title: The role of socioeconomic status in SAT-grade relationships and in college admissions decisions.
abstract: This article examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationships among college admissions-test scores, secondary school grades, and subsequent academic performance. Scores on the SAT (a test widely used in the admissions process in the United States), secondary school grades, college grades, and SES measures from 143,606 students at 110 colleges and universities were examined, and results of these analyses were compared with results obtained using a 41-school data set including scores from the prior version of the SAT and using University of California data from prior research on the role of SES. In all the data sets, the SAT showed incremental validity over secondary school grades in predicting subsequent academic performance, and this incremental relationship was not substantially affected by controlling for SES. The SES of enrolled students was very similar to that of specific schools' applicant pools, which suggests that the barrier to college for low-SES students in the United States is a lower rate of entering the college admissions process, rather than exclusion on the part of colleges.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA. psackett@umn.edu
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Sackett
authors.forename: Nathan R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Kuncel
authors.forename: Adam S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Beatty
authors.forename: Jana L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rigdon
authors.forename: Winny
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Thomas B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Kiger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003099:College Admission Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012570:School Admission Criteria / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult