Journal Article

Improving Admission of Low-SES Students at Selective Colleges: Results From an Experimental Simulation

Bastedo, Michael N., Bowman, Nicholas A.

2017

Overview

Low-socioeconomic status (SES) students are underrepresented at selective colleges, but the role that admissions offices play is poorly understood. Because admissions offices often have inconsistent information on high school contexts, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether providing detailed information on high school contexts increases the likelihood that admissions officers (n = 311) would recommend admitting low-SES applicants. Admissions officers in the detailed-information condition were 13 to 14 percentage points (i.e., 26%-28%) more likely to recommend admitting a low-SES applicant from an underserved high school than those in the limited-information condition, although the limited-information condition provided significant details about family SES and high school context. These findings were consistent regardless of the selectivity of the college, admissions office practices, and participant demographics.

• Publisher: SAGE Publishing,SAGE Publications,American Educational Research Association
• Subject: Admissions Officers / Admissions policies / College Admission / College admissions / College Bound Students / College Students / Colleges / Demography / Disproportionate Representation / High School Graduates / Learning environment / Low Income Students / Randomized Controlled Trials / Secondary schools / Selective Admission / Socioeconomic Status / Statistical Analysis