TESTING FOR BIAS IN GRADUATE-SCHOOL ADMISSIONS

This paper provides an empirical examination of the factors that influ ence graduate admissions decisions. It exploits a unique, large data s et on applications and admissions to 48 leading graduate schools in fi ve disciplines, including economics, The analysis shows that these gra duate schools in the aggregate gave substantial preference in four out of five fields to U.S. citizens over foreign applicants, modest prefe rence in three fields to women over men, and substantial preference in all fields to underrepresented minorities over other U.S. citizens, T he findings suggest that higher standards are applied to overrepresent ed groups to achieve more diverse enrollments.