Is GRE Required for Masters in USA? What US Universities Say

No US law or national rule requires the GRE for a master's: each university, and often each department, decides for itself. Several well-known programmes now say the GRE is "not required" or "optional", but some still require it from every applicant, and the Fulbright scholarship for Pakistani students requires it whatever your university says.

So the real answer is "check each programme's own admissions page." Below are official examples, read on 27 October 2026, that show the full range at two large universities, and what a Pakistani applicant should check before booking or skipping the test.

Programmes that don't ask for the GRE

• MIT, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. MIT's graduate admissions page for EECS says the GRE is "Not required". It still asks international applicants for IELTS (minimum 7) or TOEFL iBT (minimum 100), says it prefers IELTS, and says an English test waiver may be available. The deadline is 1 December, and the application fee is $90.
• Purdue University, Computer Science. Purdue's CS admission requirements say: "GRE is NOT required." The page doesn't separate master's and PhD applicants, so the rule applies to both.

If every programme on your list says this, you can put your preparation time into your statement of purpose, references and English test instead.

Programmes where the GRE is optional

"Optional" means you can apply without a score, but a good one may still help.

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Mechanical Science and Engineering. The MechSE requirements page says the GRE "is not required for the admission application, but a student may elect to submit their scores." It asks for TOEFL iBT 103 or IELTS 7.5 for full admission, and TOEFL 90 or IELTS 6.5 for limited admission with an English test on arrival.
• Illinois, Civil and Environmental Engineering. The CEE admissions page says GRE scores are "currently optional for all CEE graduate school applicants", but it strongly recommends them for PhD applicants and recommends them for some master's applicants. Scores are valid if taken within five years of the start of your programme.

When a page says "recommended" for your track, treat it as close to required, especially if you are hoping for a scholarship or assistantship from the department.

Programmes that still require the GRE

• Purdue, Industrial Engineering. The Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering's GRE page says the GRE is "Required for all applicants", with no waiver listed.

So two departments at the same university, Purdue, have opposite rules. That is why a list of "US universities without GRE" from a blog or an agent is not safe to rely on: the rule is set by the programme, and it can change from one year to the next. Purdue's Graduate School says admission "begins within the specific academic program to which you apply" (Purdue Graduate School).

Is GRE required for Fulbright?

Yes. If you plan to apply through Fulbright, the GRE is not optional. The USEFP Fulbright page says "The Graduate Record Examination (GRE General) is required for all applicants," with at least 145 in each section and a higher score expected in the section closest to your field. It also says selected candidates take the TOEFL. USEFP offers up to 30 GRE fee reimbursements for applicants from HEC-approved public universities who score at least 300 (engineering and sciences) or 290 (humanities and social sciences), requested with a complete application. The last round closed on 1 April 2026.

So a student who wants Fulbright should plan the GRE even if every university on the list has dropped it. Our Fulbright scholarship page has the other requirements.

Is GRE required for PhD in the USA?

The same rule applies: each programme decides. MIT EECS and Purdue CS don't ask for it at any level, while Illinois CEE strongly recommends it for PhD applicants. Some economics PhDs, such as Harvard's and MIT's, require it; our GRE guide lists those examples. PhD applications are usually funded through assistantships, so read our article on the cost of living in the USA to see how far a stipend goes.

Does a GRE help if it is optional?

The official pages above don't say how much weight an optional score carries, and we won't guess. What they do show is that some departments recommend it for certain applicants, especially PhD and funding candidates. If your CGPA is lower than you would like, or your degree is from a university the admissions committee may not know, a strong quantitative score is one more piece of evidence you can offer. If you do take it, the GRE guide covers the current format, fee and test centres in Pakistan.

Your next step

Make a list of every US programme and scholarship you plan to apply to. Open each one's admissions page and write down whether the GRE is required, optional, recommended or not used, plus its English test minimum and deadline. If even one important option, such as Fulbright, requires the GRE, book it early enough to retake it. Then use our eligibility tool and the Study in the USA guide to plan the rest. Each university's own page is the final word on its rules.