College and Capital: Conceptualizing and Testing Key Educational Concepts in the College Admissions Context

• In Event: 4451 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 15: Pathways to College

Abstract

In this paper, I use some of the most ubiquitous theories within the sociology of education literature (cultural capital, human capital, social capital, signaling, and credentialism) to test their salience to admission to college. To do this, I use admissions data and multiple binary logistic regressions to predict admission to a selective Midwest private liberal arts college with variables suggested from the aforementioned theoretical perspectives. I then compare this admission context with that of private, elite institutions and public universities. This study finds that promises of human capital contribution, both inside and outside of the classroom, are particularly important for college admission.

Author

• Amanda J. Brockman, Northern Kentucky University