This dissertation examines how first-generation high school Students of Color from California's San Joaquin Valley navigate digital marketing and advertising during their college search and application processes, offering a timely contribution to the study of college admissions in a post-affirmative action landscape. Higher education institutions…

This study explores why African American first-year students admitted to the University of California Davis decline their offer of admissions. The objective is to help the University successfully achieve their goal of supporting greater diversity and representation of students from historically underrepresented minority communities and…

This study examined the experience of relocating to the United States for a select group of students, third culture kids (TCKs), so the factors that may assist higher education professionals as they seek to support these students in their personal development through their college years would be understood. The research question used to drive the…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established with the main objective of identifying and empowering people of African descent. Over the years, these institutions have grown, enrolling 16% of Black high school graduates and during graduation, almost 20% of African-American graduates. Using a qualitative study design, the…

"Undermatching" refers to college ready students who select and enroll in colleges with selectivity levels significantly lower than their academic profile, resulting in attending a non-competitive college, a two-year college, or foregoing applying to college altogether. The current research trend examining the topic of Undermatching…

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships among perceived risk, perceived knowledge, education, age, and international students' external information search behavior in terms of extent of information search, types of information searched, and types of information sources used during the search phase of the college choice process. A…

The meaning of college choice for Latina community college students who transferred to baccalaureate-granting institutions was explored in this dissertation. The methodology of hermeneutic phenomenology informed the process of data collection, which used focus group interviews, individual in-depth interviews, and a researcher reflective journal. …

Asian Americans are often depicted as a highly successful group, attaining advanced levels of education and upward mobility. However, research indicates Southeast Asian Americans are underrepresented in higher education and earn less bachelor degrees than East Asian Americans. To explore the phenomenon of unequal representation between Southeast…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how current internet-based resources are affecting the college choice process. An explanatory mixed methods design was used, and the study involved collecting qualitative data after a quantitative phase to explain the quantitative data in greater depth. An additional study was…

Undocumented students, lacking United States residency or citizenship, select colleges annually. These students navigate a college application process in California whereby they prove AB 540 residency, take standardized exams, and attend competitive four-year universities without a social security number, a driver's license, or federal financial…

This dissertation captures the intricacies of high school counseling by utilizing the social science research method, Portraiture (Lightfoot & Hoffman, 1997). This method allowed the author to document how two Counselors of Color at one inner city high school in Los Angeles, Quetzcoatal Academy (QA) interacted with and inspired Latina/o…

Every school has an organizational habitus that represents its allocated resources, mission, perception about students' cultural capital, and the school counselor's expectation and behavior related to college admissions. A school's mission, resources, and assumptions about students and their families affect the college choice process of students…