The Architecture of Preference:  Stated and Revealed Social Preferences Among Incoming College Students

• In Event: Peer Groups, Boundary-Work, and Educational Mobility

Abstract

Incoming college students’ residential preferences reveal the biases they bring to the university environment. Using a paired-vignette conjoint experiment and parallel survey measures, this paper estimates stated and revealed roommate preferences of first-year students at an elite Midwestern University. While aggregate results initially suggest a pro-diversity preference (e.g., students favoring Black profiles), subgroup analysis and interaction models reveal a more complex structure of preference. Specifically, I find that while political and gender preferences show conscious alignment between stated and revealed choices, racial homophily is decoupled. Even students who disclaim the importance of having a same-race roommate exhibit significant revealed preference for same-race roommates. This research clarifies the conditions under which assigned housing confronts students’ preferences and establishes a baseline map of bias at college entry.

Author

• Peyton Cunningham, University of Chicago