the school’s biology curriculum covers most of the material on the exam. If the school adequately prepares one for the GRE subject test, and subsequently grad school, then the exam requirement isn’t an issue for me. Too much rigor is definitely not a concern – I’m excited by the prospect of writing a senior thesis. </p>
<p>Keep in mind what a percentile means in this case–it doesn’t mean 30% on the exam. It means that you have to do better than 30% of the people taking the test, who are all biology majors, most of whom are interested enough in the subject to take the test. That includes people coming from a wide range of programs, but all people who have studied biology. So a 30% still means a pretty good understanding of biology. I don’t think they would have this requirement without covering the majority of material in their intro classes. This lower threshold also provides wiggle room for those who may be brilliant researchers but struggle with standardized tests. For honors, you have to do better than 85% of biology majors out there taking the test. I expect that this is not that difficult for students who have to pass comps anyway, and it seems to be a reasonable expectation for honors. I would hope, though, that there would be some leeway for people who just miss the cutoff.</p>
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<p>Exactly…and the school can’t set the bar tooo high otherwise it would end up with qualified graduation-candidates who can’t meet that one req’t…and then what?</p>
<p>From the Wikipedia entry on Whitman:
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<p>I think I’ve seen a quote somewhere that Whitman is a national leader in requiring graduates to have exit exams.</p>
<p>Might be the way of the future with the Feds taking over parts of college evaluation. It used to be more common.</p>
<p>will the faculty teach to the test? 
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<p>Sewannee also has comprehensive exams of your major area. Or least did when D applied a few years ago.</p>