Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
制度还是专业？理解大学招生中的学生偏好
Institution or major? Understanding student preferences in college admissions
摘要
In many countries outside the United States, students must choose an institution–major pair simultaneously, creating a trade‐off between institutional prestige and field of study. Using data from Taiwan's centralized admissions system, we study how applicants navigate this choice. We find that students strongly prioritize institutional ranking, with little heterogeneity across demographic groups and only a weak link between program choice and expected earnings. Counterfactual analysis shows that students forgo about 15% of their annual income by favoring institutions over earnings‐maximizing alternatives, suggesting that nonpecuniary factors—especially institutional reputation—play a central role in shaping college decisions.
中文摘要
在美国以外的许多国家，学生必须同时选择院校与专业组合，从而在院校声望与所学领域之间形成权衡。利用台湾集中招生系统的数据，我们研究了申请者如何应对这一选择。我们发现，学生强烈优先考虑院校排名，不同人口群体之间的异质性很小，且专业选择与预期收入之间仅存在微弱联系。反事实分析表明，学生因偏好院校而非收入最大化选项而放弃约15%的年收入，这表明非货币因素——尤其是院校声誉——在塑造大学决策中发挥核心作用。