Cooperative Studies of Predicting Graduate School Success. Graduate Record Examinations Special Report Number 68-3.

One or more graduate departments from ten schools participated in studies of six different disciplines: chemistry, English, history, philosophy, physics, and psychology. Subjects were students who first enrolled for graduate study in these departments between 1957 and 1960. Predictor data obtained for the students included scores on the Graduate Record Examinations Aptitude Test and/or an Advanced Test and, for some students, their undergraduate grade-point averages. Two criteria were used to assess performance in graduate study: departmental ratings of the quality of graduate work, and a classification of each student's academic attainment (e. g., "earned Ph.D.", etc.) as of October, 1963. The results varied widely from group to group, and the generalizations noted are tentative. Noting the critical importance of graduate study and effective prediction of success, the report ends with recommendations for improving prediction: (1) clarify "the nature of success in graduate school"; (2) explore issues involved in assessing the performance of each student; (3) identify additional predictors of success; and (4) form an overall grading of "promise" on the basis of all information available about a student at the time of admission. (Author/ROF)