The first essay estimates the impact of a challenging, six-week-long summer program for rising high school seniors that is hosted annually at a selective private university which graduates a majority of its students in a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) field. Using applications to the program between 2005 and 2011, and records from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and 31 universities, the analysis explores the effect of the summer program on college application, admission, matriculation, and STEM major rates. Records from the summer pro- gram’s selection process reduce bias when using OLS regression and propensity score techniques. The estimates show admission to the summer program increased enrollment at the host institution by 30 percentage points, and shifted students from less selective universities. There were no detectable differences in graduation rates, and STEM major rates increased. This indicates that interventions preceding college application season can influence application and enrollment at selective universities, and that matriculation and major choices are coupled in ways that are important for increasing STEM access.
The second essay uses data from a randomized trial of three programs: the six-week summer program explored in the first chapter, a one-week version of the same program, and a program that takes place online over six months. Applicants in 2014 and 2015 were randomly assigned to one of the three programs or a control. Early results from surveys and host institution (HI) records confirm a large effect of the six-week program on application rates at the HI. The programs also improved application strategy beyond inducing application to the HI. For early outcomes such as college application and acceptance rates, there were no sharp distinctions between the one-week, online, and six-week treatments. If later outcomes do not diverge, this will have future policy implications.
The third essay measures the effect of oversubscribed courses at a community college using a fuzzy regression discontinuity (FRD). The FRD relies on reconstructed enrollment queues, and exploits the discontinuity in enrollment at the waitlist cutoff. Using data from a large community college and the NSC, findings indicate that students substitute for unavailable courses with other courses in the same subject. We find no significant effects on later performance or transfer to other colleges. / Economics
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:harvard.edu/oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/33493321 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Robles, Silvia Ceballos |
| Contributors | Katz, Lawrence, Pallais, Amanda, Angrist, Joshua |
| Publisher | Harvard University |
| Source Sets | Harvard University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | embargoed |
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