Admission Practices in Master of Public Administration Programs: A Nationwide Study
Faculty members charged with making admissions decisions are faced with an ongoing problem: the evaluation of student promise based on limited data. Yet, little is known about admission procedures. Since the selection of candidates for graduate study is a significant concern in the profession, an examination of these practices-the purpose of this exploratory studymay facilitate discussion of entrance standards for Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs. Do MPA programs admit nearly any college graduate, only those who meet minimum and higher standards, or just candidates who substantially exceed basic requirements? What criteria do program officials believe are the most accurate predictors of student success? Do they think that a strong relationship exists between academic achievement and professional performance? In short, do entrance requirements and faculty attitudes about them discourage potential students from applying to MPA programs? Following the literature review and methodology sections, an attempt is made in this article to answer such questions insofar as survey data permit.
Foreign Nationals Taking the GRE General Test During 1981-82: Highlights of a Study.
During the 1981–82 testing year, foreign nationals representing over 140 countries or territories made up approximately 17 percent of all GRE General Test takers. However, they were heavily concentrated in scientific-technical fields–for example, almost one-half of all examinees in engineering and one-third of those in math-science fields were foreign nationals. Most of these examinees were non-native speakers of English for whom average scores on the verbal and analytical measures were considerably lower than those of native English speakers (both U.S. and foreign) in similar fields of study. However, the quantitative mean profile, by field, of foreign examinees did not vary according to English language background and was quite similar to that of U.S. examinees. 
 
 
 
Detailed comparative profiles of GRE performance data are provided for the general foreign and U.S. examinee populations, and for foreign examinees classified by country of citizenship. In addition, the study analyzes GRE performance of groups of foreign and U.S. examinees defined in terms of age, sex, reported English language communication status, intended graduate field, U.S. vs other undergraduate origin, repeater vs nonrepeater status, and other personal, academic, and testing-related characteristics. 
 
 
 
Study findings suggest that GRE General Test data (especially verbal and analytical test data) generated by non-U.S. citizens from non-native English speaking societies should not be treated as comparable to test data for U.S. examinees or examinees from other native-English speaking societies.
Effect of Increased Test-Taking Time on Test Scores by Ethnic Groups, Age, and Sex.
This study investigates the effects of increasing the test time to reduce the speededness of the verbal and quantitative experimental sections of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test. In December 1976, at approximately 550 domestic test centers, 20and 30-minute versions of a verbal experimental test and of a quantitative experimental test were administered with the operational test. The effects of testing time on scores for minority-group versus majority-group examinees, on male versus female examinees, and on examinees by years elapsed since they received the baccalaureate degree are investigated. Although the 20-minute experimental tests are generally more speeded than the 30-minute tests, the ten additional minutes resulted in a small score gain for all groups, and differential score gains were not found between the subgroups. On the basis of the results of this study, the extension of testing time for the GRE Aptitude Test for the purpose of reducing intergroup differences is not indicated.