Requesting a Change of GRE Requirements

The requirement of the general GRE is established by the individual graduate Program; the GRE is not a formal standard requirement for all graduate programs at UCSD. A Program that currently requires the general GRE can request to temporarily waive or permanently eliminate the GRE requirement. In addition, programs may request to extend a temporary waiver that was requested for the previous cycle.

A request to modify a program's GRE requirement must be approved by the Dean of the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs and the Graduate Council. Requests for a first time Temporary Waiver, an extension/continuation of a Temporary Waiver, or a Permanent Removal of a GRE requirement should be sent in PDF format addressed to the Dean of the Division via Director of Graduate Admissions, Mary Hogan mhogan@ucsd.edu .

See the sample text for these requests below. For professional Master’s programs in which the GRE requirement is included in their Senate Regulation, please reach out to Mary Allen to submit an appropriate request.

Temporary Waiver - Sample Text

The doctoral, MFA, and/or MS Program in ___(program name)___ requests that the requirement of the general GRE be waived for the upcoming admissions cycle FA_____, and continue through and including the admissions cycle FA____. During these cycles, our admissions rubric will be modified to reflect the absence of GRE scores in the following manner:__________________________. Our faculty and staff, in collaboration with the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, will assess the impact of the waiver on our Program in terms of quality and quantity of the applicant pool. At the end of the waiver period, we will make a decision on whether the GRE will be permanently eliminated or continue to be required.

Extension/Continuation of Temporary Waiver - Sample Text

The doctoral, MFA, and/or MS Program in ___(program name)___ requests an extension/continuation of the temporary waiver of the requirement of the general GRE for the admissions cycle FA_____, and continue through and including the admissions cycle FA____. During these cycles, our admissions rubric will be modified to reflect the absence of GRE scores in the following manner:__________________________. Our faculty and staff, in collaboration with Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, will assess the impact of the waiver on our Program in terms of quality and quantity of the applicant pool. At the end of the waiver period, we will make a decision on whether the GRE will be permanently eliminated or continue to be required.

Permanent Removal - Sample Text

The doctoral, MFA, and/or MS Program in ____(program name) ___ requests that the general GRE be permanently eliminated as a program requirement for admission beginning with the admissions cycle FA_____. Our admissions rubric will be modified to reflect the absence of GRE scores in the following manner:__________________________.

Requests for permanent removal of the GRE must include the Department Chair signature.

Examples of Actual Requests

In addition, two examples of submitted requests are provided below for reference. Requests should reflect the specific program needs. Requests for permanent removal of the GRE must include the Department Chair signature. Feel free to direct any questions to Mary Hogan mhogan@ucsd.edu .

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