This brief describes (1) what parents look for when they choose a school and (2) how these preferences affect the sorting of students into schools under different school-choice policies. The findings are based on lists of preferred schools submitted by over 20,000 applicants to a citywide lottery for more than 100 traditional and charter public…

The admissions decision-making process at Dartmouth College is described in transcriptions of National Public Radio broadcasts. Applicants who are accepted have to be approved at Round Table, where their cases are considered for 30 days by 13 admission officers. These Round Table discussions of specific applicants, whose identities are concealed,…

This is a first-hand account of the process used in selecting undergraduates at Stanford University (California) between 1984 and 1991. The topics covered are also relevant to the procedures followed in many four-year colleges throughout the United States. There are sections on the use and abuse of standardized tests and on special considerations…