Year 12 students in Big Picture Learning schools across Australia now use portfolios and interviews to apply for and gain entry to their first choice of university degree. They receive admission on the strength of portfolio evidence mapped to a new non-ATAR qualification, known as the International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC). Since…

For the past decade and a half, many institutions of higher education have asked about high school disciplinary experiences, including suspensions, on their applications. Advocates have argued that this "discipline box" has a negative effect on suspended students' likelihood to apply and be accepted to institutions of higher education…

Without standardized tests, college admissions may reward high schools' reputation over effectiveness--a phenomenon we study in Peru. We first estimate the impact of selective public exam schools on college outcomes by leveraging the admissions mechanism in a single- and multiple-offers RDD. Despite no conclusive evidence of learning gains,…

In a pilot program during the 2016-17 admissions cycle, the University of California, Berkeley invited many applicants for freshman admission to submit letters of recommendation. This proved controversial within the university, with concerns that this change would further disadvantage applicants from disadvantaged groups. To inform this debate, we…

This paper analyzes the impact of college athletic reclassification for educational institutions in the United States. Most of America's colleges and universities offer athletic opportunities for their students under NCAA governance. The level of competition and associated resource requirements range from relatively low (Division 3) to high…

As a practitioner who has scored many admission essays, the author has noticed that numerous colleges and universities include questions that seek to expose and evaluate students' interactions with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Frequently, applicants are encouraged to disclose a difficult moment in their life and share how they overcame it.…

External privatisation of public education has emerged in Finland in the admission to higher education. A field analysis of thematic interviews (N = 22) with powerful actors in the private educational market and middle-class young people applying for places at universities in the highly competitive disciplines of medicine and law was conducted.…

There is a nursing shortage in the United States which has become even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite qualified applicants, thousands of students are turned away from educational programs each year as programs reach capacity limits. The rejection may have social, psychological, and economic consequences for the student.…

Today, numerous countries utilize unified methods and systematic standardized examinations such as national examinations as formal procedures to select qualified applicants for admission to higher education institutions since higher education is viewed as the major path and criterion to upward mobility. In Iran, the university entrance examination…

Whether employers may inquire about an individual's past criminal history has gained attention in state policy arenas. In 2016 the Department of Education issued a report encouraging higher education institutions across the United States to forgo inquiring about criminal history on college admissions applications. To date, research on ban the box…

Personal statements are among the most commonly used instruments in college admissions procedures. Yet, little research on their reliability, validity, and fairness exists. The first aim of this paper was to investigate hypotheses about adverse impact and underprediction for female applicants, which could result from lower tendencies to use…

Annual rankings provide easily consumable quantitative information that prospective students and their families use to make decisions about applications and admissions offers. One popular ranking is Princeton Review's Party Schools, which receives national attention and condemnation by institutional leaders. We analyzed IPEDS and Clery Act data…

This study examined the role of chief admission officers (CAOs) in Research 1 (R1) public flagship institutions and how they understand and address the misalignment between admission criteria to STEM majors and the disparate access to STEM opportunities for diverse students in the applicant pool. The research questions this study explored were (a)…

Recent statistics found the prevalence of dyslexia in UK medical schools to be 7%, sitting below the national prevalence of 10%. The factors contributing to this discrepancy are currently unknown, but may result from an interplay of individual and systemic barriers to entering medicine. This collaborative, analytic autoethnography aimed to use the…

An increasing number of colleges and universities now require graduate student and faculty applicants to submit personal diversity statements for evaluation. Despite their rising use, little is known about how the personal diversity statement writing process is experienced by applicants. For White individuals in particular, their sources of…