This article evaluates the “mismatch” hypothesis, advocated by opponents of affirmative action, which predicts lower graduation rates for minority students who attend selective postsecondary institutions than for those who attend colleges and universities where their academic credentials are better matched to the institutional average. Using two nationally representative longitudinal surveys and a unique survey of students who were enrolled at selective and highly selective institutions, the authors tested the mismatch hypothesis by implementing a robust methodology that jointly considered enrollment in and graduation from selective institutions as interrelated outcomes. The findings do not support the “mismatch” hypothesis for black and Hispanic (as well as white and Asian) students who attended college during 1980s and early 1990s.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbadieAlbertoDrukkerDavidHerrJane L.ImbensGuido W.. 2004. “Implementing Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects in Stata.”Stata Journal4:290–311.
2.
AlonSigal. 2004, October 28-30. “The Influence of Financial Aid in Leveling Group Differences in Persistence among Students Attending Selective Private Institutions.”Paper presented at the conference of the Association for Public Policy and Management, Atlanta, GA.
3.
AndersonAndy B.BasilevskyAlexanderHumDerek P. J.(1983) “‘Missing Data’: A Review of the Literature.”415–94 in Handbook of Survey Research, edited by RossiPeter H.WrightJames D.AndersonAndy B.. New York: Academic Press.
4.
ArkesHal R.1999. “Review: The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions.”Liberty, 83, 51–56. Available on-line at http://www.libertysoft.com/liberty/reviews/71arkes.html
5.
Barron's. 2003. Profiles of American Colleges (25th ed.). Hauppauge, NY: Author.
BowenWilliam G.BokDerek. 1998. The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
8.
CamronStephen V.HeckmanJames J.. 1998. “Life Cycle Schooling and Dynamic Selection Bias: Models and Evidence for Five Cohorts of American Males.”Journal of Political Economy106:262–333.
ClarkeMargueriteShoreArnold. 2001. The Roles of Testing and Diversity in College Admissions. Boston: National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy.
11.
CrawfordCurtis. 2000. “Weighing the Benefits and Costs of Racial Preference in College Admissions: Review of The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering race in College and University Admissions.”Society37(4): 71–80. Available on-line at http://www.ceousa.org/crawford.html
12.
DaviesScottGuppyNeil. 1997. “Fields of Study, College Selectivity, and Student Inequalities.”Social Forces73(4):131–51.
13.
DavisRobert B.1991. “Social Support Networks and Undergraduate Students' Academic-Success-Related Outcomes: A Comparison of Black Students on Black and White Campuses.” Pp. 143–157 in College in Black and White: African American Students in Predominantly White and in Historically Black Public Universities, edited by AllenWalter R.EppsEdgar G.HaniffNesha Z.. New York: State University of New York Press.
14.
DworkinRonald. 1998, October 22. “Affirming Affirmative Action.”New York Review of Books, pp. 91–102.
GamoranAdam. 1987. “The Stratification of High School Learning Opportunities.”Sociology of Education60:135–55.
18.
GamoranAdamBerendsMark. 1987. “The Effect of Stratification in Secondary Schools: Synthesis of Survey and Ethnographic Research.”Review of Educational Research57:415–35.
19.
GamoranAdamMareRobert. 1989. “Secondary School Tracking and Educational Inequality: Compensation, Reinforcement, or Neutrality?”American Journal of Sociology94:1146–83.
20.
GragliaLino A.1993. “Racial Preferences in Admission to Institutions of Higher Education.” Pp. 127–51 in The Imperiled Academy, edited by DickmanHoward. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
21.
GreenbergJack. 2002. “Affirmative Action in Higher Education: Confronting the Condition and Theory.”Boston College Law Review43:521–621.
HallinanMaureen T.1996. “Track Mobility in Secondary School.”Social Forces74:983–1002.
24.
HallinanMaureen T.2001. “Sociological Perspectives on Black-White Inequalities in American Schooling.”Sociology of Education [Extra Issue]:74:50–70.
25.
HearnJames C.1984. “The Relative Roles of Academic, Ascribed, and Socioeconomic Characteristics in College Destination.”Sociology of Education57:22–30.
26.
HearnJames C.1990. “Pathways to Attendance at the Elite Colleges.” Pp. 121–47 in The High Status Track: Studies of Elite Schools and Stratification, edited by KingstonPaul W.LewisLionel S.. Albany: State University of New York Press.
27.
HearnJames C.1991. “Academic and Non-Academic Influence on the College Destinations of 1980 High School Graduates.”Sociology of Education64:158–71.
28.
HeckmanJames J.1978. “Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System.”Econometrica46:931–59.
29.
HeckmanJames J.1997. “Instrumental Variable: A study of Implicit Behavioural Assumptions Used in Making Program Evaluations.”Journal of Human Resources32:441–61.
30.
HeckmanJames J.HotzV. Joseph. 1989. “Choosing Among Alternative Nonexperimental Methods for Estimating the Impact of Social Programs: The Case of Manpower Training.”Journal of the American Statistical Association84:862–74.
31.
HeckmanJames J.IchimuraHidehikoToddPetra. 1997. “Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme.”Review of Economic Studies [Special Issue]64:605–54.
32.
HeckmanJames J.IchimuraHidehikoToddPetra. 1998. “Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator.”Review of Economic Studies65: 261–94.
33.
HofferThomas. 1992. “Middle School Ability Grouping and Student Achievement in Science and Mathematics.”Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis14:205–27.
34.
KaneThomas J.1998. “Misconceptions in the Debate Over Affirmative Action in College Admissions.” Pp. 17–32 in Chilling Admissions: The Affirmative Crisis and the Search for Alternatives, edited by OrfieldGaryMillerEdward. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Publishing Group.
35.
KarenDavid. 2002. “Changes in Access to Higher Education in the United States: 1980-1992.”Sociology of Education75:191–210.
36.
KingstonPaul W.LewisLionel S.. 1990. “Undergraduates at Elite Institutions: The Best, the Brightest, and the Richest.” Pp. 105–20 in The High-Status Track: Studies of Elite Schools and Stratification, edited by KingstonPaul W.LewisLionel S.. Albany: University of New York Press.
37.
LernerRobertNagaiAlthea K.2001. “Pervasive Preferences: Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Undergraduate Admissions across the Nation.” Available on-line at http://www.ceousa.org/multi.html
38.
LongJ. Scott. 1997. Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
39.
MasseyDouglas S.CharlesCamille Z.LundyGarveyFischerMary J.. 2003. Source of the River: The Social Origin of Freshmen at America's Selective Colleges and Universities. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
40.
McDonoughPatricia M.1994. “Buying and Selling Higher Education: The Social Construction of the College Applicant.”Journal of Higher Education65:427–46.
NettlesMichael T.1991. Racial similarities and differences in the predictors of college student achievement. Pp. 75–91 in College in Black and White: African American Students in Predominantly White and in Historically Black Public Universities, edited by AllenWalter R.EppsEdgar G.HaniffNesha Z.. New York: State University of New York Press.
43.
NettlesMichael T.ThoenyA. RobertGosmanErica J.. 1986. “Comparative and Predictive Analyses of Black and White Students' College Achievement and Experiences”. Journal of Higher Education57:289–318.
44.
PascarellaEarnest T.TerenziniPatrick T.. 1980. Predicting freshman persistence and voluntary dropout decisions from a theoretical model. Journal of Higher Education51:60–75.
45.
PascarellaEarnest T.TerenziniPatrick T.HibelJames. 1978. “Student-Faculty Interactional Settings and Their Relationship to Predicted Academic Performance.”journal of Higher Education49:450–63.
46.
PellTerrance J.2003. “Racial Preferences and Formal Equality.”Journal of Social Philosophy342:309–25.
47.
PersellCaroline HodgesCatsambisSophiaPeter W. CooksonJr. 1992. “Differential Asset Conversion: Class and Gendered Pathways to Selective Colleges.”Sociology of Education65:208–25.
RosenbaumPaul R.RubinDonald B.. 1983. “The Central Role of the Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Casual Effect.”Biometrika70(1):41–55.
50.
SlavinRobert E.1990. “Achievement Effects of Ability Grouping in Secondary Schools: A Best Evidence Synthesis.”Review of Educational Research60:471–99.
51.
SmallMario LuisWinshipChristopher. 2002. “Better Environments or Better Students? Why Black Graduation Rates Vary Across Elite Colleges and Universities.”Working Paper presented at Mellon Foundation Diversity in Higher Education Conference.
52.
SowellThomas2003, February 8. “Damaging Admissions: Increasing Faculty Diversity.”Capitalism Magazine. Available on-line at http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2448
53.
ThernstromStephanThernstromAbigail. 1997. America in Black and White: One Nation Indivisible. New York: Simon & Schuster.
54.
ThernstromStephanThernstromAbigail. 1999. “Reflections on The Shape of the River Book Review.”UCLA Law Review46:1583–1631.
55.
TintoVincent. 1993. Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
56.
VarsFredrick E.BowenWilliam G.. 1998. “Scholastic Aptitude Test Scores, Race, and Academic Performance in Selective Colleges and Universities.” Pp. 457–79 in The Black-White Test Score Gap, edited by JencksChristopherPhillipsMeredith. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
57.
Von DestinonM. (1988). Chicano Student Persistence: The Effects of Integration and Involvement. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
58.
WinshipChristopherMareRobert D.. 1992. “Models for Sample Selection Bias.”Annual Review of Sociology18:327–50.
59.
WinshipChristopherMorganStephen L.. 1999. “The Estimation of Causal Effects from Observational Data.”Annual Review of Sociology25:659–706.
60.
WinshipChristopherSobelMichael. 2004. “Casual Inference in Sociological Studies.” Pp. 481–503 in Handbook of Data Analysis, edited by HardyMelissaBrymanAdam. London: Sage.
