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      Typical physics Ph.D. admissions criteria limit access to underrepresented groups but fail to predict doctoral completion

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          Abstract

          Graduate admissions tests cannot identify the students most likely to complete a Ph.D. in physics.

          Abstract

          This study aims to understand the effectiveness of typical admissions criteria in identifying students who will complete the Physics Ph.D. Multivariate statistical analysis of roughly one in eight physics Ph.D. students from 2000 to 2010 indicates that the traditional admissions metrics of undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Quantitative, Verbal, and Physics Subject Tests do not predict completion as effectively admissions committees presume. Significant associations with completion were found for undergraduate GPA in all models and for GRE Quantitative in two of four studied models; GRE Physics and GRE Verbal were not significant in any model. It is notable that completion changed by less than 10% for U.S. physics major test takers scoring in the 10th versus 90th percentile on the Quantitative test. Aside from these limitations in predicting Ph.D. completion overall, overreliance on GRE scores in admissions processes also selects against underrepresented groups.

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          Most cited references28

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          Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.

          Stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group. Studies 1 and 2 varied the stereotype vulnerability of Black participants taking a difficult verbal test by varying whether or not their performance was ostensibly diagnostic of ability, and thus, whether or not they were at risk of fulfilling the racial stereotype about their intellectual ability. Reflecting the pressure of this vulnerability, Blacks underperformed in relation to Whites in the ability-diagnostic condition but not in the nondiagnostic condition (with Scholastic Aptitude Tests controlled). Study 3 validated that ability-diagnosticity cognitively activated the racial stereotype in these participants and motivated them not to conform to it, or to be judged by it. Study 4 showed that mere salience of the stereotype could impair Blacks' performance even when the test was not ability diagnostic. The role of stereotype vulnerability in the standardized test performance of ability-stigmatized groups is discussed.
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            Reducing the gender achievement gap in college science: a classroom study of values affirmation.

            In many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, women are outperformed by men in test scores, jeopardizing their success in science-oriented courses and careers. The current study tested the effectiveness of a psychological intervention, called values affirmation, in reducing the gender achievement gap in a college-level introductory physics class. In this randomized double-blind study, 399 students either wrote about their most important values or not, twice at the beginning of the 15-week course. Values affirmation reduced the male-female performance and learning difference substantially and elevated women's modal grades from the C to B range. Benefits were strongest for women who tended to endorse the stereotype that men do better than women in physics. A brief psychological intervention may be a promising way to address the gender gap in science performance and learning.
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              Pipelines and Pathways: Women of Color in Undergraduate STEM Majors and the College Experiences That Contribute to Persistence

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Sci Adv
                Sci Adv
                SciAdv
                advances
                Science Advances
                American Association for the Advancement of Science
                2375-2548
                January 2019
                23 January 2019
                : 5
                : 1
                : eaat7550
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
                [2 ]School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
                [3 ]Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, 3470 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
                [4 ]Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
                [5 ]American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA.
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. Email: cwmsch@ 123456rit.edu
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6697-1406
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8925-6912
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8877-2942
                Article
                aat7550
                10.1126/sciadv.aat7550
                6357727
                26d9284b-f17b-49be-98f7-e5374988c7f7
                Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 31 March 2018
                : 10 December 2018
                Funding
                Funded by: doi http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, National Science Foundation;
                Award ID: 1522927
                Funded by: doi http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, National Science Foundation;
                Award ID: 163275
                Funded by: doi http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, National Science Foundation;
                Award ID: 1649297
                Funded by: doi http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, National Science Foundation;
                Award ID: 1143070
                Categories
                Research Article
                Research Articles
                SciAdv r-articles
                Physics
                Scientific Community
                Scientific Community
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