The Role of Selective College Admissions Criteria in Interrupting or Reproducing Racial and Economic Inequities

Abstract

Selective colleges have increasingly considered a variety of factors, such as academic rigor, extracurriculars, essays, interviews, recommendations, and background characteristics, alongside traditional academic factors in determining who is admitted. These efforts have been hailed as a strategy to expand access to selective higher education for talented students from racially and economically marginalized backgrounds. But such efforts introduce ambiguous admissions criteria-excellence in extracurriculars, subjective assessments of character and talent gleaned from essays, interviews, and recommendations-that may favor students from socially privileged families. We draw on nearly a decade of data on selective college admissions processes to examine how the importance of various admissions criteria relate to enrollment among racially and economically marginalized students. Using panel data from 2008 to 2016 and random effects analyses, our findings indicate ambiguous criteria that often comprise a more comprehensive approach to admissions may do little to ameliorate-and in some cases, may exacerbate-existing enrollment inequities. We also find that moving away from test scores and focusing on academic rigor represent potentially promising strategies for expanding access at some institutions.

Empowerment processes, programs, and outputs in increasing self-efficacy and their influence on individual performance

“…In addition to the individual's concentration on empowerment, the variety of programs offered, sustainability and empowerment processes are also determinants of self-efficacy in increasing performance. Kudo & Mori (2015), statement regarding individuals who have high self-efficacy will show skills in training well, which is also supported by the results of this study, self-efficacy increases the influence of empowerment programs, empowerment processes and outputs on MSME performance (Anderman & Patrick, 2012;Rosinger et al, 2021).…”

Essay content and style are strongly related to household income and SAT scores: Evidence from 60,000 undergraduate applications

“…Essays are intended to provide information about an applicant's resources, conditions for learning, and personal characteristics such as motivation, resilience, leadership, and self-confidence. The expressed purpose of admission essays, and of holistic review more generally, is to enable consideration of applicant attributes beyond what is captured in a few easily comparable numbers (12,(36)(37)(38).…”

Untested Admissions: Examining Changes in Application Behaviors and Student Demographics Under Test-Optional Policies

“…With dramatic reductions in test scores submitted-due to either constrained testing availability or shifting student preferences-admissions decisions place increased reliance on extracurriculars and subjective factors such as letters of recommendation. Prior research has found increased weight on such elements to be adversely related to Pell Grant recipient enrollment (Rosinger et al, 2021). Accordingly, there remains value in considering the equity implications of the admission criteria still in place at test-optional institutions and potentially expanding those criteria to include additional factors (e.g., Melguizo, 2010).…”