We utilize a corpus of 240,000 admissions essays submitted by 60,000 applicants to the University of California in November 2016 to measure the relationship between the content of application essays, reported household income, and standardized test scores (SAT) at scale. We find that essays have a stronger correlation to reported household income than SAT scores.

Horwitz and Stevens synthesize several scholarly literatures to call for investments in early childhood education and flexible alternatives to four-year college degrees. Together these investments enable serial career transitions and meaningful lifelong learning.

Committing to a major is a fateful step in an undergraduate education, yet the relationship between courses taken early in an academic career and ultimate major selection remains little studied at scale. Using transcript data capturing the academic careers of 26,892 undergraduates enrolled at a private university between 2000 and 2020, we describe enrollment histories using natural-language methods and vector…

Supported with funds from the National Science Foundation, Stanford University hosted a virtual convening in July 2021 to frame an applied science to support working learners. The goal of this science is to measurably improve educational opportunities and mechanisms of occupational mobility for adult Americans. We forward nine recommendations.

Drawing on serial interviews (N = 200) of 53 students at an admissions-selective university, we show that incoming students with disparate precollege experiences differ in their orientations toward and strategies for considering first college math courses. Content repeaters opt for courses that repeat material covered in prior coursework, whereas novices opt for courses covering material new to them. Content repeaters receive high grades and…

This study considers the role of religious habitus and self-concept in educational stratification. The authors follow 3,238 adolescents for 13 years by linking the National Study of Youth and Religion to the National Student Clearinghouse. Survey data reveal that girls with a Jewish upbringing have two distinct postsecondary patterns compared to girls with a non-Jewish upbringing, even after controlling for…