University Differences in the Graduation of Minorities in STEM Fields: Evidence from California
Peter Arcidiacono (),
Esteban Aucejo and
V. Joseph Hotz
Additional contact information
Peter Arcidiacono: Duke University
No 7227, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
Abstract:
The low number of college graduates with science degrees – particularly among under-represented minorities – is of growing concern. We examine differences across universities in graduating students in different fields. Using student-level data on the University of California system during a period in which racial preferences were in place, we show significant sorting into majors based on academic preparation, with science majors at each campus having on average stronger credentials than their non-science counterparts. Students with relatively weaker academic preparation are significantly more likely to leave the sciences and take longer to graduate at each campus. We show the vast majority of minority students would be more likely to graduate with a science degree and graduate in less time had they attended a lower ranked university. Similar results do not apply for non-minority students.
Keywords: STEM majors; minorities; college graduation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I24 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)
Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp7227.pdf (application/pdf)
Related works:
Journal Article: University Differences in the Graduation of Minorities in STEM Fields: Evidence from California (2016) 
Working Paper: University differences in the graduation minorities in STEM fields: evidence from California (2016) 
Working Paper: University Differences in the Graduation of Minorities in STEM Fields: Evidence from California (2013) 
Working Paper: University differences in the graduation of minorities in STEM fields: evidence from California (2013) 
Working Paper: University Differences in the Graduation of Minorities in STEM Fields: Evidence from California (2013) 
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7227
Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Access Statistics for this paper
More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().