The Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences (GEAT) is changing the application process for students seeking graduate degrees in geology and meteorology. These changes include discontinuing the GRE requirement (effective immediately) and implementing a two-stage application process (forthcoming) in hopes of reducing barriers faced by underrepresented student groups. Our overall goal is to increase the diversity of graduate students in our programs and make our department a more welcoming place for all students.
Applicants are no longer required to submit GRE scores to be eligible for our graduate programs. Our rationale is evidence-based; GRE scores are correlated to socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity and do not predict graduate student success. The logistics and financial expense of taking the GRE are burdensome as well, further preventing high quality students from seeking graduate degrees. GEAT will utilize other means, such as letters of recommendation and virtual interviews, among others, to evaluate graduate program applicants.
The new two-phase application system is also designed to remove a financial burden and generate a larger, more diverse pool of applicants. Applicants will complete the first phase by supplying required information at no cost to them. The GEAT graduate application committees will then evaluate first phase data and approve a subset of applications for the second phase process. An application fee will be necessary once an applicant has been selected for the second phase, imposing a monetary cost only if there is a significant chance of being accepted into our graduate programs. The two-phase application system is currently under development within the ISU Graduate College; applicants should continue to use the process described on our respective graduate application pages until further notice.
For more information, please contact the relevant Graduate Applications Committee Chairperson listed below:
GEOLOGY Graduate Applications Committee Chair: Dr. Igor Beresnev
METEOROLOGY Graduate Applications Committee Chair: Dr. Bill Gutowski