Mismatch in Law SchoolAn important criticism of race-based higher education admission preferences is that they may hurt minority students who attend more selective schools than they would in the absence of such preferences. We categorize the non-experimental research designs available for the study of so-called "mismatch" effects and evaluate the likely biases in each. We select two comparisons and use them to examine mismatch effects in law school. We find no evidence of mismatch effects on any students' employment outcomes or on the graduation or bar passage rates of black students with moderate or strong entering credentials. What evidence there is for mismatch comes from less-qualified black students who typically attend second- or third-tier schools. Many of these students would not have been admitted to any law school without preferences, however, and the resulting sample selection prevents strong conclusions. |
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admission credentials admission decisions admission index percentile admission preferences admitted to selective affirmative action preferences attend highly selective attending a selective average Ayres and Brooks bar exam bar passage rates biases black and white black-white comparison CATHERWOOD LIBRARY causal effect class rank clusters conditional on observed controls difference in unobserved E[Zẞz econometrician effect of attending effects of selectivity employment outcomes endogenous entering credentials Epanechnikov estimates evidence of mismatch Full sample GPAs graduation and bar highly selective school indicator law school grades law students less selective schools LSAT scores matriculation decisions measures mismatch effects mismatch hypothesis mismatch in law NBER negative effects observed credentials Point estimates probability of attending probit probit models Public Ivy quadratic in LSAT qualified students race reduced-form Sander school selectivity selection bias selective law schools selective-unselective comparisons selectivity effect similarly-qualified whites strategies students attending selective subsample Table top four quintiles UGPA unselective variables white students