Diversity problems in physics admissions

Abstract

Scientific Community Physics is one of the least diverse fields within all of science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM). Annually, in the United States, only 20% of physics Ph.D.'s are awarded to women and only 5% to people who identify with an underrepresented racial or ethnic category. Who achieves a physics Ph.D. depends on who is admitted, but considerable barriers to entry exist. Miller et al. compared admission and degree completion records from 27 U.S. universities and 3962 students. They found little predictive value in Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for Ph.D. matriculation. Despite the almost universal use of these scores in graduate physics admissions decisions, GRE scores had no statistically significant relationship to degree completion. Because GRE scores are unevenly distributed across race and gender, their use in admissions practices may be filtering underrepresented groups out of physics Ph.D. programs. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.aat7550 (2019).