Selecting Tomorrow’s Forensic Psychologists: a Fresh Look at Some Familiar Predictors

Abstract

The present study examined the use of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE-Verbal and GRE-Quantitative) and undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) to predict long-term performance in an MA program in forensic psychology. The criterion measures were graduate grade point average (GGPA) and time to completion (TTC). Data were available for 206 graduates. Regression analysis indicated that a linear combination of GRE-V, GRE-Q, and UGPA correlated 0.63 with GGPA. Predictive efficiency was reduced by only 2% of the variance when GRE subscores are combined into a total score. The correlation with TTC was smaller ( R = 0.31) but nonetheless translated into meaningful differences in student performance. Most noteworthy, GRE scores and UGPA appear to predict better for forensic psychology than for social sciences in general.