Industry certifications as program entrance requirements?

Question

I've noticed several academic programs that require, or accept in lieu of more traditional entrance evaluations, industry credentials for admissions.

Is there a comparative analysis of programs that allow industry licensing/certification versus those that adhere to more traditional entrance requirements like the GRE?

The specific credential that I'm thinking of is the CISSP (1). This certification has been eligible for transfer credit equivalency for some time (2), but I've only recently seen the certification as an admissions requirement (3) for an academic program.

Some data points that I would would be interested in are:

• How do examinations, such as GSE/CISSP/CISM/etc, compare to the GRE in terms of overall academic preparedness?
• Is there is measurable difference in the comparative difficulty between the different categories of examinations?
• If you've taken both types of examination, industry and academic, is one class of examination better or worse for gauging candidates, and why?

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Refs:

1. The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is an industry standard credential and certification.

2. For example: American Public University System (private, for-profit) and Walsh College, MI (private, non-profit)

3. Capitol College, just one of several examples.

Answer 1

Is there a comparative analysis of programs that allow industry licensing/certification versus those that adhere to more traditional entrance requirements like the GRE?

I am not aware of a formal analysis of the differences. One could probably divide graduate programs into two camps, with some gray area between. In a really general sense, academic research doesn't prepare you for industry jobs and industry jobs do not prepare you for research. Therefore, the two type of graduate programs are research targeted and industry targeted. I would argue that any program that accepts/requires/weights industry certifications falls into the industry targeted camp. The two camps are so different that trying to compare across them is silly.

As to your other questions

How do examinations, such as GSE/CISSP/CISM/etc, compare to the GRE in terms of overall academic preparedness?

Is there is measurable difference in the comparative difficulty between the different categories of examinations?

If you've taken both types of examination, industry and academic, is one class of examination better or worse for gauging candidates, and why?

Standardized tests in general are pretty rubbish metrics and that is why most admission committees also request transcripts, essays and recommendations. The GRE is likely marginally better at predicting success in research targeted programs and the industry exams will be marginally better at predicting success in industry targeted programs. As for difficulty, it really depends on the experience of the individual. Is an History exam more or less difficult than a Math exam?

Yes, but it depends on the individual. Individuals with an industry background will likely find the industry tests easier than the GRE, while those following a research based academic career path will likely find the GRE easier than the industry exams.