Personal Potential Index (PPI) FAQ
- What is the Personal Potential Index (PPI)?
- What does the PPI measure?
- Why should an applicant submit a PPI evaluation report?
- How much will it cost?
- How do I sign up for the PPI?
- How does the PPI evaluation report differ from letters of recommendation?
- How should an applicant select evaluators?
- What if the evaluators don’t speak English?
- How to submit a PPI report to UGA?
What is the Personal Potential Index (PPI)?
The Personal Potential Index (PPI) is a web-based evaluation tool designed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to provide a more complete picture of an applicant’s potential for success in graduate study. The applicant selects three to five evaluators who rate the applicant on six different personal attributes recognized as key to graduate student success. The individual evaluations and comments are incorporated into a single report by ETS, and the PPI report is sent to graduate institutions chosen by the applicant. An applicant can choose to have the PPI report sent to as many as four institutions free of charge, if the applicant registers for the PPI at the time that registration for the GRE general test is done.
What does the PPI measure?
The six key attributes measured by your evaluators in the PPI include:
- Knowledge and creativity
- Communication skills
- Teamwork
- Resilience
- Planning and organization
- Ethics and integrity
Each category contains four statements for which an evaluator provides a numerical score and comments. The evaluation report provides the scores and comments for each evaluator, as well as the mean ratings of all the evaluators for each category. In addition, an overall evaluation rating is provided. There is no minimum score requirement by the Graduate School. Individual graduate programs may choose how they wish to use the PPI evaluation report in their admissions process. The PPI report is most valuable when considered along with other components of an application package.
Why should an applicant submit a PPI evaluation report?
Graduate educators recognize that grades and test scores alone do not offer the complete picture of an applicant’s potential. Other personal dimensions such as communication skills, ethics & integrity, teamwork and resilience are critical to degree completion and a high quality graduate experience. Registration for the PPI is simple and requires no action on the applicant’s part other than providing the contact information of the evaluators. Completion of the PPI by the evaluators takes less than 20 minutes. Submission of the PPI report may be particularly valuable to applicants who feel that their GPA and/or GRE scores do not accurately reflect their potential for successful graduate study.
How much will it cost?
An applicant may request the PPI evaluation report be sent to as many as four graduate/professional institutions for free, as long as it is done when the applicant registers for the GRE general test. If you have already taken the GRE, and created your GRE account after May 1, 2009 you can still register for the PPI and request up to four reports free of charge. Additional reports will cost $20.00 each. If your GRE account was created prior to May 1, 2009, or you do not plan to take the GRE but, still wish to request the PPI report, the cost is $20.00 each.
How do I sign up for the PPI?
To create your PPI applicant account follow this link http://www.ets.org/ppi. You will be instructed to create a username and password, and asked to provide personal identification and contact information. If you registered for the GRE General Test after May 1, 2009 or the GRE revised General test, be sure to enter your name exactly as it appears in your registration to ensure that you receive your four free evaluation reports.
How does the PPI evaluation report differ from letters of recommendation?
The PPI and letters of recommendation are valuable but distinct tools in the assessment of an applicant’s potential for success in a graduate program. Because of this distinction, we still require applicants to submit letters of recommendation, in addition to recommending the PPI. Letters of recommendation are extremely valuable in the admissions process, particularly when they come from professors, mentors and supervisors with whom you have had frequent interaction. Individual letters can be quite diverse, often concentrating on a few attributes that are relevant to the interaction between the applicant and the evaluator. The PPI report standardizes evaluations by compiling the responses of multiple evaluators to a common set of structured statements and incorporating all of the evaluators’ responses into the ratings report. PPI evaluations remain in your ETS PPI account for five years.
How should an applicant select evaluators?
The process used to select PPI evaluators is similar to the selection of evaluators to write letters of recommendation. Applicants should choose professors, or other academic professionals and supervisors who can accurately comment on an applicant’s personal skills and potential for success in graduate school. It is important to note that the PPI evaluation report is most effective when three or more evaluators participate in the process. Five evaluators is the maximum for an individual report, although applicants may add contact information for up to 25 evaluators to their PPI account if necessary. Applicants should contact potential evaluators to confirm their willingness to participate before adding evaluator contact information to their ETS PPI account.
What if the evaluators don’t speak English?
Translations of the PPI evaluator statements are provided by ETS in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish language to assist non-English speaking evaluators. Comments entered by evaluators must be entered in English.
How to submit a PPI report to UGA?
Once all the evaluators have completed their evaluations, the applicant must sign into the ETS PPI system and select the institutions to receive the report, and the evaluations to include in each report. The UGA institutional code for ETS reporting is 5813. A minimum allowance of 15 business days is recommended for processing and delivery of the PPI report to institutions within the Continental United States.
