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Title: Determinants of the Match Between Student Ability and College Quality
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Dillon, Eleanor Wiske
Smith, Jeffrey
Determinants of the Match Between Student Ability and College Quality
Journal of Labor Economics 35,1 (January 2017): 45-66.
Also: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/687523
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): College Characteristics; Colleges; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

We examine how students of varying abilities sort (and are sorted) into colleges of varying qualities. Our data indicate substantial amounts of both academic undermatch (high ability students at low quality colleges) and academic overmatch (low ability students at high quality colleges). Student application and enrollment decisions, rather than college admission decisions, drive most deviations from academic assortative matching. Financial constraints, information, and the public college options facing students all affect this sorting, but mainly via the college quality rather than the match between ability and quality. More informed students attend higher quality colleges, even when doing so involves overmatching.
Bibliography Citation
Dillon, Eleanor Wiske and Jeffrey Smith. "Determinants of the Match Between Student Ability and College Quality." Journal of Labor Economics 35,1 (January 2017): 45-66.