Equity in Education: How High School Attributes determine an Admission into Elite Colleges

Abstract

This thesis seeks to answer the question “Does the type of high school and location affect one’s admission to the three elite colleges: Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Pomona College (Pomona), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)?” I used a dataset of high schools from five counties in Southern California, San Diego, Imperial, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles, to create a regression model that determines whether students from charter, magnet, private, or public schools, and where one’s high school is located neighborhood’s income levels have different rates of admission. This study found that attending public high school negatively impacts admission to CMC and Pomona, yet positively affects admission to UCLA. When looking geographically, location is a stronger predictor of admission across all three institutions. Although both CMC and Pomona use holistic admissions processes, Pomona places a greater emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. These results emphasized the socioeconomic inequalities that take place in college admissions. I suggested that colleges should implement more targeted outreach programs and high schools implement structural reform that provides access for students in underserved communities. By implementing more outreach programs, colleges would be a more equitable, diverse space. Low income students should feel that they have a viable chance to be admitted to an elite university