Satisfied with the Safety School: Rank, Choice, and Competition within the College Admissions Mania

Over 16% of entering college students attend more than one university’s new student orientation program. How does attending multiple orientations affect the likelihood of students’ enrollment a university? Similarly, do students always attend their top-ranked college when admitted? This manuscript presents results from binary logistic regressions attempting to better understand why some students may attend a university’s orientation but not arrive for the first day of classes. Independent variables include orientation attendance and the rank students assign each college in their choice set. Additional variables investigated include cohort, estimated household income, high school GPA, SAT/ACT score, residency, proximity of the college from home, gender, first-generation status, and waitlist status. Among the results, rank choice, residency, and high school GPA provide statistically significant results though with limited effect