Comments on: Discussion: Should Pakistani PhD students need to clear the GRE before being awarded their PhDs?

By: GRE Subject (International) as a PhD requirement: A Busted Myth | Educational Resources

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:27:04 +0000

[...] Editor’s Note: A general discussion page on the GRE requirement introduced by the HEC exists here. [...]

By: Adnan

Adnan — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:51:13 +0000

I have nothing to say anything except “HEC is the same institution as other Pakistan government institution”. “FAIL” :-(

By: Shazli

Shazli — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:29:22 +0000

Getting an admission and getting a degree are two different things. GRE (General or Subject) might be considered as an ‘admission’ criterion. This definitely does not mean that the student is ‘capable’ of finishing Ph.D. He/She is only capable of ‘entering’ a Ph.D. program. For granting a degree, the institution has a set of criteria like Qualifying Exams, Coursework, Dissertation etc. Clearing a Qual exam will actually show that the student is ‘capable’ of doing significant research. Note that he/she might not be able to overcome the other hurdles (which happens a lot by the way).

By: GRE Subject (International): A Busted Myth | STEP - Science, Technology, and Education in Pakistan

Fri, 14 May 2010 13:52:42 +0000

[...] Editor’s Note: A general discussion page on the GRE requirement introduced by the HEC exists here. [...]

By: Faisal

Faisal — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:57:16 +0000

Agreed. At the time of admission to the graduate program, GRE subject might be the only indicator of quality of a candidate’s undergrad degree in the absence of any research publications. But as it is evident from varying admission requirements by different US universities, shouldn’t HEC let Pakistani universities determine their own admission criteria / standards. Also, you have not said anything regarding the foreign-qualified faculty in Pakistani Universities who neither appeared for GRE Subject exam, nor do they have any research publications… What about their research potential which might still be POTENTIAL and nothing that can be quantified.

By: ASIF GOHAR

ASIF GOHAR — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:27:27 +0000

GREAT TEHSEEN I AGREE

By: Anwar

Anwar — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:01:55 +0000

Faisal, A good quality research at graduate level that result in journal papers is indeed a proof of student’s ability to pursue a successful career. The problem is at the start-up – i.e. if a student applies for admission after BS,what criterion besides transcript and letters of recommendation the admission committee has? GRE therefore is additional indicator. For transfer to PhD program and/or admission, GRE is certainly not needed as the MS thesis and publications derived from it are a sufficient proof.
There are very few students who have a “publication record” based on undergraduate research… they are sought after by a number of schools and GRE is not a requirement.
I may also add that even NSF does not require GRE for graduate fellowships but applicants still list their scores and during deliberations for award, invariably, GRE plays an important role….
Nevertheless, by advocating the importance of GRE I only want Pakistani students to know that they have additional avenues for furthering their education abroad.

By: Majid

Majid — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 04:49:36 +0000

If it is that HEC will not award PhD scholarship to a candidate even if he qualifies other conditions for a PhD scholarship, then, it’s OK, to implement GRE condition to ensure quality of candidates but if it is that HEC will not recognize PhD status of scholars who have completed their PhD, it’s pathetic. It directly means that HEC is humiliating the institute which have awarded the PhD degree to the student. “GRE’s” are the means to measure the ability of a candidate to assess if he/ she will be able to complete the course but if one has already completed it there is no point to ask for a graduate level GRE Score.

By: Faisal

Faisal — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:01:57 +0000

Just to add another aspect, Should HEC and Universities accept the PhD degrees of people who have earned their degrees from abroad, who did not appear for a GRE (general or subject) exam while getting admission to their programs, who completed their PhDs in 3 years (including course work and research) and have less or no publications at all, to their credit as compared with their LOCAL counterparts. Is the label “Foreign PhD” good enough a standard to judge competence or are we seeing double standards here as well……

By: Faisal

Faisal — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:46:59 +0000

Dear Anwar, I think you are missing the point here. First of all you are talking about RA or TAShip in US universities.NOT the point under consideration. Then you are talking about GRE General. Again, NOT the point under consideration here. Having appeared for the GRE General exam for 3 times It surely is NOT the criterion to judge someone’s research potential (at least in my opinion). It doesn’t even reflect your quantitative abilities in its true sense. ALL it checks is your ability to find short cut solutions to trivial math problems. Who cares if I can do a simple math sum in 3.435 seconds :-) In my opinion if you can do the same math in 2 or even 10 minutes, thats good enough.
Now lets talk about an individual’s research potential and the ability to pursue a PhD degree (the point under consideration). Most would agree that if you have to your credit a few very good journal and/or conference papers then you HAVE research potential. This statement is strengthened by the fact that top US Universities such as Purdue and MIT, base their admission decisions on demonstrated research potential (which is paper publication) and NOT the GRE general or Subject exam. Both of these Universities DO NOT require a GRE score for admission. Once admitted, you are sure to get TA / RAShip and don’t need to worry about expenses.
The same should apply in Pakistan. If someone in Pakistan can get the same kind of journal / onference publications, then (s)he should not be required to clear the GRE exam.