TY  - JOUR
AU  - Liu,Albert Yung-Hsu
AU  - Ehrenberg,Ronald G.
AU  - Mrdjenovic,Jesenka
TI  - Diffusion of Common Application Membership and Admissions Outcomes at American Colleges and Universities
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13175
PY  - 2007
Y2  - June 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13175
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13175.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Albert Yung-Hsu Liu
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
505 14th St., Suite 800
Oakland, CA 94612-1475
E-Mail: aliu@mathematica-mpr.com

Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Cornell Higher Education Research Institute
271 Ives Hall East
Ithaca, NY  14853-3901
Tel: 607/255-3026
Fax: 607 255 4496
E-Mail: rge2@cornell.edu

Jesenka Mrdjenovic
Cornell Higher Education Research Institute
385 Ives Hall East
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
E-Mail: jm398@cornell.edu
AB  - We study the adoption of Common Application membership by private four-year postsecondary institutions and its role in explaining the growth in undergraduate applications. Using data from the College Board's Annual Survey of Colleges, our estimation of proportional hazard models suggest that institutions respond to the net benefit of adoption. We estimate that membership increases applications by 5.7 to 7.0 percent and decreases yield rates by 2.8 to 3.9 percent. Acceptance rates decrease for members when their local networks are large. Membership is also associated with a decline in SAT scores and an increase in the percentage of students of color. Finally, falsification tests indicate that membership effects occur as a one-time adoption shock that persists thereafter.
ER  -