In a "Stanford Law Review" article, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) law professor Richard Sander claimed to statistically prove that affirmative action at American law schools actually depressed the number of African Americans who become lawyers by "mismatching" them at schools where they were in over their heads academically. This…

This paper describes the college admission process through the conceptual lens of Dickason's (2001) phases of affirmative action. The first phase, obligatory affirmative action, describes the history of affirmative action and the impact on college admission. The second phase, voluntary affirmative action, describes University of West Florida's…

This article evaluates the "mismatch" hypothesis, advocated by opponents of affirmative action, which predicts lower graduation rates for minority students who attend selective post-secondary institutions than for those who attend colleges and universities where their academic credentials are better matched to the institutional average. Using two…

In exploring the relationship between cultural capital, symbolic violence and the diversification of the curriculum the notion of commoditization of race in higher education is developed. The term first and foremost emphasizes how students from "disadvantaged" racialized communities remain significantly underrepresented at selective…

Research that has traditionally supported program accreditation has tended to be primarily descriptive in nature, focusing on outcomes such as the satisfaction of graduates and passing rates on licensure exams. The study reported here illustrates how research employing multivariate methodologies can go beyond such descriptive reporting to address…

A study examined the effectiveness of five mandatory welfare employment programs in working with different segments of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) caseload. The study considered programs in San Diego, California; Baltimore, Maryland; several counties in Virginia; Little Rock and another county in Arkansas; and Cook County…

The issue of discrimination against Asian-Americans in higher education is discussed. The focus is on: whether certain of the country's most prestigious universities discriminate against Asian-American applicants; why this occurs; and what university officials, executive branch administrators, and members of Congress can do about it. Suspicions…

The 1987 University of Wyoming (UW) Trustees Symposium focused on five major topics. The topics and keynote speakers are as follows: "An Introduction to the University of Wyoming--The Perspective of a Newcomer," (Terry P. Roark); "College: Making the Connections" (Ernest L. Boyer); "A Quality Faculty for the Second…

The purpose of the study was to compare college admission decisions concerning handicapped and nonhandicapped applicants with comparable Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and high school grades (HSG). The study focused on 1,539 handicapped students who applied to 121 institutions that participated in the College Entrance Examination Board's…

This paper summarizes the "Survey of Magnet Schools," a study of the effectiveness of such schools in a nationally representative sample of 15 urban school districts. Among the significant findings are the following: (1) between 1981 and 1983 magnet school enrollments ranged from 21 percent to 71 percent white, a slightly higher percentage of…

The career salience and career involvement of young women 1 year after graduation were assessed. Respondents attended nine coeducational colleges and six women's colleges located in the U.S. northeast. It was found that graduates of very selective women's colleges had a higher career salience rating on the Life Style Index than did their…

Increasingly those working with affirmative action efforts at the graduate and professional level are considering the importance of early identification of career and educational goals. They are also considering the importance of using those motivational factors that overcome academic handicaps that may arise from school and home environments.…

Discusses the selection process carried on in tertiary institutions. Argues that it is pointless to consider actual selection in isolation from the gathering of data and the way that data are treated. (PK)

Questionnaires and interviews were used to study the selection of initial teacher training applicants at Scotland's 7 colleges of education, which handled 5,455 applications for 1,657 positions in 1982. Results showed diversity of selection approaches, uncertainty of purpose among selectors, and reliance on a short interview for assessing…

Although high school art classes stress creativity, abstracting, analytical and evaluative skills, personal motivation, caring, and commitment to one one's own work, college admissions policies tend to undervalue them. To improve the quality of education, college admissions policies should take art as seriously as other "academic" subjects. (JBM)