When Who You Know Influences Where You Go: Peer Groups and the College Search

• In Event: Surviving and Thriving in the College Context

Abstract

Applying to college has become a highly social process and involves more actors today than ever before, and each play a crucial role in providing connections, tips, and a “leg up” in admissions. I focus on how peer relationships influence the way in which students conduct their college search. I use longitudinal interviews and observations to examine how “who you know” affects students’ college searches. My findings point to the importance of peers in exposing students to different schools. However, at the racially and socioeconomically diverse schools in my study, students tend to have homogeneous friendship groups, leading to some groups with a wealth of information, and others with very little, reproducing inequalities in who goes where to college.

Author

• Megan M. Holland, University at Buffalo SUNY