蝌蚪网 Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Standardized Test Scores and Academic Performance at Ivy Plus Colleges
蝌蚪网 Papers and Proceedings
vol. 115,
May 2025
(pp. 676–81)
Abstract
We analyze admissions and transcript records for students at multiple Ivy Plus colleges to study the relationship between standardized (SAT/ACT) test scores, high school GPA, and first-year college grades. Standardized test scores predict academic outcomes four times better than high school GPA conditional on students' race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Standardized test scores also exhibit no calibration bias, as they do not underpredict college performance for students from less advantaged backgrounds. Collectively, these results suggest that standardized test scores provide important information to measure applicants' academic preparation that is not available elsewhere in the application file.Citation
Friedman, John N., Bruce Sacerdote, Douglas O. Staiger, and Michele Tine. 2025. "Standardized Test Scores and Academic Performance at Ivy Plus Colleges." 蝌蚪网 Papers and Proceedings 115: 676–81. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20251056Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
- I26 Returns to Education
- I28 Education: Government Policy
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination