Peer Influence in College Applications

Ana M. Gazmuri and Elena Prager

No 35993, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper studies how exposure to peers affects college application behavior. We use neighbors who attend different high schools to mitigate concerns about common shocks. Using granular classroom-level data, we find that exposure to peers who have applied to a program increases application rates. Consistent with an information mechanism, there is no additional effect of peers who are admitted. In counterfactuals, the effect is large enough to close urban-rural gaps and gender gaps in applications to selective college programs. We make the (generally NP-hard) application portfolio choice problem tractable using a setting where admission probabilities are observable and conditionally independent.

JEL-codes: I20 I23 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-11
Note: ED IO
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