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Admissions Exams Get a Makeover
Modifications to the GRE and GMAT aim to
more accurately assess real-world skills
BY MICHAEL MORELLA
tarting on Aug. 1, 2011, test-takers will be greeted with a new version of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test, the gateway assessment for many graduate programs across the __ country. And in June 2012, prospective business school applicants will face a modified Graduate Management Admission Test (GM.AT). Here's what to expect: sions officials can more easily interpret and that poses less of an ordeal for test-takers, Payne says. Scores will be adjusted, too, to range from 130 to 170 rather than 200 to 800 per
section.

The revised GRE will completely replace the current version on August 1 (though the first scores will not be available until November). The old test will be offered until then to those who wish to take it while spaces remain available at examination facilities. But Princeton Revievfs Seltzer doesn't think testtakers should fret too much about the new exam. "There's a little bit of a shift in emphasis," he says, but "the content that's being tested is not changing fundamentally."

GMAT. In June 2012, all GMATs will incorporate a new inGR]g, The price will remain $160, but the new exam ÿll last
about four hours rather than three.

It will also reflect key changes in the
verbal and math sections. The current computer-adaptive test adjusts the difficulty of each successive problem based on whether the previous one is
answered correctly. The new version

will allow you to skip individual questions in a section, answer the others, then come back to address the unfinished portion. The computer will then
score the section and modify the diffi_ 1ÿ. ...... - -'

--

culty of the next part accordingly. This change enables test-takers to avoid losing time when they're stuck. By temporarily putting a problem aside, you can return to it and "see it with fresh eyes," says Neill Seltzer, national GRE content director for the Princeton Review test prep company.

tegrated reasoning section designed to assess how applicants juggle and analyze different forms of information at once. Test-takers will have to review spreadsheets, written passages, scatter plots, and other visuals to address questions that might require them to select multiple correct answers. The ability to use and interpret information in different formats is precisely what business schools want to see, says Ashok Sarathy, vice president for GMAT operations for the Graduate Management Admission Council, which owns the GMAT. . -"ÿ"ÿ Still, Scott Shrum, director of M.B.A. admissions research for Ver-

k... 4ÿ" ÿ' "It's not just a chart for a chart's sake."
: :- : "ÿ:ÿ

:ÿJ ...... itas Prep, a California-based GMAT

The content of the exam will change

test prep and M.B.A. admissions consulting company, says, "If you've studied up correctly, you're not going
...... to be surprised" by the new section.

in other ways as well: • Writing: You'll still be asked to write two essays, but you can no longer choose the topic. The questions will also require "more focused" responses, according to Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the GRE. • Math: The revised exam will feature fewer geometry problems and will test your ability to interpret data in real-world
scenarios. One bonus: You can use an on-screen calculator.

• Verbal: Expect to be tested more on reading comprehension. Some sections may require you to select multiple answers to be correct, or to highlight portions of reading passages in your response. In another break from the past, analogies and antonyms have been eliminated. David Payne, ETS's vice president and chief operating officer for higher education, says this is a definite improvement. Testing vocabulary, out of context, is "really pretty far removed from what you'll actually be doing in graduate school," he says. The changes reflect an effort to create a test that admis12 USN&WR • BEST GRADUATE SCHOOLS

Shrum says test-takers will also appreciate the inclusion of new mini case studies, which will allow for more creative and open-ended responses. In fact, Shrum notes, these kinds of questions are very similar to what companies ask business students applying for jobs. The official GMAT site, www.mba.com, will offer more details on the new test questions in the coming months. But remember, Seltzer advises, "Your score on this test is not tattooed on your forehead at birth." As with the GRE, you can take the exam up to five times a year. Retaking the test can make sense for those applying to schools that have a formal policy of considering onlythe best score an applicant achieves.

Keep in mind that while the $250 GMAT remains the go-to
test for many M.B.A. applicants, an increasing number of business schools are now accepting the GRE in addition to the GMAT-or instead of it. But you'll want to check with each institution to determine its policy (and the weight given to each exam) before making a decision to take one or both. •
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Facing Heavy

Debt? Look for
Forgiveness
Repayment help is available to students in fields from law to medicine to math
BY BRIAN BURNSED
ram Onyema initially thought he would parlay his
Stanford law deg-ree into a career as a corporate lawyer. But he couldn't shake the urge to help the less fortunate in his parents' home country of Nigeria. So in 2005 he established a nonprofit foundation with his father to help build schools, recreational facilities, and hospitals there. Onyema hoped to work for the foundation till time after graduation in 2007-though more than $100,000 in law school debt wouldn't make it easy. Or so he feared. In fact, Stanford is paying back 85 percent of Onyema's loans. "I never really thought I'd work for a nonprofit full time. It didn't seem like it was feasible," Onyema says. Stanford's loan repayment assistance program "has been a lifesaver." The foundation hopes to break ground on its first hospital in Nigeria in late 2012. With student debt levels rising, and openings for jobs that can support repayment relatively scarce, students whose hearts lie in public service or the nonprofit arena are more in need than ever of loan forgiveness and loan repayment assistance programs (LRAPs). The median debt load of those receiving professional degrees in 2008 reached $79,836, according to Finaid.org; American Bar Association data show that the average student at a public law school borrows more than $ 71,000, and students at private schools borrow more than $91,000. While the median salary for 2009 law graduates who work at corporate firms is $130,000, the median for grads who took public interest jobs is only $42,800, according to NALP--the Association for Legal Career Professionals. The debt burden is even higher for medical students who graduated in 2010: $157,944 on average, the American Medical Association says. Not surprisingly, LRAPs and loan forgiveness programs offered by schools, states, and the federal government are popping up at an unparalleled rate. "It's critical when people are graduating with mortgage-sized $100,000-plus debts that they have some assistance if they're going to go into public service," says David Stern, executive director of Equal Justice Works, which provides public interest opporoanities and funding for lawyers who want to represent ÿxilnerable populations. In all, Stern estimates that about 100 law schools offer some form of repayment assistance to grads who go into public service or work for a nonprofit; some with flush cof8 USN&WR • BEST GRADUATE SCHOOLS

fers, like Harvard University, offer assistance to any student who lands a job with a low income, even if it's with a private firm. The programs typically award students an annual check covering a fixed percentage of their loan payments for that
year. Onyema, for example, ÿ receive a check for 85 percent

of the roughly $13,500 he owes everyyear for the 10-year duration of his repayment plan, assuming he sticks with public service. (Stanford offers 100 percent loan repayment help for people making less than $50,000 annually.) A 2010 Equal Justice Works study found that the average annual LRAP award is $3,900; about 5 percent of programs offer more than $10,000 annually. £ 9ÿ'ÿ ['gqtji.re,c]. While the law programs maybe the most visible, grad students in many fields will find themselves eligible for similar help, assuming they look. Legislators worried about the country's need for more workers in technical areas included a provision in the Higher Education Reauthorization and College Opportunity Act of 2008 that offers up to $10,000 in repayment assistance for mathematics, technology, and engineering students who work in a relevant field for five years. Unlike other government assistance programs, students needn't take a low-income or

public service job to qualify. Given that medical students who go on to specialized practices make far more than general practitioners-according to

the American Medical Group Association, the median salary
for internists in 2010 was $214,307, compared to $375,176 for dermatologists and $402,000 for cardiologists-a shortage of general and family physicians is developing nationwide (story, Page 46). To help attract more professionals into primary care, some states and the federal government's National Health SerANDV MCMILLAN FOR USN&WR

THE SYLVANIA, 6A., that offers advice on dealing with loan MEDICAL COMMUNITY debt. Madden laments the lack of a cenIS HELPING COVER tralized information hub for grad stuSIDNEY MORGAN'S dents on the loan forgiveness programs MED SCHOOL COSTS. available to them if they dream of-but fear the financial consequences of-taking a job in the public sector. For now, students must take it upon themselves to find relief that suits their needs. "Google is your best friend," says Betsy Mayotte, director of compliance and privacy at AStL 'ÿhere are a lot of individual, quirky programs out there." In a few moments of scouring the Internet, students can learn, for instance, that 19 states offer LRAP programs for veterinarians (source: the American Veterinary Medical Association) and that a federal program covers up to 85 percent of student loans for nurses who work at a nonprofit or university medical facility (source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which went into flfll effect in 2009, established a national loan forgiveness program that applies to all college graduates, but stands to be most beneficial to graduate and professional students carrying heavy debt burdens who earn relatively meager salaries. The program has two primary benefits. The first allows people whose loan payments would exceed 15 percent of their annual discretionary income (the difference between their gross income and 150 percent of the federal poverty line, which is currently $16,335

for an individual and $33,525 for a family of four) to make
vice Corps are offering generous loan forgiveness programs for physicians and nurse practitioners who are willing to practice internal or family medicine. In many cases, there is also help for people who choose to work in a rural or high-need area. The Rhode Island Primary Care Loan Forgiveness Program, for instance, offers up to $80,000 in relief over four years to till-time primary care physicians who work anywhere in the state. In Minnesota, those practicing in a pediatric, internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatric, or OB/GYN program in designated rural or urban areas can earn up to $100,000 in forgiveness for four years. Teachers get abreakfrom Uncle Sam, too. Federal Perkins and Stafford loans can be discharged over time if teachers choose to work in a school that serves low-income families, to teach special education, or to teach English as a second language. For Perkins loan recipients to attain fifll forgiveness, for instance, teachers must remain in a qualifying job for five years, though they can get partial forgiveness ffthey change their career track; Stafford loan assistance is capped at $17,500. Lan Ngo, who graduated from Teachers College at Columbia University in 2009 and began
teaching ESL students in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., soon after,

monthly payments based on their income rather than the size of the loan. Second, and perhaps most beneficial, all remaining debt is forgiven after a borrower has worked for 10 years (not necessarily consecutive) in the public service sector. 'ÿfou win the lottery," says Stern. The entrepreneurial approach can work well also. Some-

times, local officials in small towns with a dearth of sÿlled
professionals are willing to help fund a graduate student's education in return for the promise of future services. That kind of partnership is supporting Sidney Morgan, who grew up in Sylvania, Ga., population about 2,700. Before setting foot in his first medical school class at Mercer University's Macon campus in 2008, Morgan had a job all sewn up and an agreement in hand that would cover a good portion of the debt he would incur over the four years. When the local hospital and medical communitylearned that one of their own was planning on pursuing a career in medicine, they offered him $1,0o0 a month for every month of his schooling and residency. In return, Morgan promised to come back home and practice medicine for at least four years. Given that he was already considering doing just that, the choice was easy. Now, finishing his third year of medical school, Morgan is glad he isn't in the predicament of many of his peers, one of whom recently confided her concerns to him. "She asked, 'How am I going to pay for this?'" Morgan says. "People really are worried about it." His friend ÿ leave medical school owing about $250,000. •

plans on teaching for two years before pursuing a Ph.D. So she'll have 30 percent ofher Perkins loans forgiven under the program. Ngo says she lucked into the financial relief "oy accident," having learned about it from a friend only after she'd started teaching. Ngo is not alone in that regard, says Pare Madden, head of borrower advocacy at American Student Assistance, a nonprofit
V
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Stanford offers 100.percent 10an repayment help to law grads [n p ub[{c service making [ass than S50,000
USN&WR ° BEST GRADUATE SCHOOLS 9

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