Student retention and performance in higher education are important issues for educators, students, and the nation facing critical professional labor shortages. Expectancy and goal setting theories were used to predict academic performance and college student retention. Students' academic expectancy motivation at the start of the college…

American colleges and universities compete with each other for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, research funding, and external contributions, as well as on athletic fields. This competition is often alleged to be a zero-sum game; what one institution wins, another must lose. However, as the authors show here, the Common…

This is the Executive Summary for the full report, "Complexity in College Admission: The Barriers between Aspiration and Enrollment for Lower-Income Students." In September 2007, the College Board formed the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century in response to a request from the Guidance and Admission Assembly Council (GAA…

In September 2007, the College Board formed the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century in response to a request from the Guidance and Admission Assembly Council (GAA Council) to more closely examine the high school-to-college transition process. Students and parents complained about the lack of transparency in the process, the confusing…

More than 25% of new college students begin their higher education careers outside of the traditional fall start date (National Student Clearinghouse, 2012). This study examines the social, personal, and academic experiences of spring admits at a large, private research institution in the western United States. In this study, a spring admit is…

Young females have "arrived" in regard to graduating from high school and attending and graduating from college. More females are currently earning PhD's than their male counterparts. Female students have been encouraged and nurtured to become a confident, task-oriented, organized group of achievers who are applying to college in record numbers.…

The 2011 Application Trends Survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is the industry source for comprehensive statistics and timely and reliable insights into the demand for graduate management education around the world. A total of 649 programs from 331 business schools and faculties worldwide representing 45 countries…

In the light of the forthcoming policy shift to full-cost fees for English undergraduates, this study examines the impact of fee changes on how students weigh up their university choices. Conjoint analysis is used to examine the importance that students attach to various attributes of a university. It also explores differences across subsections…

People tend to assume that the motivations for their behavior--whether choosing a school, buying a car or pursuing a particular career--are readily available to them, waiting to be articulated. But a great deal of new multi-disciplinary research--in psychology, cognition, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology--is suggesting otherwise. In…

In November, 2008, Colorado and Nebraska voted on amendments that sought to end race-based affirmative action at public universities. In anticipation of the vote, Colorado's flagship public institution--The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU)--explored statistical approaches to support class-based affirmative action. This paper details CU's…

Elite colleges and universities have encountered criticism because students from upscale families have come to dominate the schools' Black enrollments. African-American alumni of an earlier generation and other critics want more low-income students admitted. National studies, though, show that only a small percentage of high school seniors from…

The entrepreneurial admission sector is comprised of commercial enterprises aimed at helping students increase their odds of admission, as well as providing general college information to the masses. As for-profit entities, a goal of companies in this sector is to maximize revenue and profit. Existing research identifies four main activities as…

What qualities should admission criteria identify in applicants to teacher education programs in order to select those that should be admitted into the program from those applying? One approach to addressing this selection problem is to link the desired qualities of applicants to the desired qualities with which students in the program are to…

When intern placement veteran Jacqueline Perkins begins counseling students at Florida A&M University (FAMU) about their prospects for getting well-paying, security-related jobs with the federal government, she confronts the 800-pound gorilla in the room--the question of whether a student has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a…

Presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores if what a student believes is a good fit for them at an institution is supported by the evidence once they choose to attend an specific institution.