  One argument for keeping the physics GRE is that it can help applicants who
might otherwise be missed in the admissions process stand out. In this work, we
evaluate whether this claim is supported by physics graduate school admissions
decisions. We used admissions data from five PhD-granting physics departments
over a 2-year period (N=2537) to see how the fraction of applicants admitted
varied based on their physics GRE scores. We compared applicants with low GPAs
to applicants with higher GPAs, applicants from large undergraduate
universities to applicants from smaller undergraduate universities, and
applicants from selective undergraduate institutions to applicants from less
selective undergraduate institutions. We also performed a mediation and
moderation analysis to provide statistical rigor and to better understand the
previous relationships. We find that for applicants who might otherwise have
been missed (e.g. have a low GPA or attended a small or less selective school)
having a high physics GRE score did not seem to increase the applicant's
chances of being admitted to the schools. However, having a low physics GRE
score seemed to penalize otherwise competitive applicants. Thus, our work
suggests that the physics GRE does not, in fact, help applicants who might
otherwise be missed stand out.
