In the 1930s, American colleges and universities began to screen applications using the SAT, a mass-administered, IQ-descended standardized test. The widespread adoption of the test accompanied the development of the world's first mass higher education system--and served to promote the idea that the United States was becoming a…

This essay contrasts Nietzsche's remarks on elite education with W.E.B. Du Bois' demand for democratized education. The essay takes their remarks as springboards for a twenty-first century philosophy of education rather than an historical account of their philosophies. Both thinkers cultivated Kant and Hegel's dream that the spirit of freedom…

Despite a robust body of literature about the choice of students' first postsecondary institution, we have little insight regarding transfer from four-year colleges and universities across socioeconomic groups. In this study, we argue that when entry to selective colleges reaches a heightened level of competitiveness, transfer may be employed by…

This study aimed to understand the transition experiences of first-generation Latinx undergraduate students and their families from high school to a highly selective private university after participating in a college access program. Additionally, this study sought to understand the different forms of cultural capital that may have supported the…

The higher education regulator for England has set challenging new widening access targets requiring universities to rethink how merit is judged in admissions. Universities are being encouraged to move away from the traditional meritocratic equality of opportunity model of fair access, which holds that university places should go to the most…

There is a contradiction of intensive national policy efforts and the slow pace of change in widening participation in England. This paper focuses on the use of contextual data in STEM subjects, where there has been less progress in widening access and a more rigid entry pathway through A-level study. Interviews with admissions tutors suggest a…

The Pell Grant is targeted to students with the greatest financial need, and many policymakers find the Pell Grant a useful policy lever for promoting access and success for students from lower- and moderate-income backgrounds. There are several examples where policymakers use Pell eligibility to allocate resources and hold colleges accountable…

I study the efficacy of test-based meritocracy in college admissions by evaluating the impact of a grade-based "top percent'' policy implemented by the University of California. Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) provided large admission advantages to the top four percent of 2001-2011 graduates from each California high school. I…

Inequalities in access to elite higher education institutions are central in the horizontal dimension of social stratification in higher education. Previous studies have consistently shown large social inequalities in access from French "grandes écoles" (GE), but there is limited empirical evidence on the effect of alternative admission…

The notion of selecting students based on academic achievement into different schools at certain points in their educational careers is one that has long been contested in education. In this paper I consider the role selective schooling may play in driving families' demand for private tutoring -- a phenomenon currently growing in many regions of…

This report looks at trends since 1997, uniquely combining several data sources to give the most comprehensive view available on how patterns in access to higher education have changed in the years between 1997 and 2022. A major study of higher education trends over the past 25 years reveals persistent access gaps for disadvantaged students,…

Young people growing up in England from a poorer background are less likely to progress into higher education compared to their better off counterparts. This is especially true with respect to more selective universities. This study used government administrative data to gauge the effectiveness of the 'Realising Opportunities' programme, which…

Fraternal organizations have existed on campus since the founding of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 (Baird, 1991; DeSantis, 2007; "Phi Beta Kappa," n.d.; Thelin, 2011; Torbenson, 2005, 2009). Empirical evidence shows that membership brings added value to an undergraduate student experience (Biddix et al., 2014; G. D. Kuh & Lyons, 1990).…

Schools' priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in…

There is an abundance of research on the college admissions process and the practices selective schools employ to evaluate and select students. Most findings are complex, nuanced, or conflicting. Less than a month after the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in "Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard" and "Students…