Are holistic college admissions more equitable?

By Claire Shin, Johns Hopkins University

During the Covid-19 pandemic, an additional 30% of American 4-year colleges joined the 50% already employing test-optional admission policies. 95% of more selective colleges have long used some holistic admission practices. However, less selective institutions have been more likely to rely on raw high school performance metrics. A new study examined data from 2.3 million students in a midwestern American state, matching their high school performance and college results. Applicants’ GPA, considered in the high school’s context, was overall as correlated with college GPA, graduation within 4 years, and retention beyond the first year as uncontextualized high school GPA. ACT scores and experience taking rigorous college preparatory classes, contextualized by the high school’s available resources, were also associated with college outcomes, but with smaller effect sizes.

The results suggest that colleges across a range of selectivity levels adopting holistic review policies with contextualized high school data may admit students as likely to succeed as those using decontextualized, narrow criteria. American public high schools, whose funding comes in part from local property taxes, are highly segregated by socio-economic status, race, and ethnicity. High schools in affluent districts can offer a greater variety and higher quality of academic and extracurricular programming compared to those in high-poverty districts. College admissions based on holistic, contextualized review may offer a more equitable chance for low-income students to be granted college admission compared to “traditional” decontextualized approaches.