Most selective colleges implemented test-optional admissions during the pandemic, making college entrance exam scores optional for applicants. We draw on descriptive, two-way fixed effects, and event study methods to examine variation in test-optional implementation during the pandemic and how implementation relates to selectivity and enrollment.…

Using the detailed college level data from the College Scorecard on students' post-college earnings from the near universe of four-year colleges, we assess the usefulness of going beyond comparing colleges based only on median earnings and analyze the descriptive relationship between college selectivity and earnings outcomes and how this…

Do elite colleges help talented students join the social elite, or help incumbent elites retain their positions? We combine intergenerationally-linked data from Chile with a regression discontinuity design to show that, looking across generations, elite colleges do both. Lower-status individuals who gain admission to elite college programs…

Amid concerns about the skewed socio-demographic composition of England's elite universities, this study sought to better understand what undergraduates from under-represented backgrounds found supportive in the process of them gaining an offer of admission from a prestigious university, and their social and academic experience of higher…

There is debate over whether Asian American students are admitted to selective colleges and universities at lower rates than white students with similar academic qualifications. However, there have been few empirical investigations of this issue, in large part due to a dearth of data. Here we present the results from analyzing 685,709 applications…

This study compares the estimated grammar school effect in different regression models, and explains why previous evidence of the effectiveness of grammar school is mixed. Like most studies of school effectiveness evaluation, previous research on grammar school effect usually applies regression to control for confounding between-school factors and…

Research has long demonstrated the exclusion and Othering experienced by young people with disabilities in education. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted in an 'elite' sixth-form college in England, set against the backdrop of a shifting social, political, and cultural landscape, where neo-liberal discourses of…

A number of studies have examined the impact of changes in price on students' enrollment decisions at the undergraduate level, but little is known about the price responsiveness of graduate and professional students. This dissertation utilizes difference-in-differences and regression-discontinuity methods to analyze student-level data for admitted…

As U.S. elite independent schools become more racially inclusive, white students may perceive a shift in their social position. Using qualitative data from school climate surveys at 10 such schools, 2014-2018, we explore how white adolescent boys experience these shifts emotionally. We find that a subset of particularly vocal white boys express…

The Core Knowledge curriculum is a K-8 curriculum focused on building students General Knowledge about the world they live in that is hypothesized to increase reading comprehension and Reading/English-LA achievement. This study utilizes an experimental design to evaluate the long term effects of attending Charter schools teaching the Core…

I study the efficacy of test-based meritocracy in college admissions by evaluating the impact of a grade-based "top percent'' policy implemented by the University of California. Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) provided large admission advantages to the top four percent of 2001-2011 graduates from each California high school. I…

Higher education in the United States has evolved to expand its reach to various diverse student populations. The student cohort in higher education that has seen exponential growth over the past few decades at elite liberal arts colleges are students who served in the military. Veteran students can contribute greatly to communities of elite…

This paper undertakes an intersectional analysis of the ways in which socio-economically elite higher education students in Chile reproduce privilege through everyday practices of whiteness and beauty. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews and observations with 20 privileged students at an elite Chilean university, the paper identifies and…

Inequalities in access to elite higher education institutions are central in the horizontal dimension of social stratification in higher education. Previous studies have consistently shown large social inequalities in access from French "grandes écoles" (GE), but there is limited empirical evidence on the effect of alternative admission…

When students are admitted through admissions preferences--especially when the preferences are large and the students pursue demanding fields of study--do they benefit from going to a more selective school? Or, instead, do they suffer from being "mismatched" with their peers--falling behind, becoming frustrated, receiving low grades, and…