During the last five years a group of universities in Chile started to implement admissions programs that consider the achievement of students in context of the educational opportunities they had, thus reducing reliance on the national college entrance exam. This study explores the program theories in a sample of these programs and their effects on access and academic outcomes. We use a mixed method approach: program theory is explored through the analysis of documents and interviews and the effects on access and outcomes are explored through descriptive and inferential statistics of institutional data. This study aims to contribute to the research exploring the evolution and outcomes of policy admission reforms intended to tackle the problem of equity in higher education.