Optimal top-n policy

Isa Hafalir, Siqi Pan and Kentaro Tomoeda

Mathematical Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 133, issue C, 34-48

Abstract: A widely adopted affirmative action policy in the university sector is the “top-n” policy, where the universities guarantee admission to students in the top n fraction of their class from every high school. The efficacy of the top-n policy in university integration has been questioned because students strategically relocate to low-achieving high schools. We show that when minorities are less likely to strategize than others, the policy can even segregate minorities from the target university, compared to the school-blind policy. A suitably chosen eligibility requirement, featuring the minimum time students must spend at a high school in order to be eligible for top-n admissions, can restore the efficacy of this policy. However, the most stringent requirement is not always optimal. The optimal requirement depends on the original distribution of students across high schools.

Keywords: Top-n policy; College admissions; Integration; Segregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:133:y:2025:i:c:p:34-48

DOI: 10.1016/j.mathsocsci.2024.12.001

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