TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bound,John
AU  - Hershbein,Brad
AU  - Long,Bridget Terry
TI  - Playing the Admissions Game: Student Reactions to Increasing College Competition
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15272
PY  - 2009
Y2  - August 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15272
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15272.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
John Bound
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
Tel: 734/998-7149
Fax: 734/998-7415
E-Mail: jbound@umich.edu

Brad Hershbein
Department of Economics
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
E-Mail: bjhersh@umich.edu

Bridget T. Long
Harvard University
Graduate School of Education
Gutman Library 465
6 Appian Way
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/496-4355
Fax: 617/496-3095
E-Mail: longbr@gse.harvard.edu
AB  - Gaining entrance to a four-year college or university, particularly a selective institution, has become increasingly competitive over the last several decades. We document this phenomenon and show how it has varied across different parts of the student ability distribution and across region, with the most pronounced increases in competition being found among higher-ability students and in the Northeast. Additionally, we explore how the college preparatory behavior of high school seniors has changed in response to the growth in competition. We also discuss the theoretical implications of increased competition on longer-term measures of learning and achievement and attempt to test them empirically; the evidence and related literature, while limited, suggests little long-term benefit.
ER  -