This study takes a social cognitive approach in examining the relationship between elements of the adolescent self-system (self-efficacy, self-esteem, ethnic-racial identity, and hope) in addition to state-mandated graduation tests, with students' later participation in higher education. The quantitative investigation of 733 tenth-grade White (462) and Ethnically Minoritized (271) students and a sub-sample of 29 qualitatively studied adolescents in a semi-rural town in Ohio used a concurrent mixed-methods longitudinal approach. A logistic regression analysis found only adolescent math scores positively predicted later enrollment in higher education; but self-efficacy negatively predicted later college enrollment. Triangulation of additional analyses, including t-tests, and in-depth interviews, suggest how perceptions of the self-system may differ among White and Ethnically Minoritized populations. These differences may be influenced by the degree to which youth pay attention to academic success as a contributing factor to their own self-analysis of their self-system.