Safety, Match, or Reach? How Constrained College Searches Create Postsecondary Academic Mismatch

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. College Choice

Abstract

This study explores how the college search process creates academic mismatch, which is when a student attends a college composed of students whose academic background differ substantially from their own. Data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 are used to demonstrate that the majority of American college-goers conduct a constrained college search that offers them enrollment choices only at colleges of similar academic selectivity. It is shown that variation in the robustness of students’ college searches derive from four overlapping spheres of influences: the family, the high school, the geographic region, and the college. Family income is shown to be the most important factor for students who face a choice between multiple colleges of substantially different academic selectivity, although other factors – such as the college-going culture of the high school a student attends – also matter. A discussion of potential avenues for increasing the robustness of students’ college searches is provided.

Author

• Erik Westlund, Johns Hopkins University