IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reihed/v59y2018i4d10.1007_s11162-017-9468-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Role May Admissions Office Diversity and Practices Play in Equitable Decisions?

Author

Listed:
  • Nicholas A. Bowman

    (University of Iowa)

  • Michael N. Bastedo

    (University of Michigan)

Abstract

Attending a selective college or university has a notable impact on the likelihood of graduation, graduate school attendance, social networks, and career earnings. Given these short-term and long-term benefits, surprisingly little research has directly explored the factors that might promote or detract from equitable admissions decisions at these schools. This study examined a unique national sample of 311 undergraduate admissions officers who work at selective institutions to explore this issue. Among the descriptive findings, more than half of respondents reported that they consider applicants’ demonstrated interest in attending their institution when making a recommendation, about two-thirds review at least 100 applications during busy weeks, and almost half were working at their alma mater. Moreover, in a simulation of admissions scoring, admissions officers from historically underrepresented groups were more likely to admit low-SES applicants, whereas participants with more work experience and who were employed at their alma mater provided less equitable recommendations.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas A. Bowman & Michael N. Bastedo, 2018. "What Role May Admissions Office Diversity and Practices Play in Equitable Decisions?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(4), pages 430-447, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:59:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11162-017-9468-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-017-9468-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-017-9468-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11162-017-9468-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Bound & Brad Hershbein & Bridget Terry Long, 2009. "Playing the Admissions Game: Student Reactions to Increasing College Competition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 119-146, Fall.
    2. Stacy Dale & Alan B. Krueger, "undated". "Estimating the Return to College Selectivity Over the Career Using Administrative Earning Data," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d76ec29a0bbb4b1bb9d285b5a, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. Bridget Terry Long & Michal Kurlaender, 2008. "Do Community Colleges provide a Viable Pathway to a Baccalaureate Degree?," NBER Working Papers 14367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Martha J. Bailey & Susan M. Dynarski, 2011. "Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion," NBER Working Papers 17633, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. repec:mpr:mprres:6922 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:pri:indrel:dsp01gf06g265z is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Dominic J. Brewer & Eric R. Eide & Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 1999. "Does It Pay to Attend an Elite Private College? Cross-Cohort Evidence on the Effects of College Type on Earnings," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(1), pages 104-123.
    8. Klopfenstein, Kristin, 2004. "Advanced Placement: do minorities have equal opportunity?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 115-131, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katriona O’Sullivan & Delma Byrne & James Robson & Niall Winters, 2019. "Who Goes to College via Access Routes? A Comparative Study of Widening Participation Admission in Selective Universities in Ireland and England," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 38-51.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brian Holzman & Daniel Klasik & Rachel Baker, 2020. "Gaps in the College Application Gauntlet," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(7), pages 795-822, November.
    2. Jonathan Smith & Kevin Stange, 2016. "A New Measure of College Quality to Study the Effects of College Sector and Peers on Degree Attainment," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 11(4), pages 369-403, Fall.
    3. Sarah R. Cohodes & Joshua S. Goodman, 2014. "Merit Aid, College Quality, and College Completion: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship as an In-Kind Subsidy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 251-285, October.
    4. Cohodes, Sarah & Goodman, Joshua, 2012. "First Degree Earns: The Impact of College Quality on College Completion Rates," Working Paper Series rwp12-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Shomon Shamsuddin, 2016. "Berkeley or Bust? Estimating the Causal Effect of College Selectivity on Bachelor’s Degree Completion," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(7), pages 795-822, November.
    6. Peter Arcidiacono & Michael Lovenheim, 2016. "Affirmative Action and the Quality-Fit Trade-Off," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 3-51, March.
    7. Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, "undated". "Access to Four-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion," Working Paper 175226, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    8. Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Hernando Bayona Rodríguez, 2015. "El efecto causal de la asistencia a la universidad sobre la trayectoria educativa y el mercado laboral: Evidencia empírica para Colombia," Documentos CEDE 13549, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    9. Andrews, Rodney J. & Imberman, Scott A. & Lovenheim, Michael F., 2020. "Recruiting and supporting low-income, high-achieving students at flagship universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Howell, Jessica S. & Pender, Matea, 2016. "The costs and benefits of enrolling in an academically matched college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 152-168.
    11. Rodney J. Andrews & Jing Li & Michael F. Lovenheim, 2016. "Quantile Treatment Effects of College Quality on Earnings," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(1), pages 200-238.
    12. Amanda L. Griffith & Kevin N. Rask, 2016. "The Effect Of Institutional Expenditures On Employment Outcomes And Earnings," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(4), pages 1931-1945, October.
    13. Castleman, Benjamin L. & Page, Lindsay C., 2015. "Summer nudging: Can personalized text messages and peer mentor outreach increase college going among low-income high school graduates?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 144-160.
    14. Webber, Douglas A., 2016. "Are college costs worth it? How ability, major, and debt affect the returns to schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 296-310.
    15. Sarena Goodman, 2013. "Learning from the test: raising selective college enrollment by providing information," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-69, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    16. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 2012. "American Higher Education in Transition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 193-216, Winter.
    17. Justine S. Hastings & Christopher A. Neilson & Seth D. Zimmerman, 2013. "Are Some Degrees Worth More than Others? Evidence from college admission cutoffs in Chile," NBER Working Papers 19241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Massimo Anelli, 2016. "The Returns to Elite College Education: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 6076, CESifo.
    19. Philip R P Coelho & Tung Liu, 2017. "The Returns to College Education — An Analysis with College-Level Data," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(4), pages 604-620, September.
    20. Katja Maria Kaufmann & Matthias Messner & Alex Solis, 2013. "Returns to Elite Higher Education in the Marriage Market: Evidence from Chile," Working Papers 489, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:59:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11162-017-9468-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.