This study illuminates the male advantage in test-based admissions to higher education. In contrast to many other countries, admission tests in Germany are optional, and test-free programs are available. This context offers a unique opportunity to investigate whether the male advantage in test-based admissions is caused by gender differences in…

The impact of test-optional college admissions policies depends on whether applicants act strategically in disclosing test scores. We analyze individual applicants' standardized test scores and disclosure behavior to 50 major US colleges for entry in fall 2021, when COVID-19 prompted widespread adoption of test-optional policies. Applicants…

I use a panel of higher education clearinghouse data to study the centralized assignment of applicants to Finnish polytechnics. Many top applicants remain completely unassigned each year. The same applicants' future applications reveal that many of them should have been admitted to a different program immediately. The application system, however,…

The discrepancies in college enrollment based on a student's socioeconomic background challenges the upward mobility of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Jesuit colleges and universities, guided by Catholic Social Teaching and their own focus on social justice, are uniquely positioned to facilitate the social mobility of the…

Letters of recommendation from school counselors are required to apply to many selective colleges and universities. Still, relatively little is known about how this non-standardized component may affect equity in admissions. We use cutting-edge natural language processing techniques to algorithmically analyze a national dataset of over 600,000…

Prior research finds that low-income students are less likely to apply to and enroll in four-year colleges or more selective colleges, even after controlling for academic preparation and other background characteristics. The College Board sought to reduce barriers in the college application process through a targeted campaign of brochures and…

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…

An expected national ban on the consideration of race in college admissions will threaten the racial and ethnic diversity of students at selective colleges unless these colleges fundamentally alter their admissions practices. This report finds that selective colleges barred from considering race and ethnicity in their admissions decisions may be…

This qualitative study delves into understanding how filial piety and bicultural identity factors contribute to why Southeast Asian American (SEAA) students transition in and out of a limited enrollment (or selective) major choice in Nursing. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that more than 80% of students at 4-year…

In light of the current discourse around the alleged discriminatory nature of the SAT and ACT exams against underrepresented minority students, and the increase in American institutions of higher education choosing to adopt test-optional freshman admission policies, this study sought to identify weather these policies are associated with changes…

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…

Purpose: Law schools are gatekeepers to powerful positions, including US federal judicial systems and legislative branches. Although scholars have addressed underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in law schools and the legal profession, they tend to examine gender and race separately. This study is a critical quantitative analysis of…

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…

Many institutions have turned to individualized holistic review to make admissions decisions, which is meant to take a comprehensive view of the quantitative and qualitative elements that comprise a single application. Prior research shows holistic review lacks a common definition and the gap between theory and practice has not been thoroughly…

Many institutions adopted test-optional policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that nonstandardized parts of the application may play a more influential role in admissions. Our research team examined extracurricular activities reporting in more than six million applications submitted from the Common Application dataset and found that…