The persistent menace of the Covid-19 pandemic has rattled the minds of people seeking admission to US universities at a global level. With a multitude of concerns and uncertainty lurking around, not to mention the exhausting university application process that goes on alongside, these aspirants are left in a state of extreme disarray.
With everything that the pandemic has affected, appearing for academic assessment exams like GRE and GMAT and language proficiency tests like IELTS and TOEFL has also become a major challenge. A sharp decrease in the number of physical testing centres and a widespread safety concern following the outbreak are the major challenges for all applicants.
Recently, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) released online versions of GRE, TOEFL and GMAT to tackle the widespread closure of testing centres across the world, allowing applicants to take the tests from their homes. Even IELTS has followed suit and will be releasing an online version of the test in the early stages of 2022.
Although these provisions from the testing services have helped ease the pressure of applicants, many universities in the United States have also shown their support by excluding the scores of assessment tests from their respective admission criteria for the 2022 intake. This gives aspirants a much-needed breather, as the decision implies that appearing for GRE, GMAT, TOEFL and IELTS may not be necessary for them. A comprehensively compiled list of some universities that have waived off exams can be found below.
LIST OF UNIVERSITIES THAT HAVE WAIVED OFF GMAT/GRE SCORES FOR 2022 INTAKE*
Albeit a considerate decision on their part, universities in the United States still portray a mixed bag of rules about waiving off the test scores from their admission criteria, especially the scores of GRE/GMAT. While some universities have outrightly omitted them, a few of them have still kept it optional, which is to say that any applicant who wishes to include their GRE/GMAT score in the application, can do so. Though it still means that taking the GRE/GMAT is not mandatory for turning in your application to these universities.
Most universities have also declared names of specific departments/schools in which people can apply without submitting their GRE/GMAT scores, implying that the scores won’t be considered as an addition to their academic competency in their profiles. Several universities have also listed out their programs and demarcated those that require the scores, those that don’t and the optional ones.
Some renowned universities in the United States that have waived off GRE/GMAT scores for 2022 intake are listed down below.
*Note- Some of the universities listed below may only have waived off the assessment tests for specific programs/schools/departments under their jurisdiction.
Princeton University
University of California, Los Angeles
Stanford University
MIT
Yale University
Carnegie Mellon University
UC Berkeley
California Institute of Technology
Duke University
Georgia Institute of Technology
The University of Texas at Austin
Rice University
California State University Long Beach
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
University of California San Diego
University of Illinois, Chicago
Washington University at St. Louis
Stony Brook University
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
California State University Fullerton
University of Southern Mississippi
Stevens Institute of Technology
Duquesne University
Pennsylvania State University Behrend
San Jose State University
Mississippi State University
University of North Carolina Charlotte
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Texas Tech University
Drew University
University of Louisville
University of Arizona
Auburn University
Loyola University
University of Memphis
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Boston University
Illinois Institute of Technology
The University of Alabama
LIST OF UNIVERSITIES THAT HAVE WAIVED OFF IELTS/TOEFL SCORES FOR 2022 INTAKE
The two most common tests of English proficiency, IELTS and TOEFL, have faced the same fate as GRE and GMAT. Either they’ve been kept optional, or have been removed from consideration for applying to certain US universities. Besides the closing down of test centres in the wake of COVID, another reason behind waiving off these tests is the high expense. Considering the diverse demographic background of applicants, it can’t be ignored that taking these language proficiency tests might be a difficult monetary investment to make for a lot of aspirants.
Although it is still imperative for an applicant to show their English proficiency as the majority of universities in the United States require some proof of it. This is why we can see the growth of alternative avenues other than the two standardized tests to assess English proficiency. One option that’s slowly emerging is the Duolingo English Proficiency Test, a cheaper and more convenient alternative to IELTS/TOEFL for university applications, albeit for selected ones. It costs 49 USD to take this test and it gives the applicant a chance to prove their proficiency in the language in four domains - listening, writing, speaking and reading. The test can be taken from home on any personal device and the results come out in merely 2 days. Several universities have also introduced mandatory language programs like the Intensive English Language Program (IELP) to ensure an applicant’s proficiency in English without seeking IELTS/TOEFL scores.
Some universities which have kept waived off IELTS/TOEFL for their 2022 intake are listed down below.
University of California-Santa Cruz
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
The University of North Alabama
Drexel University
San Jose State University
University of Arkansas
Duquesne University
University of Dayton
State University of New York
University of Iowa
The University of Alabama
New York Institute of Technology
University of Delaware
Boston University
University of New Orleans
Illinois Institute of Technology
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