Waiving the MPA Entrance Exam: Impact on Performance

Abstract

For decades, graduate schools around the country have used various graduate entrance exams as one of the key factors in determining graduate school admission. Although many people would argue that these scores are good predictors of graduate student matriculation, the evidence is not conclusive. Hence, the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of waiving the graduate admission exam on graduate student performance in the MPA program at the University of Memphis, summer semester 2001 through spring semester 2004. We examine performance using three measures: overall MPA grade point average, substantive contributions in core classes, and writing skills. Using data collected from student files (1995–2004), we determined that the grade point average of students who received the waiver did not significantly differ from non-waiver students. On one of the two faculty judgment measures—writing skills—chi-square analysis indicated that non-waiver students performed better than waiver students, but the differences lost significance in the full regression analysis. Overall, the implementation of an entrance exam waiver did not adversely affect program quality while positively enhancing program marketing and recruitment efforts, as measured by an increase in the number of MPA applicants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles E. Menifield

Charles E. Menifield is an associate professor at the University of Memphis, where he teaches research methods, public budgeting and financial management, urban administration, and public management information systems in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration. His current research primarily focuses on health-related issues. He may be reached at [email protected].

Joy Clay

Joy Clay is an associate professor and the graduate coordinator of the MPA program at the University of Memphis. She has published in a variety of journals and has extensive outreach experience in the mid-South. Her research focuses on administrative theory, performance, evaluation, and public health (primarily maternal-child issues). Currently, she is working on a community effort related to adolescent health as part of her efforts to investigate collaborative inquiry and collaboration dynamics.

James R. Carruth

James R. Carruth is an instructor in the Division of Public and Nonprofit Administration at the University of Memphis, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate level public administration and fire administration courses.

Kathryn Cheever

Kathryn Cheever is the director of the Center for New Directions at the University of Colorado at Denver & Health Sciences Center. Her areas of interest include public policy making, interagency collaboration, urban administration, administrative law, and the role of community-based organizations in addressing urban social problems. She teaches politics, public policy and leadership, U.S. health policy, politics of the budgetary process, research methodology, conflict resolution, and public consent building.

Dorothy Norris-Tirrell

Dorothy Norris-Tirrell is an associate professor and director of the Division of Public and Nonprofit Administration at the University of Memphis. She teaches courses in the public and nonprofit leadership and administration. Her research has appeared in the Policy Studies Journal, the International Journal of Public Administration, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the American Review of Public Administration, and the Review of Public Personnel Administration.

Gary E. Norris

Gary E. Roberts is an associate professor at Regent University, instructing students in public administration, nonprofit management and human resources within the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship. His research interests include workplace spiritual intelligence, the religious-friendly workplace, servant leadership practices, and performance appraisal system ethics.