To answer questions about the relationships between intersectionality, geography, and textual production, we analyze a corpus of essays written by every in-state Latinx identifying applicant (n = 254,820 essays submitted by 83,538 applicants) to the University of California system over two admissions cycles (2015-2017). After computationally modeling the essay content and style of the essays, we then predict different identity characteristics of applicants and spatial characteristics of their school communities. Essay content and style are very strong predictors of nearly all of the different outcomes and data compared and are stronger than previously reported results on similar data. We complement these results with an analysis of applicants that were misclassified in our studies and found that first gen., low income women from areas with high proportions of White residents and lower median income had the highest rates of misclassification.
Who claims Hispanic identity, and what constitutes a Hispanic Serving Institution? Leveraging undergraduate applicant data to the University of California system in the 2016 and 2017 application cycles, we surface a phenomenon whereby a significant number of applicants claim Hispanic identity by virtue of European heritage. We subsequently demonstrate how Hispanic-identifying students of European descent are significantly more affluent and more likely to apply to selective UC campuses, relative to their non-European Hispanic peers. We comment on the implications of these disparities for HSI designation, as well as the potential reinforcement of racialized and classed stratification within the UC system and beyond.
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