This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT…

Intended consequences of giving applicants the option to select which test scores to report include potentially reducing measurement error and inequity in applicants' prior test familiarity. Our first study determined whether score choice options resulted in unintended consequences for lower performing subgroups by detrimentally increasing score…

Applicants must often demonstrate adequate English proficiency when applying to postsecondary institutions by taking an English language proficiency test, such as the TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, or Duolingo English Test (DET). Concordance tables aim to provide equivalent scores across multiple assessments, helping admissions officers to make fair…

The effects of affirmative action on the incentives to human capital accumulation are ambiguous from a theoretical perspective and the scarce empirical evidence on the matter provides mixed results. In this paper, we address this issue by investigating the impacts of Brazil's Law of Quotas on the students' performance in the college entrance exam,…

As part of a larger research study entitled "Where Do Test Scores Fit in a Test-Optional Environment," the authors surveyed students who took the ACT on June 11, 2022, in order to better understand why high school students would take a standardized test like the ACT when they knew they were applying to test-optional institutions. Among…

The SAT and ACT have held a controversial place in American education for generations. The conventional wisdom has come to suggest that these college entrance tests are harmful to educational equity because they discriminate against students from low-income families and other students whose backgrounds may put them at a disadvantage, such as…

While earning a high school diploma is a critical educational milestone for students, research has shown that obtaining a college degree further equalizes opportunities and increases their upward mobility. To be eligible to apply for the University of California system, students must take 15 college-preparatory courses during their high school…

This replication study sought to compare the academic achievement of undergraduate students with different score profiles on the TOEFL iBT. Two-step cluster analysis of TOEFL iBT section scores identified six clusters among 2,347 undergraduate students who met the required cutscore on the TOEFL iBT for admission to a Canadian English-medium…

Student diversity in health professions education (HPE) can be affected by selection procedures. Little is known about how different selection tools impact student diversity across programs using different combinations of traditional and broadened selection criteria. The present multi-site study examined the chances in selection of subgroups of…

The literature is replete with references to a disproportionate reliance on admission test scores (e.g., the ACT or SAT) in the college admissions process. School-reported reliance on test scores and grades has been used to study this question, generally indicating relatively equal reliance on the two, with a slightly higher endorsement of grades.…

This article reports on the validity of the admi (MMI) method as it was used by a post-degree teacher education program as part of their admissions process to select candidates for entry into the program. The MMI, primarily used for medical school admittance, involves several stations with different interviewers. Comparisons were made between the…

Purpose: This study examined predictors of cumulative grade point average (GPA) from entrance scores and successive performance during students' academic work in university engineering programs. Design/methodology/approach: Scores from high school coursework, the General Ability Test and the Achievement Test were examined to determine if these…

To enter practice as an occupational therapist, one must complete an occupational therapy program at an accredited institution and then pass a national certification exam. This exam is called the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) Exam. Individuals can take the exam more than once to achieve a passing score but must…

This study assesses differential prediction and differential validity in higher-education admissions policy for individuals with various disabilities, who were granted or denied (on either technical grounds or professional considerations) test accommodations on the Israeli Psychometric Entrance Test (PET). The sample comprised 124,501 records of…

We introduce a model of the admissions process based upon standard agency theory and explore its implications with economics PhD admissions data from 2013-2019. We show that a subjective score that aggregates subjective ratings and recommendation letter features plays a more important role in determining admissions than an objective score based…