The relationship between siblings’ college choices: Evidence from one million SAT-taking families

Joshua Goodman (), Michael Hurwitz, Jonathan Smith and Julia Fox

Economics of Education Review, 2015, vol. 48, issue C, 75-85

Abstract: Recent empirical work has demonstrated the importance both of educational peer effects and of various factors that affect college choices. We connect these literatures by highlighting a previously unstudied determinant of college choice, namely the college choice made by one's older sibling. Data on 1.6 million sibling pairs of SAT-takers reveals that younger and older siblings’ choices are very closely related. One-fifth of younger siblings enroll in the same college as their older siblings. Compared to their high school classmates of similar academic skill and with observably similar families, younger siblings are about 15–20 percentage points more likely to enroll in 4-year colleges or highly competitive colleges if their older siblings do so first. These findings vary little by family characteristics. Younger siblings are more likely to follow the college choices of their older siblings the more they resemble each other in terms of academic skill, age and gender. We discuss channels through which older siblings’ college choices might causally influence their younger siblings, noting that the facts documented here should prompt further research on the sharing of information and shaping of educational preferences within families.

Keywords: College choice; College enrollment; Siblings; Four-year colleges; Selective colleges; Targeting interventions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D19 I20 I24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Relationship between Siblings' College Choices: Evidence from One Million SAT-Taking Families (2014)
Working Paper: The Relationship Between Siblings? College Choices: Evidence from One Million SAT?Taking Families
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:48:y:2015:i:c:p:75-85

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.05.006

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