The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants
Abstract There is debate over whether Asian American students face additional barriers, relative to white students, when applying to selective colleges. Here we present the results from analyzing 685,709 applications submitted over five application cycles to 11 highly selective colleges (the “Ivy-11...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55119-0 |
| _version_ | 1797275116259770368 |
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| author | Joshua Grossman Sabina Tomkins Lindsay Page Sharad Goel |
| author_facet | Joshua Grossman Sabina Tomkins Lindsay Page Sharad Goel |
| author_sort | Joshua Grossman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract There is debate over whether Asian American students face additional barriers, relative to white students, when applying to selective colleges. Here we present the results from analyzing 685,709 applications submitted over five application cycles to 11 highly selective colleges (the “Ivy-11”). We estimate that Asian American applicants had 28% lower odds of ultimately attending an Ivy-11 school than white applicants with similar academic and extracurricular qualifications. The gap was particularly pronounced for students of South Asian descent (49% lower odds). Given the high yield rates and competitive financial aid policies of the schools we consider, the disparity in attendance rates is likely driven, at least in part, by admissions decisions. In particular, we offer evidence that this pattern stems from two factors. First, many selective colleges give preference to the children of alumni in admissions. We find that white applicants were substantially more likely to have such legacy status than Asian applicants. Second, we identify geographic disparities potentially reflective of admissions policies that disadvantage students from certain regions of the United States. We hope these results inform discussions on equity in higher education. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:08:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f9ccd9cd64cc4e029ebe1f5e7b866ce0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:08:43Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-f9ccd9cd64cc4e029ebe1f5e7b866ce02024-03-05T18:46:48ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-02-0114111010.1038/s41598-024-55119-0The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicantsJoshua Grossman0Sabina Tomkins1Lindsay Page2Sharad Goel3Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford UniversitySchool of Information, University of MichiganEducation Department, Brown UniversityKennedy School of Government, Harvard UniversityAbstract There is debate over whether Asian American students face additional barriers, relative to white students, when applying to selective colleges. Here we present the results from analyzing 685,709 applications submitted over five application cycles to 11 highly selective colleges (the “Ivy-11”). We estimate that Asian American applicants had 28% lower odds of ultimately attending an Ivy-11 school than white applicants with similar academic and extracurricular qualifications. The gap was particularly pronounced for students of South Asian descent (49% lower odds). Given the high yield rates and competitive financial aid policies of the schools we consider, the disparity in attendance rates is likely driven, at least in part, by admissions decisions. In particular, we offer evidence that this pattern stems from two factors. First, many selective colleges give preference to the children of alumni in admissions. We find that white applicants were substantially more likely to have such legacy status than Asian applicants. Second, we identify geographic disparities potentially reflective of admissions policies that disadvantage students from certain regions of the United States. We hope these results inform discussions on equity in higher education.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55119-0 |
| spellingShingle | Joshua Grossman Sabina Tomkins Lindsay Page Sharad Goel The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants Scientific Reports |
| title | The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants |
| title_full | The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants |
| title_fullStr | The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants |
| title_full_unstemmed | The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants |
| title_short | The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants |
| title_sort | disparate impacts of college admissions policies on asian american applicants |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55119-0 |
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