Substantial disparities in college enrollment rates exist across racial and socioeconomic groups in the United States. A key goal of education policy is to help remediate this inequity by providing equal opportunity and access to all students. However, to develop better policy, one needs to understand the underlying causes of these disparities. There are many possible explanations for gaps in college access. Selective admissions processes can limit college access among minorities if high school quality and high school outcomes are unequally distributed by race and ethnicity. Even before a student can enter an admissions process, she must apply -- a process that may be particularly daunting for a potential first-generation college student. This study first investigates racial and ethnic differences in the initial step in college enrollment -- the application decision -- using two full cohorts of recent Texas high school graduates. This is done in order to assess the differential roles of student demographics, high school quality, and student preparedness in the college application decision. The authors also allow for effects of race to differ based on student and high school characteristics. Second, they examine the decision of where to apply conditional on applying. When deciding where to apply, students can incorporate a number of different elements into this decision, including their level of preparedness, the probability of acceptance, and campus characteristics. The authors focus on understanding the importance of student-campus fit by estimating the influence of academic match, campus demographics, and high school feeder patterns on behavior regarding where students apply to college. Results suggest that universities cannot rely on students to diversify campuses without intentional policy efforts to attract and retain minority students. These can include admissions policies that guarantee acceptance for high-performing students regardless of high school quality, such as Texas' Top 10% Rule