FIELDS OF STUDY, COLLEGE SELECTIVITY, AND STUDENT INEQUALITIES IN HIGHER-EDUCATION

Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth we examine processes b y which students enter lucrative fields of study, selective colleges, and lucrative fields within selective colleges. We code fields by thei r graduates' average monthly income and use average incoming student's SAT scores to measure selectivity. We find that: (1) males are much m ove likely to enter fields of study with higher economic returns than are females; (2) socioeconomic factors do not affect chances of entry into lucrative fields net of other background factors, but SES predict s entry into selective colleges and lucrative fields within selective colleges; (3) measured academic ability is an important predictor for all dependent variables.