In this dissertation, I present an examination of the economics of education through three chapters. In the first paper, I study the overrepresentation of elite university graduates in senior positions in public administration. Using rich administrative data from Chile, I employ a stacked fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the…

In the U.S. and England racial/ethnic minority student success in STEM graduate disciplines is important to HEI administrators and those policy makers concerned with ensuring viable and healthy economies and communities. U.S. Government studies show that the African and Hispanic Americans earn only about 3% and 2% of all STEM graduate degrees,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the first-year academic experiences and achievement of Chinese international undergraduate students in American higher education. To do so, I tracked a cohort of Chinese international undergraduates through their first-year at a public research university in the United States. Both qualitative and…