In Fall 2009, officials from Chicago Public Schools changed their assignment mechanism for coveted spots at selective college preparatory high schools midstream. After asking about 14,000 applicants to submit their preferences for schools under one mechanism, the district asked them re-submit their preferences under a new mechanism. Officials were…

Through in-depth interviews, 14 Asian American college students at an elite, private Northeastern US university were asked to describe their experiences and relationships with family, friends, teachers, and counselors during their college-choice process. The results suggest that students considered their social networks, especially family and…

Lewison and Hawes (1997) discuss target marketing strategies of differentiated, concentrated or orchestrated marketing in their article "Student Marketing Strategies for Universities." While the authors agree with some of the suggested strategies and reasons behind them, their perspective as faculty teaching in a graduate education program offers…

This study determined the student profile and enrollment of the three Universities in the University Belt. It also found out the respondents' level of consideration concerning the institutional image indicators that served as basis for attracting prospective entrants. Descriptive statistics revealed the following: most of the respondents belonged…

This study examined the impact of discriminatory experiences on Hispanic students' decisions concerning postsecondary enrollment. Logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with Hispanic students' decisions to attend either a 2- or a 4-year institution within the context of theory concerning college choice/success. Data were…

In this paper we investigate social selectivity in access to higher education in Germany and, unlike most previous studies, explicitly devote attention to semi-tertiary institutions such as the so-called universities of cooperative education. Drawing on rational choice models of educational decisions we seek to understand which factors influence…

This paper expresses serious reservations regarding the increasingly popular Bourdieu-inspired notions of "institutional habitus" and "family habitus" in education research. Although sympathetic to the overall theoretical approach and persuaded of the veracity and importance of the empirical findings they are used to illuminate, it argues that,…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for high-achieving, low-income African American students, and to understand the effect of the Gates Millennium Scholarship on their college choice. Drawing from the Gates Millennium Scholar Tracking Database, a College Choice Survey, and the Integrated…

This research explores the factors that influence the "student journey" and the difficulties faced by some students in Scotland. Colleges and university undergraduates were surveyed, along with students on postgraduate-taught programmes in a joint partnership project between the HEA [Higher Education Academy] and NUS [National Union of…

Presented at the AP Annual Conference (APAC) in Las Vegas, NV in July 2013. This analysis takes a close look at first-generation Advanced Placement® (AP®) test takers to better understand the needs and challenges they face on their path to college. The analysis focuses on college-bound AP test takers who also took the SAT and examines a variety of…

Our research goals are to make the case that parent-student discussions about college planning should be seen as a distinct college-planning activity and to identify and test the relevant predictors of these discussions. Findings from over 4,000 parents and their high school children show that parent-student discussions are enhanced when both the…

This study investigates the extent the Library factors into college choice; impact of recruitment efforts on Library service is also considered. Much is written about college choice, but a literature review reveals little about Library influence. A survey was administered to students who currently attend college, or have in the past, that asked…

Although any "choice" young people make about higher education incorporates a subtle interplay of individual agency, circumstance and social structure, the centrality of identity in such life choices for rural young people cannot be underestimated. Since mobility is an ontological absolute for most rural young people accessing…

Parents and students recognize the value of a college degree. Increasingly, they are borrowing large sums of money to invest in the future. Their choices about how to save for college, where to attend college, how much and from where to borrow for college, and how to repay their loans, have grown more complex. Yet families work with incomplete…

This study examined (1) average distances traveled to attend college, (2) presumptive college eligibility, (3) differences between two-year and four-year college enrollment, (4) differences in enrollment related to differences in colleges' selectivity, and (5) degree of "undermatching" (i.e., enrolling in a college less selective than…