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Abstract:
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The debate concerning affirmative action in higher education has continued in one form or another since the Supreme Court first ruled on the issue in 1978. During the 1990s, several states instituted programs that replaced affirmative action with systems that guaranteed admission to the top-x percent of each graduating high school class; in the case of Texas, this was done for the top 10% of each graduating class. This research finds that while class rank is a significant factor in predicting admission for all colleges, the weight placed on class rank at public institutions in Texas is higher than that for institutions not subject to the top 10% plan. Additionally, no significant positive race effect on admissions probability was found for those public institutions in Texas, seemingly confirming the race neutrality of said policy. In examining affirmative action generally, this paper finds that minority applicants do receive preferences in admissions but that the level of such preference has declined, compared to the earlier research literature, since the early 1980s. This positive effect is found for all minority groups when examining all institutions in the aggregate, but is found only for blacks when examining only schools who self-report as "Very Selective." Some coefficient estimates and foreknown limitations of the data set indicate the possibility of unobserved heterogeneity which may reduce the reliability of the coefficient estimates. |