Selective Colleges Research Articles

The effect of distance to colleges on application behaviour

ABSTRACT We find substantial differences in college applications for students who have equal college opportunities and prior achievement but vary in distance to the nearest selective and non-selective college. Students who live closer to a selective college are more likely to list prestigious programmes and colleges as their top choice. This results in differences in enrolment outcomes with the largest associations for those in the middle of the achievement distribution.

Does college selectivity reduce obesity? A partial identification approach.

We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to investigate whether the quality of tertiary education -measured by college selectivity-causally affects obesity prevalence in the medium run (by age 24-34) and in the longer run (about 10years later). We use partial identification methods, which allow us, while relying on weak assumptions, to overcome the potential endogeneity of college selectivity as well as the potential violation of the stable unit treatment value assumption due to students interacting with each other, and to obtain informative identification regions for the average treatment effect of college selectivity on obesity. We find that attending a more selective college causally reduces obesity, both in the medium and in the longer run. We provide evidence that the mechanisms through which the impact of college selectivity on obesity operates include an increase in income, a reduction in physical inactivity and in the consumption of fast food and sweetened drinks.

Leaving Performance-Oriented Goal (Ranking) Based Education To Improve Student Learning Motivation

Society believes that ranking can be extrinsic motivation for students to improve learning performance, achievement, and student achievement. Ranking also makes it easier for schools to find out the quality of schools, formulate policies, and select colleges to enter. On the other hand, ranking triggers "competition" not only among students, but also between parents. The pressure that children feel to always "achieve" in this case to win in class, is also getting higher. However, reflecting on the quality of Indonesian education, the rankings did not function as expected. This can be seen from the results of the 2018 PISA test which showed Indonesia was ranked 72nd out of 77 countries. The research aims to understand the purpose and effectiveness of the learning process based on performance-oriented goals in education and to find alternative learning methods that are more effective in motivating students through learning process orientation. The method used in this research is library research, namely research carried out by reading, studying and recording various literature or reading materials that are appropriate to the subject matter. The results of the study explain that basically ranking is no longer relevant for use in schools because it will encourage performance-oriented goals in students. This condition is exacerbated by the infrastructure, facilities, and number of teaching staff that are not in line with the existing learning demands. There is a need for a system change that is more oriented towards learning-oriented goals to maximize the learning process and revive students' interest in learning.

The role of letters of recommendation in perpetuating or challenging the social stratification of American secondary schools: a quantitative analysis of admission officer assessments in highly selective college admission

Admission to highly selective institutions offers a pathway to upward social mobility, particularly for low-resource students. However, entrenched wealth disparities in the United States present serious challenges for admission officers at highly selective institutions. Utilizing individualized holistic review (IHR), including letters of recommendation (LOR), and contextual consideration, highly selective institutions aim to account for wealth inequities. This quantitative analysis, conducted at a highly selective research university, examined 95,326 applicants across 4 years to explore if admission officers’ internal assessments of LORs relate to contextual independent variables beyond students’ control. Statistical methods, including ANOVA, Two-Way ANOVA, Chi-Square, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression, were employed, controlling for standard measures of academic readiness. Findings revealed higher LOR assessments for students facing greater contextual challenge levels, underscoring the ability of the admission process to identify high achieving students from high challenge contexts. Paradoxically, elevated LOR ratings were also observed for students from private and smaller schools, indicating a nuanced interplay of factors in the admission process. Importantly, LOR assessments significantly correlated with admission outcomes, emphasizing the pivotal role of LORs in highly selective college admissions. This study reveals the nuanced role of LORs in admissions, exposing their potential to tackle inequities. It calls for improved IHR training and heightened consideration of contextual variables, offering a crucial contribution to advancing equity in highly selective institutions, fostering more informed admission practices.

College Selectivity, Choice of Major, and Post-College Earnings

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><span style="font-size:16px"><span dir="ltr" lang="EN-US"><span style="color:black">College choice and choice of major are the most important decisions for future earnings. It is still unclear, however, what makes a greater difference—college or major—or whether a choice of college matters more for some majors, but not the others. Using cross-classified models and College Scorecard data, I show that a discipline is more consequential for future earnings than a college. The effect of STEM is substantial but is less pronounced at institutions with higher overall median earnings. The effect of college selectivity on earnings is more pronounced for non-STEM disciplines. Institutional characteristics—such as tuition, shares of graduates receiving different forms of financial aid, institutional size and location, and type of college—correlate with earnings of graduates. Racial and gender composition of an educational program correlate with expected earnings of its graduates even after control for other institutional and disciplinary characteristics. Models presented here provide a better understanding of the effect of college and major choices on future earnings.</span></span></span></span></p>

Unpacking the Gap: Socioeconomic Background and the Stratification of College Applications in the United States

While a substantial body of work has shown that higher-SES students tend to apply to more selective colleges than their lower-SES counterparts, we know relatively less about why students differ in their application behavior. In this study, we draw upon a sociological approach to educational stratification to unpack the SES-based gap in college application selectivity. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we examine the contribution of theoretical factors to the class-based gap in the selectivity of college applications. Namely, from the rational action model we estimate the contribution of performance differentials and choice differentials, while from the status attainment model we look at the level and type of educational expectations as well as the number of applications submitted. Through a series of Heckman selection models, as well as a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis, we can explain 85% of the gap in college application selectivity between students in the top and bottom SES quintiles. In turn, we estimate that 60% of this explained portion is due to rational action mechanisms such as grades and test scores while 35% is due to status attainment mechanisms. Finally, we reveal that SES moderates the relationship between type of expectations and application selectivity. We find that the payoff to higher expectations (in terms of selective applications) disproportionately accrues to higher-SES students.

The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants

There is debate over whether Asian American students face additional barriers, relative to white students, when applying to selective colleges. Here we present the results from analyzing 685,709 applications submitted over five application cycles to 11 highly selective colleges (the “Ivy-11”). We estimate that Asian American applicants had 28% lower odds of ultimately attending an Ivy-11 school than white applicants with similar academic and extracurricular qualifications. The gap was particularly pronounced for students of South Asian descent (49% lower odds). Given the high yield rates and competitive financial aid policies of the schools we consider, the disparity in attendance rates is likely driven, at least in part, by admissions decisions. In particular, we offer evidence that this pattern stems from two factors. First, many selective colleges give preference to the children of alumni in admissions. We find that white applicants were substantially more likely to have such legacy status than Asian applicants. Second, we identify geographic disparities potentially reflective of admissions policies that disadvantage students from certain regions of the United States. We hope these results inform discussions on equity in higher education.

Disparities in pre-health advising across California's public universities.

The Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. Harvard College is likely to result in the matriculation of fewer students from historically excluded racial/ethnic groups at more selective colleges and universities and matriculation of more students at less selective colleges and universities. Because of this, it is important to understand how resources for pre-health advising, a modifiable factor that can help increase the diversity of the health workforce, vary across institutions with differing levels of selectivity. Colleges are known to vary in resources, structure, and investment in pre-health advising but data are lacking and there is no estimate of any pre-health advising resource gap. To quantify availability of advising resources and identify perceived challenges in pre-health advising in California's highly diverse public and select private undergraduate institutions. Structured 60-minute Zoom interviews from June 2022 -October 2022 at 18/23 CSU (California State Universities), 9/9 University of California (UC) institutions and 6 select private institutions with varying levels of selectivity. Two investigators independently analyzed interviews using a Grounded Theory Approach. The full study team reviewed transcripts and themes. Pre-health advisor capacity varied greatly across the three types of institutions. CSU: mean = 1 FTE advisor: 24,620 graduates (range: 1: 1,059-1: 150,520); UC mean = 1 FTE advisor: 4,526 graduates (range: 1: 1,912-1: 10,920); private institutions mean = 1 FTE advisor:1,794 graduates (range: 1: 722-1: 5,300). Participants reported common challenges: advising capacity, lack of advisor training, advisor turnover, and student difficulties in accessing clinical opportunities and required coursework. CSU and UC participants noted that these had greatest impact for first generation and racially/ethnically underrepresented students for whom lack of informal professional networks, lack of other mentors, and financial responsibilities complicate college navigation and professional school application. Students at CSU campuses had 5 times less access to pre-health advising per graduate than UC students, and 13 times less than students at private institutions. Much greater investment is needed in California's public institutions, particularly CSUs, to increase equity in access to advising for pre-health professional students. Research should examine pre-health advising resource capacity in other states, especially those that are now facing race-neutral admissions policies at undergraduate institutions and health professions schools.

Helping High-Achieving, Low-Income, Black Students Gain Admission Into America’s Elite Colleges: Considerations for School Counselors

The recent decision by the United States Supreme Court to limit affirmative action in college admissions could make it even more challenging for academically talented students of color to gain access to competitive schools. The importance of school counselors in guiding and supporting these students is now more crucial than ever. This qualitative study aimed to determine what school counselors need to know, do, and believe to help academically talented, Black students from low-income households gain admission into highly selective colleges and universities. Three broad themes and 10 subthemes emerged from the data analysis. The themes were (a) knowledge and awareness, (b) mindsets and beliefs, and (c) habits and practices. Implications for school counselor practice, training, and research are discussed.

The impact of attending a more selective college on future income

There have been many debates regarding legacy preferences, recruited athletes, and affirmative action in the U.S. college admission system. These issues hinge upon the premise that being accepted into a more selective institution would result in higher future earnings for graduates. We hypothesized that graduating from a more selective college could increase a student’s future earnings by providing students with more learning resources, connections, and opportunities. If this is the case, then we expected there to be a significant positive correlation between college selectivity and future earnings even after accounting for selection bias, as more selective schools tend to admit students who already demonstrate characteristics correlated with future success. We used weighted linear regressions to determine if college selectivity is a significant indicator of future income based on institutional level data from students entering college in 2001. Before controlling for measurable student characteristics before enrollment, attending a more selective college appeared to have a significant positive effect on future income. However, when we adjusted for measurable student characteristics such as SAT scores, race, gender, major choice, and parental income, the selectivity of the college attended became statistically insignificant. Thus, attending a selective school may not have a significant effect on the median predicted income of students, meaning that programs influencing college admissions, like affirmative action, may not have significant effects of future incomes.

Race Preferences, Diversity, and Students for Fair Admissions: A New Day, a New Clarity

This Article traces the legal path to the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and the University of North Carolina (2023), from the famous Bakke case in 1978 to the Grutter decision twenty-five years later. It reviews the shifting fortunes of the “diversity” rationale for racial preferences in higher education and assesses the widening—rather than narrowing—gulf between the Court’s majority and the dissenting Justices on the issue of racial preferences. After half a century of closely contested Supreme Court decisions, some of them seeming to point in opposing directions, others relying on fragmented pluralities among the Justices, the Court, by a 6–3 majority, has now set out a clear resolution. The Court struck down the Harvard and UNC admissions policies, which like those at many selective colleges and universities, applied different standards—often dramatically different standards—depending on the race or ethnicity of the applicant. Racial preferences by government or government-funded bodies are now under a strong presumption of illegality, notwithstanding claims that they are benign. Such preferences in higher education—and implicitly in other areas—will be very difficult or impossible to defend from here on in light of the Court’s decision. However sharp the disagreement between the majority and dissenting Justices, perhaps all sides in the country at large have reason to be grateful for the clarity of the Supreme Court’s decision. It is to be hoped that the decision will lead to better policies in higher education and elsewhere, and to less division on the basis of race and identity in American life.

Shifting Tides: The Evolution of Racial Inequality in Higher Education from the 1980s through the 2010s.

Amid the proliferation of state-level bans on race-based affirmative action in higher education, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on June 29, 2023, dismantled race-conscious college admission policies, intensifying concerns about the persistence and potential increase of racial inequality in higher education. The authors analyze four restricted-use national survey datasets to investigate racial disparities in college attendance outcomes from the 1980s through the 2010s. Although college entrance rates increased for all racial groups, Black and Hispanic youth became increasingly less likely than their White peers to attend four-year selective colleges. In the 2010s cohort, Black and Hispanic youth were 8 and 7 percentage points, respectively, less likely than their White counterparts to secure admission to four-year selective colleges, even after controlling for parents' income, education, and other family background variables. The findings underscore the urgent need for proactive policy interventions to address the widening racial inequality in attending selective postsecondary institutions.

Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Low‐Income, First‐Generation Students' Perceptions of College Administrative Support

Selective colleges have become more attentive to, and publicly supportive of, low‐income and first‐generation (LIFG) students over the last 20 years. However, despite claims of support, LIFG students report lower senses of campus belonging, satisfaction, and other important outcomes than do more affluent peers, suggesting a disjuncture between expressed and perceived support. This article draws on data gathered from 33 interviewees across 18 campuses, each of whom is from a low‐income and/or first‐generation background and involved in campus advocacy supporting LIFG students, to examine three questions: To what extent did interviewees perceive a disjuncture between campus stated support and meaningful support for LIFG students? What meaning did they draw from this disjuncture? Finally, what informed their perceptions? The findings show that interviewees indeed perceived a substantial disjuncture between expression and experience of support, which they interpreted as evidence that administrative support was disingenuous. This perception was driven by negative messages from administrators' words and actions.

Employment and the Structure of Colleges as Barriers to College Match and Degree Completion for Latinx First-Generation College Students

ABSTRACT Undermatching, or students attending less selective colleges than they are academically qualified to attend, is seen as a contributing factor to the lagging college completion rate of low-income and first-generation college students. Addressing the mismatch has been mainly limited to the individual level. Through analysis of interview and longitudinal school administrative data with aspiring first-generation college low-income Latinx youth who started preparing to attend college in middle school, we find that the need to work, which students started doing in high school, was a major factor in students’ undermatching. We show how employment collides with the structure of colleges as racialized organizations (Ray, 2019), especially matching colleges with high graduation rates. Selective colleges did not provide the support students needed to address their financial situations, and students attending schools to which they undermatched required more assistance navigating work and schools to stop them from dropping out. We also discuss program and policy solutions to address the low college completion rates of Latinx first-generation college students more fully as well as how to better support their need to work.

대학입시 공정성에 대한 미디어 담론 분석: 학생부종합전형을 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to reveal the discourses of fairness germane to the college admission systems. To do so, the study paid close attention to the comprehensive student record screening (the so-called Hakjong in Korean), a revised version of the college admissions officer system in South Korea. To analyze the varigated public opinion son fairness entwined deeply in the college admission systems, I conducted a critical discours eanalysis (CDA) of newspaper articles published in South Korea. In so doing, I illustrated three interrelated discourses: (a) the evaluations of students’ potentials, (b) the competitions for various qualifications (i.e., spec, a widely used term in South Korea) to get admissions from the highly selective colleges, and (c) the Hakjong (the comprehensive student record screening) versus the CSAT (the College Scholastic Ability Test). Furthermore, the order of discourses of fairness overarching these interrelated discourses is intimately attached to powerful ideologies (e.g., neoliberalism and meritocracy) in, but not limited to, Korean society/societies. Based upon CDA, this study articulates a crucial point: the order of discourses of fairness germane to the college admission systems serves crucial roles to (re)shape unequal relations of power that perpetuate social inequality in South Korea. This work, by doing so, offers insights to address various critical issues related to the fields of education as well as the college admission systems in South Korea.

Translating Authentic Selves into Authentic Applications: Private College Consulting and Selective College Admissions

Stratification in selective college admissions persists even as colleges’ criteria for evaluating merit have multiplied in efforts to increase socioeconomic and racial diversity. Middle-class and affluent families increasingly turn to privatized services, such as private college consulting, to navigate what they perceive to be a complicated and opaque application process. How independent educational consultants (IECs) advise students can thus serve as a lens for understanding how the rules of college admissions are interpreted and taught to students. Through 50 in-depth interviews with IECs, I find that IECs encourage students to be authentic by being true to themselves but that demonstrating authenticity requires attention to how one’s authentic self will be perceived. Translating an authentic self into an authentic application also involves class-based and racialized considerations, particularly for Asian American students who are susceptible to being stereotyped as inauthentic. These findings suggest that efforts to improve diversity must be carefully implemented, or they risk reproducing inequality.

Closure and matching payoffs from college majors

Abstract This article examines the undergraduate major as a closure mechanism in occupations among college graduates, using the American Community Surveys. We measure the college major density of occupations, termed “major specialization”, finding that greater major specialization of an occupation is associated with higher earnings, over and above previously identified closure devices (licensure, unionization, and vertical educational credentialing), and college selectivity. We conclude that major specialization operates as a powerful earnings-boosting closure device within higher-educated labor markets. Additional analyses regarding premiums from individuals matching their own college major with their occupation’s typical major indicate comparatively small earnings payoffs. Hence, deviating from one’s occupation’s usual credential does not generate a substantial earnings penalty. Furthermore, payoffs from major-occupation matching have a ceiling: there is no further payoff above the average match level. These findings demonstrate how occupational closure theory helps explain the substantial earnings advantages of certain college majors in the labor force.

고등교육 내 수평적 계층화와 청년 노동시장 성과의 분화: 대학 서열, 전공, 젠더의 측면에서 본 현황 및 추이

고등교육 내 수평적 계층화와 청년 노동시장 성과의 분화: 대학 서열, 전공, 젠더의 측면에서 본 현황 및 추이

Comment on “What Can Students Gain from China's Higher Education?”

Li et al. (2023) use a unique dataset collected from a large-scale survey conducted by the authors to study college students in China. The data provide many interesting and new descriptive statistics about college students, such as their technical certificates received, their internship experiences, and so on. Their study examines how different mechanisms, including human capital, social network, and signaling, help explain the returns to a college education. The human capital measures include grade point average (GPA), technical certificates, etc. Social networks are measured by Communist Party membership, participation in a student union, parental income and education. Students' skills possessed before enrolling in college such as the type of college enrolled in are assumed to be related to signaling. Li et al.'s main findings are: (i) human capital is the least useful in raising the starting salary; (ii) social networks are a strong predictor; and (iii) signaling matters. Li et al. suggest the need to reform the higher education system in China. A novel contribution of Li et al. (2023) is their investigation of the channels explaining the labor market effects of higher education. It complements similar studies that use data from other countries with more sophisticated causality analyses. For example, Dale and Krueger (2002) compare students who attended more selective colleges and those who had seemingly comparable ability but chose to attend less-selective ones and found that they obtained similar earnings in general. Black and Smith (2006) measure college quality with multiple proxies and find that existing studies understated the wage effect of college quality. Zhong (2011) finds that significant return gaps exist between high-ranked and low-ranked college in China. Li et al. (2023) use students' wages for their first job to measure the effect of human capital. A potential issue with the wage for the first job is the quality of the job match. It is known that job turnover rates for new college graduates are very high. For example, Takeshita et al. (2022) find that the turnover rate for new college graduates is around 20% within a year in Japan. In China, 34% of college graduates leave their first job within 1 year.1 Therefore, the first job may not reflect a person's true human capital due to the potential wage penalty of the mismatch (Sellami et al., 2017). This study is limited by the data, yet it would be helpful to discuss more of the implications regarding this issue. As Li et al. also acknowledge, the three mechanisms that determine wages are represented by variables that may overlap for the different mechanisms. For example, the involvement in a student union may be related to their non-cognitive abilities, such as openness, a part of human capital. For the signaling mechanism, the type of school that a student enrolled in has a signaling effect but may also represent the quantity and quality of learning. Although there is some ad hoc flavor in classifying those variables into three channels, the findings about those individual variables still provide useful information. Li et al. (2023) use standardized scores for college GPA. It is possible that the GPA in a top-ranked college is generally lower than in a low-ranked college. By pooling those scores together, the standardized scores may distort their relative magnitudes and their relationship with wages. Li et al. control for college fixed effects and the results still show that GPA is insignificant. Additional explanations could include that an incremental change of GPA does not influence wages, but a large change may do so, such as an increase from a low to a high GPA. Even within the same school, the comparability of GPA can still be problematic due to, for example, possible grade inflation in “soft” subjects. Whether GPA has any effect on earnings should have very important implications and thus warrant further investigation, for example, applying additional techniques to make them comparable and better reflect the true learning. In sum, Li et al. (2023) present new facts and findings about college students in China. They provide useful information for policy makers and will help further research.

A Möbius Model of Racialized Organizations: Durability of Racial Inequalities in Admissions

ABSTRACT This study focuses on how admissions at selective colleges and universities represent key racialized organizations. We analyzed data from 50 individual interviews of admissions professionals, through a theory of racialized organizations to recognize admissions as practices that consistently reproduces systemic inequities. We reveal how organizational structures centering an array of institutional priorities can maintain the systemic reproduction of intersectional racial inequalities, by privileging priorities like budgetary constraints, geographic diversity, and other interests, minimizing racial diversity as a priority. Our study bears key implications for future research and practice, by demonstrating that much like a Möbius strip, admissions organizations are difficult to fundamentally change for diversity and equity goals. Even with seemingly dramatic alterations to practices (e.g. test-optional policies) in isolation, Möbius strips generally maintain their structure. Institutional priorities, especially fiscal priorities, maintain the durability in racially unequal admissions outcomes through logics of racial capitalism. Unless institutional priorities fundamentally change, admissions processes will likely continue to reproduce inequalities. Research and systemic change efforts in college admissions should go beyond focusing on isolated elements (e.g. test requirements) and approaches to admissions (e.g. percent plans) to confront admissions and enrollment management systems, by interrogating underlying institutional logics and routines.