Diversity in Physics: Impact of Using Minimum Acceptable GRE Scores for Graduate Admissions

About 180 graduate programs in physics are listed in the AIP Graduate Programs book. $\sim$ 96{\%} require the general GRE test; a quarter of these have an explicitly stated minimum score for admission, with the median stated cut-off being 700 (64$^{\mathrm{th}}$ percentile) on GRE Quantitative; $\sim$ 48{\%} require the physics GRE; about half of these have an explicitly stated minimum score for admission, with the median being 600 (32$^{\mathrm{nd}}$ percentile). It does not seem unreasonable to expect students to be among the top test scorers, until you dissect the test results by race and gender. In this talk, I will present data showing that the use of minimum acceptable scores on the GRE exam will have (have had?) a negative impact on diversity in Physics. I will remind the community that this practice is in opposition to ETS's Guide to the Use of Scores. I will make some suggestions for admissions committees, based in part on analyses I have performed. I will then pose challenges related to reducing the influence of GRE scores to the community, ranging from the department and university administration, to ranking bodies and professional societies.