Publication Date
2016
Journal or Book Title
Teachers College Record
Abstract
This study examines whether strategies commonly used by high school students for enhancing their chances of gaining college admission may contribute to social inequality in postsecondary education. Comparisons are made between nationally representative samples of high school seniors across two decades, from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. The analyses identify the extent to which students’ SES was associated with the use of admission-enhancing strategies, determine the extent to which the relationships changed across a two-decade period, and examine the role of academic achievement in this process. Results confirm that higher SES students are more likely to employ admission-enhancing strategies than lower SES students, but more importantly that this gap widened over time. These findings suggest that admission-enhancing strategies may be partially responsible for maintaining socioeconomic disparities through education.
Pages
1-36
Volume
18
Issue
9
Recommended Citation
Wells, Ryan; Wolniak, Gregory; Engberg, Marc; and Manly, Catherine A., "Socioeconomic Disparities in the Use of College Admission-Enhancing Strategies among High School Seniors from the 1990s to 2000s" (2016). Teachers College Record. 2.
Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cfssr_publishedwork/2
Comments
The final peer reviewed version of this article appeared in the Teachers College Record: www.tcrecord.org