College Admissions and Race

Amanda Gilliland
Antwi-Boasiako, K., & Asagba, J. O. (2005). A preliminary analysis of African
American college students' perceptions of racial preferences and affirmative
action in making admissions decisions at a predominantly white
university. College Student Journal, 39(4), 734-748.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand black student perceptions
of Affirmative Action practices in Admissions decisions. By judgment sampling the
researchers identified a large comprehensive predominantly white institution and chose
African American students. Data collection method was a survey provided to the 422
students identified. 400 students responded to the survey which is a very high completion
rate for a survey collection method. The outcomes of the survey indicated that black
students believed that affirmative action and race based admissions procedures should be
utilized in college admissions.

Dickson, L. M. (2006). Does ending affirmative action in college admissions lower the
percent of minority students applying to college? Economics of Education
Review, 25, 109-119. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2004.11.005
Dickson explores how affirmative action affected admission rates of minorities.
Specifically they look at how the new admission processes in Texas of accepting the top
10% of all graduating classes affected the number of high school students who took the
entrance exam (ACT/SAT). Purposive sampling pulled data from the Texas Education
Agency from 1994-2001 to identify the percentage of students taking the exams and
using that as an indicator of college applications. After reviewing the data from the TEA,
it was clear that the percentage plan significantly impacted the number of students taking
the test. Dickson also concludes that the end of affirmative action reduced latino and
black student enrollment and saw no change in enrollment of white students.

Gayles, J. (2012). Race, late bloomers and first-year GPA: predicting beyond the
freshman year. Educational Research Quarterly, 36, 13-29.
Gayles examines a hypothesis that minorities have greater difficulty transitioning
from high school to college than non-minority student based on first year performance
data. The researcher utilized convenience sampling as he used data from his institution,
Georgia State University. He implemented the use of SPSS software and Excel to
calculate slopes of each variable. While he determines that First Year GPA does
correlate highly with 6Year Graduation rate and honors GPA he notes that Asian students
FYGPA is not reliable in predicting success.

Hicklin, A. (2007). The Effect of Race-Based Admissions in Public Universities:
Debunking the Myths about Hopwood and Proposition 209. Public
Administration Review, 67, 331-340. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00716.x
Hicklin hypothesizes that Hopwood and Proposition 209 will either reduce
minority enrollment at selective institutions or across all institutions affected by the
rulings. By utilizing purposive sampling the researcher chooses the four-year institutions
impacted by Hopwood and Proposition 209 - California, Texas, Louisiana, and
Mississippi. She concludes that the likely outcome, that the changes will force students
out of higher education, is not supported by the research. Rather than reducing the
number of minority students enrolled, the outcome is that race is redistributed across
institutions.

Kirkland, A. & Hansen, B. B. (2011). How do I bring diversity? Race and class in the
college admissions essay. Law & Society Review, 45, 103-138.
doi:10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00429.x
Researchers attempt to answer the question of could student responses to the
essay topic How do I bring diversity? for their college admission application
effectively replace affirmative action processes eliminated with the Grutter and Gratz
Supreme Court rulings. Using probability stratified sampling processes the sample
consisted of 176 application essays from the 2003-2004 applicant pool at University of
Michigan. The three strata used were socioeconomic status, household income, and
entrance exam (ACT/SAT) scores. Using Quantitative methods a code was assigned to
specific diversity characteristics within the essays and rate them on a scale based on the
inclusion of the characteristics. The conclusion was that university definitions of diversity
as it pertains to college admission, based on essay content, would most likely match that
of an international student with a unique family heritage and a desire to grow and be
challenged. Those in lower income classes or did not fall within the overall definition and
could be limiting their responses because their perception of the essay expectations would
be more of a positive approach in responding rather than a personal critical analysis.
Overall the essay is representative of a new perspective on diversity and would not meet
the goals of affirmative action practices that had previously been implemented.

Long, M. C. (2004). Race and college admissions: An alternative to affirmative action?
Review of Economics and Statistics, 86, 1020-1033. doi:
10.1162/0034653043125211
Long examines the effect of x% plans on college admissions of minorities.
Utilizing the National Educational Longitudinal Study he samples clusters of 24 students
at 1000 high schools in the united states to gather his data. After reconstructing an x%
plan and reviewing the outcomes of the simulation using the data collected, Long
concludes that the x% plan does not bring the underrepresented minority numbers back to
the level they were prior to the end of affirmative action. Outcomes indicate that minority
students will shift their interest to smaller less selective institutions rather than pursue the
large state institutions employing the x% plans replacing affirmative action policies.

Posselt, J., Jaquette, O., Bielby, R., & Bastedo, M. N. (2012). Access without equity:
Longitudinal analyses of institutional stratification by race and ethnicity, 1972-
2004. American Educational Research Journal, 49(6), 1074-1111.
Researchers examine institutional stratification of race/ethnicity in higher
education institutions from the years 1972 to 2004 and ultimately claims that selective
admissions processes causes effectively maintained inequality of race in post secondary
education. Presenting four different hypotheses, they pursue causal comparative research
to identify how test scores, extracurricular leadership, socioeconomic status, and
academic preparation as well as the lack thereof affects enrollments of different ethnic
groups at higher education institutions. They conclude that higher academic preparation,
higher test scores, extracurricular leadership, and higher SES status are positively related
to increases in minority enrollment in selective institutions consistently across ethnicities
while the variety of SES statuses diminishing.

Santos, J. L., Cabrera, N. L., & Fosnacht, K. J. (2010). Is "race-neutral" really race-
neutral? Disparate impact towards underrepresented minorities in post-209 UC
system admissions. Journal Of Higher Education, 81, 605-631.
The purpose of the paper is to examine the effects of Proposition 209 in the
University of California system comparing the numbers before, during, and after the
proposition was passed as well as analyzing if the numbers are significantly different. All
universities in the UC system were observed during application, admission, and
enrollment phases to see the impact on underrepresented minorities. In their conclusion
they find alarming adverse impacts not only on the admissions process but across
application and enrollment phases as well.

Stulberg, L. M., & Chen, A. S. (2014). The origins of race-conscious affirmative
action in undergraduate admissions: A comparative analysis of institutional
change in higher education. Sociology of Education, 87, 36-52.
doi:10.1177/0038040713514063
The overall purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how and why
race-based affirmative action processes emerged and were implemented in higher
education. By utilizing purposive sampling, the researchers chose 17 selective
undergraduate institutions found in the Northern United States. By constructing a
historical timeline identifying major civil rights events that could have prompted a
shift in admissions practices to be sensitive to race in decisions. For early adopter
institutions, civil rights riots on campus did not play a large part in implementation
of the processes, rather it was more the mindset of liberal administration. For late
adopters, the threat of riots on campus played more significant of a role and overall
the implementation became a ripple effect (p. 47) across the northern institutions.

Teranishi, R. T., & Briscoe, K. (2008). Contextualizing race: African American college
choice in an evolving affirmative action era. Journal Of Negro
Education, 77, 15-26.
Briscoe and Teranishi qualitative explore the perspectives of black high
school students on Proposition 209 and how the passing of Prop 209 affected their
perceptions of admissions at University of California, how their views of racial
discourse prompted by Proposition 209 affected their choice of college, and what
coping mechanisms the students employed to combat the feeling of being
unwelcome created by the ruling. By employing purposive sampling, this qualitative
study utilized group and individual interviews of 36 black high school juniors and
seniors and six high school counselors. Interviews and field observations were
conducted at two black comprehensive high schools in California. Results of the
interviews revealed that students were very aware of how difficult it was to be
admitted, specifically for black students, to universities in the UC system. Also, the
results of determining how students coped with perception showed specifically that
the Affirmative Action practices had affected their desire to attend a UC institution
and they indicated other out of state schools that were of interest to them.