Academic Undermatching of High-Achieving Minority Students: Evidence from Race-Neutral and Holistic Admissions Policies
American Economic Review
vol. 105,
no. 5, May 2015
(pp. 604-10)
Abstract
College is a pathway to social mobility in the United States. Yet too often high-achieving students from low-income and minorities families fail to apply to selective postsecondary institutions. Our study examines the extent to which academic undermatching occurs among high-achieving minority students by analyzing the application choices of students who undergo two distinct admissions policies. We find that minority students eligible for automatic admissions and those who undergo holistic admissions are both less likely to apply to elite flagship universities than white students, despite being equally qualified based on high school performance. Instead, minorities often opt for lower tier universities.Citation
Black, Sandra E., Kalena E. Cortes, and Jane Arnold Lincove. 2015. "Academic Undermatching of High-Achieving Minority Students: Evidence from Race-Neutral and Holistic Admissions Policies." American Economic Review, 105 (5): 604-10. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151114Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
- I24 Education and Inequality
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification