Honest answer
Which MS abroad programs actually waive the GRE in 2026?
Numbers last checked: 2026-07-09
Short answer
Across our 14 verified programs, the GRE picture is split by country, not by prestige: 6 programs treat it as optional (mostly US and Canada), while 2 - both in Germany - require it outright. No UK or Australian program in our set lists a GRE requirement at all. "Optional" is doing real work here, though: for borderline profiles it can still tip an admit decision, so don't read "optional" as "irrelevant."
Where the GRE is genuinely optional
Carnegie Mellon University, Arizona State University, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, plus University of Waterloo in Canada, all list the GRE as optional or not required. That's a real trend since the pandemic - most US CS/DS admissions committees now say a strong GPA, relevant projects, and good recommendation letters can substitute for a test score.
"Optional" is not the same as "doesn't matter." Committees at reach-tier programs (a Carnegie Mellon-tier admit, for instance) still see a strong GRE from applicants with a borderline GPA or an unfamiliar university's grading scale - it's a lever you can pull if your transcript needs help, not one you're required to pull.
Where it's still mandatory
Both German programs in our set require it: Technical University of Munich requires GRE/GATE specifically for applicants from India, and RWTH Aachen University requires a GRE Quant score in the 75th percentile or higher - unusual for a German university, and easy to miss if you're assuming "Germany is GRE-free" from older advice.
The UK and Australian programs in our set (UCL, Manchester, Melbourne, UNSW) don't ask for the GRE at all - their admissions bar runs entirely on GPA and English-proficiency scores instead.
What this means for your prep
Don't default to "skip the GRE" or "definitely take it" as a blanket strategy - check the specific program's grePolicy first, since it varies by country and even within the same country. If your shortlist includes RWTH or TUM, GRE prep is non-negotiable regardless of what you decide for your US applications.
Verify these numbers yourself
- GRE policy per program: official admissions pages for each of the 14 verified programs at truthpathms.com
Costs, salaries, and visa rules change - always confirm against the official program page before making a real decision. TruthPathMS aggregates and cites; it does not originate tuition, salary, or visa data.
Related: Why admit odds alone shouldn't drive this decision
What should you check next?
If this answered the question you arrived with, these are usually the next three.
- 1
Does your CGPA clear the bar for the programmes you want?
Two conversion methods, plus the verified programmes whose published minimum that value clears. convert your CGPA.
- 2
Are you comparing two specific programmes?
Cost, starting salary, payback and visa runway side by side, from per-programme figures rather than rank-band estimates. the verified comparisons.
- 3
Is the acceptance rate doing the work you think it is?
We measured rank against published admission bars across 35 programmes and found essentially no relationship. why acceptance rates mislead.
- 4
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