The Role of High School Connections to Colleges in Adolescents' Transitions to Higher Education

Abstract

With most adolescents now aspiring to graduate from college, assisting students in making the transition has become a key institutional function of high schools. Information about the application process is especially important for college entrance as admissions criteria are localized. Gaining access to information is one of the most important benefits of social capital. This study asks whether high schools with more connections to colleges are more successful in helping their students gain admission to college and, in particular, to selective four-year colleges. This study investigates the effects of having connections to colleges at a high school on students' college entry. This study also shows that actions taken by individual families bring about a contextual effect of a high school on the college selectivity that students attended in the same high school. These effects also mediate the relationship between school socioeconomic composition and enrollment in selective colleges.