This paper directs itself primarily to an examination of the relationship between educational opportunity and the overall organization of higher education. The first part of this paper is concerned with the current meaning of educational opportunity and the major issues involved in its implementation. These are: (1) the functions of higher…

The available objective evidence suggests that the accuracy of predicting which students will succeed in a particular graduate school is often no better than modest, especially if such predictions are based only upon a test or a grade record. Taken together these two types of predictors do a reasonably good job, considering the restricted range of…

Statistics show that the number of student transfers has now doubled the number of entering freshmen at 4-year institutions. To acquire representative national data on the kinds of students who transfer and what determines whether they are admitted or not, a survey was made of 146 selected colleges that closely represent 4-year accredited…

Attempts to measure personal qualities in admissions are often inadequate because of poor understanding of the admissions process. Results of a major study illustrate the different objectives in admissions and how use of personal qualities might be improved. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to describe the degree of accessibility of all higher education institutions in the country and to estimate the proportion of various populations living within commuting distance of those colleges judged easily accessible or free-access institutions. The main idea was to put together an analysis of educational…

A major new project, sponsored jointly by the College Board and ETS, which aims to clarify which personal qualities can best supplement academic measures to predict a student's success in college, is reported. Three types of studies that will be undertaken are admissions studies, validity/retention studies and assessment studies. (Author/MLW)

The purpose of the study was to compare college admission decisions concerning handicapped and nonhandicapped applicants with comparable Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and high school grades (HSG). The study focused on 1,539 handicapped students who applied to 121 institutions that participated in the College Entrance Examination Board's…

The main purpose of this paper is to facilitate discussion of important issues concerning validity and to work toward a framework that the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board Research Committee will find useful in assigning priorities and initiating projects. The background, scope, and meaning of the concept of the "validity" of the…

The relationship among preadmission characteristics of students, admission policies, and different measures of success during college was studied at nine colleges: Bucknell University, Colgate University, Hartwick College, Kalamazoo College, Kenyon College, Occidental College, Ohio Wesleyan University, University of Richmond, and Williams College.…

The extent to which personal and academic factors are important in college admission decisions was studied in 1978, based on data on 25,000 applicants to 9 colleges (Colgate University, Williams College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Kenyon College, Kalamazoo College, Occidental College, Hartwick College, University of Richmond, and Bucknell…