Graduate study is ideally characterized by intellectual curiosity and the desire to contribute to human knowledge. It is much more than a mere continuation of undergraduate work and should be contemplated only by those students who have demonstrated in their earlier studies exceptional intellectual ability and the capacity for independent thought and investigation.

For this reason, practically all graduate schools exercise some type of selectivity in their admission of students. Selective entrance requirements are partly for the maintenance of the high standards that must always characterize graduate study and partly for the benefit of students in helping them decide early whether they should undertake such work.

The Graduate School of Texas Tech University recognizes its obligation both to the standards mentioned above and to the citizens of Texas by requiring appropriate evidence of an applicant's intellectual ability and reserves the right to decline to accept any applicant whose admission would not be to his or her best interest or that of the University.