graduate-admissions
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- PaperETS Research Report Series1 Apr 2026
The Algorithm at the Gate: Exploring Ethical Tensions in Graduate Admissions
Reginald Gooch, Sara Haviland
A survey of graduate enrollment management professionals reveals emerging norms and ethical tensions around the use of generative AI in admissions, both by institutions and applicants. The report highlights concerns about fairness, transparency, and the need for updated policies as AI reshapes recruitment and selection practices.
Original abstract
As generative artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly reshapes how information is created, shared, and evaluated, graduate admissions professionals are confronting new questions about its role in recruitment and selection. This report draws upon ETS’s February 2025 pulse survey of NAGAP members to explore how graduate enrollment management (GEM) professionals are navigating this evolving landscape. We present their perspectives on the acceptable use of AI in graduate admissions—both by institutions and by applicants—and highlight emerging norms and tensions. The report concludes with a discussion on the implications of these findings for GEM policies and practice.
- PaperETS Research Report Series30 Dec 2025
Graduate Admissions After Affirmative Action: Results From the ETS/NAGAP 2024 Admissions Survey
Reginald Gooch, Sara Haviland
A survey of graduate admissions officers in 2024 reveals expected impacts of the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on race-based affirmative action, particularly on holistic admissions practices aimed at diversity. The findings indicate uncertainty and concern about maintaining diversity in graduate programs.
Original abstract
On the tail of changes to testing policies and other graduate admissions practices through the COVID-19 era, 2023 saw a further major change in the admissions landscape through the U.S. Supreme Court’s striking down of race-based affirmative action in admissions processes through the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) cases. The ETS Research Institute and NAGAP, the Association for Graduate Enrollment Management, partnered on research to understand how this ruling is affecting interest holders and, in particular, how it has affected practices of holistic admissions, which have often been defined with respect to the explicit goal of promoting diversity (see, e.g., Glazer et al., 2014). This research note focuses on the viewpoints of graduate admissions officers and department leaders surveyed in 2024 on the effects they expected to see from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in admissions processes and on the reactions that they were seeing at their own institutions. Suggested citation: Gooch, R., & Haviland, S. (2025). Graduate admissions after affirmative action: Results from the 2024 ETS/NAGAP Survey (Research Notes). ETS. https://doi.org/10.64634/5s9fnm23
- PaperETS Research Report Series30 Sept 2025
Pathways to Graduate School: 3. A Data Overview of U.S. Prospective Graduate Students by Parental Education and Gender
Catherine Millett
This descriptive study analyzes GRE test-takers from 2016-2021 to examine how parental education and gender relate to graduate school aspirations. It profiles three groups based on parental education and finds differences in demographics, undergraduate experiences, and graduate plans. The report offers insights for graduate school recruitment and application processes.
Original abstract
Having parents with higher educational attainment is associated with many positive academic outcomes for students (e.g., college enrollment, degree attainment). This study aims to raise awareness and promote understanding of the characteristics, aspirations, and graduate degree intentions of students who are considering graduate school, particularly through the lens of parental education and gender. Three distinct groups are profiled: no parent bachelor of arts (BA), one parent BA, and one parent BA+. The 980,903 individuals who are U.S. citizens, provided gender and parent educational attainment information, and had scores on all three GRE® General Test measures are the subjects for this descriptive study, one of a series of five such reports. GRE General Test data from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2021, supplemented with U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Census data, are analyzed. These individuals, referred to as prospective graduate students (PGS), are examined through six core questions: (a) Who were the PGS? (b) Where did they reside? (c) What were their education and work experiences? (d) What were their undergraduate experiences? (e) What were their plans for graduate study? and (f) What were their emerging graduate school choice sets? Key findings include the following: (a) The percentage of White PGS increased as parental education increased; (b) more than 50% of PGS from all three parental education groups live in 10 states; (c) Federal Pell Grant eligibility decreased as parental education increased; (d) approximately half of PGS in each parental education group majored in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field, with notable gender differences; (e) more than 90% of PGS across all parental education groups reported a B or higher undergraduate major grade point average; (f) a master’s degree was the most common degree objective among all three parental education profiles; (g) most PGS were considering attending at least one graduate school in their home state; and (h) 41% of PGS included at least one minority-serving institution in their graduate school choice sets. The report concludes with recommendations for future research and practical applications, particularly in the graduate school application process. Suggested citation: Millett, C. M. (2025). Pathways to graduate school: 3. A data overview of U.S. prospective graduate students by parental education and gender (Research Report No. GRE-25-03). ETS.