Who Are We Missing? Using Geographic Insight in a Post–Affirmative Action Admissions Context

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 12:40 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Community Across Geographic Locales to Support Inclusivity in Higher Education (Table 7)

Abstract

The end of race-conscious admissions has forced institutions of higher education to reconsider how they recruit and admit underrepresented minority (URM) students. To reverse declining URM student admissions, scholars have suggested expanding recruitment strategies to capture more students. This includes using geographic insights, such as zip code data to target areas with high URM student populations. In this study, we examine the intracity recruiting yield of an urban serving research intensive (R1) university. Our preliminary results indicate that despite a multilayered and perceived equitable approach to recruitment locally, certain high schools still yield more applications than others. These preliminary results suggest the institution under study may want to increase resources to underserved schools to increase recruiting yield of URM students.

Authors

• Everrett A. Smith, University of Cincinnati

• Ashton R. Cooper, University of Cincinnati