Racial affirmative action policies are widespread in college admissions. Yet, evidence on their effects before college is limited. Using four data sets, we study a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reinstated affirmative action in three states. Using nationwide SAT data for difference-in-differences and synthetic control analyses, we separately…

The mission of the University of Wisconsin System is to provide Wisconsin's high school graduates with opportunities to cultivate "intellectual, cultural, and humane sensitivities, scientific, professional and technological expertise, and a sense of purpose." Further, as part of its 2020 strategic plan to meet state workforce needs, the…

The world of healthcare is always changing, but the foundation of quality healthcare remains constant, qualified registered nurses. More students enter community colleges than four-year universities in an attempt to become registered nurses. As the need for registered nurses grows, the number of open slots within community college nursing programs…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the ability of admission measures to predict clinical skills in graduate students from a variety of health sciences fields. Method: Online databases were searched for research using application measures to make predictions regarding clinical skill development in graduate…

Dual enrollment (DE) is one of the fastest growing programs that support the high school-to-college transition. Yet, there is limited empirical evidence about its impact on either students' college application choices or admission outcomes. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach and data from two cohorts of ninth-grade students in one…

While many high schools reproduce social inequalities in college access, little is known about the schools that successfully reduce them. To this end, Gorana Ilic and James E. Rosenbaum studied an urban high school that expressed a strong commitment to supporting all students' college applications. In this article, they describe the organizational…

Less privileged students disproportionately aim low with their university applications and often fail to apply to the institutions that match their academic qualifications. Little attention, however, has been directed toward the converse phenomenon, that of aiming high. These kinds of applications are commonly called 'reaches,' meaning an…

Recent research suggests that the college application process itself prevents access. This paper reports results from a school-based experiment in which application assistance is incorporated into the high school curriculum for all graduating seniors at low-transition schools. Over three workshops, students were guided to pick programs of interest…

This study examined a holistic admissions review process at one institution to determine whether variance occurred and, if so, possible explanations for it. The study analyzed reader reviews for approximately 15,000 individual undergraduate admission reviews over three years. The primary method was focused on the variance and inter-rater…

A college degree enables upward financial mobility--a college graduate's lifetime earnings are over 80% greater than those without a degree. Yet, systemic societal and educational constructs can create hurdles for students--particularly those who are historically underserved (e.g., Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income students)--to gain…

Racial preferences, as practiced in academia and elsewhere, by definition, discriminates against individuals based on their race. Radical academics and writers, including the founders of critical race theory, have long supported the use of race as a predominant factor in postsecondary and graduate school admissions. If the Court rules as it should…

Affirmative action critics argue that race-conscious admissions policies are keeping Asian American enrollment numbers unfairly low because Asian American students are held to higher admissions standards than applicants of any other race or ethnicity. "Selective Bias: Asian Americans, Test Scores, and Holistic Admissions" evaluates the…

Special admissions processes for screening college applicants with criminal backgrounds are common in the U.S., both in universities and community colleges. However, there has been growing concern about their value for accomplishing their intended purposes, as well as their potentially harmful effects. While there is no evidence that colleges…

Accent is one of the most recognisable signals of social background in the United Kingdom (UK) today. It can cue a listener to a speaker's ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, region, culture, or social class. For traits that are not visible, such as socio-economic status, accent is often the primary signal. Research in the United States has shown…

This year has seen exams take place again for the first time since 2019, a move back towards the pre-pandemic norm for schools and colleges across the country. But the cohort of young people taking exams this year have faced years of disruption to their educations, which has continued even when they've been back in the classroom. Mitigations for…