A broad understanding of the skills and characteristics associated with successful performance in graduate school was developed through discussions with two groups of distinguished graduate faculty members, 15 in all. The first group consisted of psychologists with expertise in cognition and assessment. The second group was composed of faculty from other fields. These discussions had four major outcomes. The first was a characterization of the graduate education process as a form of apprenticeship that was suggestive of the kinds of skills and characteristics that contribute to success in many graduate programs. The second outcome was the identification of critical skills associated with scholarly and professional competence not currently measured by graduate admissions tests. A tentative list of the following seven competencies was developed: (1) communication; (2) creativity; (3) explanation; (4) motivation; (5) planning; (6) professionalism; and (7) synthesis. The last two outcomes concerned the assessment of these competencies through discipline-specific simulation testing and exercises that would allow students to display the identified competencies. An appendix lists the faculty consultants. (Contains 1 table and 42 references.) (Author/SLD)