Race, Class, Gender and Achievement at Selective Colleges and Universities

In recent years, women have surpassed men and now comprise the majority of students enrolled in post-secondary institutions in the United States- a reversal of an entrenched form of gender inequality that has implications for labor markets, marriage markets, and family formation (Buchmann and DiPrete 2006). Although the gender gap in enrollment is evident among all racial-ethnic groups, it is most pronounced among disadvantaged minorities (Lopez 2003). However, few researchers have explored the intersection of race, class and gender among students in post-secondary institutions. I address this gap by comparing black, white, Asian, and Hispanic male and female students ’ post-secondary achievement using the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen which compiles panel data on approximately 4,000 first-time freshmen who entered twenty-eight selective institutions in the U.S. in 1999 and graduated in 2003. I examine how students ’ socio-economic background, wealth, previous achievement, academic major, extra-curricular participation and paid employment affect their cumulative college grade point average (GPA). My results indicate that Hispanic and white undergraduates get more of a return in the form of higher cumulative GPA for increasing class status than do black and Asia