Equal Opportunity to Selective Colleges: Assessments Through the Admissions Process

Abstract

Studies in educational stratification that focus on the transition from high school to college generally examine the relation between social origins and college destinations or consider how the admissions process influences college access. These two strands, however, have been primarily studied in parallel. By examining trends in college destinations separately from the impact of the admissions process on college access, stratification researchers may misattribute the allocation process of students to colleges. Instead, I integrate these two research agendas and use a multiplicative process to identify potential inequalities in college access and better understand how aggregate differences in college destinations occur.