As a rule, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required by most graduate schools in the U.S. for enrollment in their Master’s programs.
However, for many international students, the experience of moving to study in the USA is stressful enough, so most of them are looking for schools where this comprehensive and hard-to-pass test is not required. In the sections below, we have selected ten such institutions that do not require GRE for Master’s Program.
Top Universities That Do Not Require GRE for Master’s Degree
1. George Mason University
Established in 1949, George Mason University (GMU) is a public higher school in Fairfax, Virginia. Currently, it has more than 10,000 postgraduate students pursuing degrees in 125 different Master’s Programs.
Interestingly, this is one of the few universities in the USA to offer a full-time Master’s Program in Biodefense. Other popular master’s programs are Athletics Training and Bioinformatics Management. For all of these Masters programs, the GRE score is not required. However, the applicants are required to provide one of GRE’s alternatives, and namely GMAT, MAT, or Praxis Core.
2. Wichita State University
The beginnings of this university can be traced back to the year 1895 when it started its existence under the name Fairmount College. Nowadays, its graduate school offers more than 40 Master’s degree programs in over one hundred different fields of study.
The most interesting Master’s programs that this institution currently provides are those in Aging Studies – Administration, Management Science and Supply Chain Management, and Special Education – Early Childhood Unified. Most of the Master’s programs offered by the Wichita State University are available in a thesis and non-thesis version.
3. Western New England University
Western New England University exists under its current name since 2011, but its beginnings can be traced back to 1919. The academic work of this institution is organized into four colleges and one law school. They all offer Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral programs.
This university is mostly famous for its Master’s programs in the fields of Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, and Engineering. While most colleges and graduate schools of the Western New England University list the GRE score for most Master’s degree as not required, but some programs still cite it as a mandatory admission requirement.
4. Murray State University
This is one of the largest public universities in Murray, Kentucky. Since its establishment in 1922, Murray State University has been offering its graduate students excellent Master’s degree programs at very convenient prices. This is a higher school in the USA where the balance between academic excellence and affordability has been achieved long ago.
Our research has shown that only some departments and colleges of this university require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), while others tend to select other general tests that are more appropriate to their Master’s programs. For instance, most programs in the field of Education and Teaching are GRE-free.
5. California Baptist University
Next on our list of Master’s degree that does not require GRE scores is California Baptist University. Established in 1950, the California Baptist University, or Cal Baptist as it is known for short, is a private, Christian, liberal arts university in Riverside, California. It is strongly affiliated with the state’s Southern Baptist Convention.
Cal Baptist is academically organized into departments and schools, each of which offers its own array of Master’s programs. we could confirm 100% that a GRE score is not required for their Master’s program in Physician Assistant Studies, as well as for the Master of Arts in Communication program.
6. Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private research university in the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area that was established in 1829. Nowadays, it has just over 3,000 graduate students, working to earn a degree in one of the numerous Master and doctoral programs that the university offers.
Some of the most popular Master’s programs that RIT currently advertises are the one in Game Design and Development, as well as in Photography, Film, and Animation. Interestingly, RIT’s academic leadership has agreed that GRE is too standardized, and thus it fails to accurately determine which applicants are most likely to successfully complete their Master’s studies. Therefore, their Master’s programs do not require students to take the GRE.
7. City University of Seattle
The City University of Seattle, or CityU, is a private university in Seattle, Washington that was established in 1973. The university is organized into several schools and the Washington Academy of Languages. The most popular schools are the Albright School of Education and the School of Arts and Sciences.
Currently, the College of Education offers the program Master of Arts in Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling for which no GRE score is required.
8. Fairleigh Dickinson University
Founded in 1942, the Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private higher education provider in New Jersey. It now has four major campuses, plus an e-learning campus.
On the university’s official website, it is written that the domestic applicants to their Master of Business Administration program may request a waiver of the GRE/GMAT requirement.
9. Oklahoma City University
The Oklahoma City University (OCU) was established in 1904 and since then it has had a strong affiliation with the United Methodist Church.
One of the confirmed no-GRE Master’s programs that OCU offers is the dual study Master of Arts in Criminology & Master of Science in Criminology.
It currently has a special price of just $300 per credit hour and the successful graduates can land a job with the U.S. Marshals Service. Another confirmed no-GRE program is the Master in Applied Behavioral Studies.
10. St. John’s University
St. John’s Roman Catholic University in New York City is one of the most liberal higher schools in the USA when it comes to GRE requirements.
Established back in 1870, the university now has about 4,500 postgraduate students, and very few of them have been asked to provide GRE scores for admission to their desired Ph.D. or Master’s programs. Interestingly, this higher school offers a wide variety of Master’s programs in many different fields which the applicants can enter with their MAT or the PRAXIS Core scores.
Such programs are, for example, the Early Childhood Education and the one in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
We hope that this article on universities without GRE requirements for Master’s programs was helpful. Make sure to check out the Available Master’s Programs for International Students!
