Admission to selective colleges has grown more competitive, yielding student bodies that are unrepresentative of the U.S. population. Admission officers report using sorting (e.g., GPA, standardized tests) and concertedly cultivated (e.g., extracurricular activities) and ascriptive status (e.g., whether an applicant identifies as a member of a…

The study of elites is enjoying a revival at a time of increasing economic inequality. Sociologists of education have been leaders in this area, researching how affluent families position their children to compete favorably in a highly stratified higher education system. However, scholars have done less research on how students do symbolic work of…

Evidence from Ghana is presented to show the possibility of downward mobility of elite children through lack of success in a selective educational system and the ability of children from lower status homes to use this system to overcome their initial disadvantages. (Author)

Describes a program which helps minority graduate students obtain doctoral degrees in sociology at universities of their choice. Fellowships were distributed equally among the sexes when effects of each of the indicators of academic credentials were controlled. Similar conclusions were drawn regarding age, marital status, and geographic region.…

Empirical content is given to the concept of an organization set and two related hypotheses are tested on data concerning the competition of colleges and universities for new students. (Author/KM)

The data analyzed in this paper are drawn from a number of past studies dealing with the effects of college selectivity upon undergraduate aspirations. Reexamination of previous studies and secondary analysis of data leads the author to conclude that aspirations and career-field choice should not be treated as interchangeable measures because…

Develops a gatekeeping theory by stepping inside the black box of Harvard university's admissions process. Stresses how political and organizational contexts influence selection (gatekeeping). Analyzes how student merit and social class-based factors mutually determine selection. Links an understanding of the organizational field with process…