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No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal: Race and Class in Elite College Admission and Campus Life
The truth about America's elite colleges and universities―who gets in, who succeeds, and why
Against the backdrop of today's increasingly multicultural society, are America's elite colleges admitting and successfully educating a diverse student body? No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal pulls back the curtain on the selective college experience and takes a rigorous and comprehensive look at how race and social class impact each stage―from application and admission, to enrollment and student life on campus. Arguing that elite higher education contributes to both social mobility and inequality, the authors investigate such areas as admission advantages for minorities, academic achievement gaps tied to race and class, unequal burdens in paying for tuition, and satisfaction with college experiences.
The book's analysis is based on data provided by the National Survey of College Experience, collected from more than nine thousand students who applied to one of ten selective colleges between the early 1980s and late 1990s. The authors explore the composition of applicant pools, factoring in background and "selective admission enhancement strategies"―including AP classes, test-prep courses, and extracurriculars―to assess how these strengthen applications. On campus, the authors examine roommate choices, friendship circles, and degrees of social interaction, and discover that while students from different racial and class circumstances are not separate in college, they do not mix as much as one might expect. The book encourages greater interaction among student groups and calls on educational institutions to improve access for students of lower socioeconomic status.
No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal offers valuable insights into the intricate workings of America's elite higher education system.
Against the backdrop of today's increasingly multicultural society, are America's elite colleges admitting and successfully educating a diverse student body? No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal pulls back the curtain on the selective college experience and takes a rigorous and comprehensive look at how race and social class impact each stage―from application and admission, to enrollment and student life on campus. Arguing that elite higher education contributes to both social mobility and inequality, the authors investigate such areas as admission advantages for minorities, academic achievement gaps tied to race and class, unequal burdens in paying for tuition, and satisfaction with college experiences.
The book's analysis is based on data provided by the National Survey of College Experience, collected from more than nine thousand students who applied to one of ten selective colleges between the early 1980s and late 1990s. The authors explore the composition of applicant pools, factoring in background and "selective admission enhancement strategies"―including AP classes, test-prep courses, and extracurriculars―to assess how these strengthen applications. On campus, the authors examine roommate choices, friendship circles, and degrees of social interaction, and discover that while students from different racial and class circumstances are not separate in college, they do not mix as much as one might expect. The book encourages greater interaction among student groups and calls on educational institutions to improve access for students of lower socioeconomic status.
No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal offers valuable insights into the intricate workings of America's elite higher education system.
568 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 5, 2010
No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal is a thorough and accessible study of race- and class-based dynamics at elite American colleges and universities. Sociologists Thomas J. Espenshade and Alexandria Walton Radford report on the racial and class makeup of student populations at top U.S. schools at various stages of their college careers, and conclude with suggestions for closing the racial academic achievement divide in American society more broadly. The result is a lucid and informative analysis that will benefit students, parents, admissions officers, teachers, and anyone interested in how race and social class come to bear on prestigious campuses.
The first six chapters of No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal analyze patterns of application, admission, scholarly performance, financial aid, and other factors among Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian students at America's most selective undergraduate programs. However, non-specialists and readers most interested in the potential applications of Espenshade's and Radford's research may wish to concentrate on the final chapters, which consider both affirmative action and class-based admissions procedures. Because elite colleges have more financial wherewithal than public universities, the authors charge top schools with the responsibility of recruiting, admitting, and graduating more low-income students. Especially rousing is the authors' call for the establishment of an American Competitiveness and Leadership Project (ACLP), which would work both to identify causes of the racial academic achievement gap between Black-White and Hispanic-White students and work to combat this gap on a national level.
As a first-generation college graduate from a poor family, I found this book both tremendously interesting and, sometimes, a bit at odds with my own college experience. While the authors rightly make the point that on-campus jobs identify less affluent students to their wealthier peers, it seems to me that class divisions among college students can be apparent in much more entrenched and longstanding ways—from clothes to vocabulary, from parental involvement to extracurricular activities—for work-study to be of so much significance as a class identifier. The authors' suggested substitution for work-study, however, is exciting. Noting that students who have on-campus jobs tend to interact more often with people from different backgrounds, Espenshade and Radford propose mandatory campus-wide "community service activity" initiatives that would replace work-study programs and bring together students of diverse backgrounds. Such a program would benefit both campus life and community outreach.
Another drawback is the book’s reliance on four broad racial categories, White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. The authors are quick to acknowledge the different multiracial, immigrant, and descendant identities that comprise these categories, but at times the groupings still feel a bit reductive. This is especially evident in the book’s treatment of Native American and Pacific Islander students. While “American Indian/Native American/Alaska Native” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” were options along the other categories on the student survey the authors used, these results are not discussed at length. The authors explain that “There was an insufficient number of individuals responding to the NSCE survey who listed Native American/Alaska Native to constitute a meaningful analysis category.” It didn’t seem to me that the authors spent any sustained part of their study focusing on Native American or Pacific Islander students, and some further elaboration of why not would have been helpful.
I have no background in sociology, so I was pleased with the readability ofNo Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal. Espenshade and Radford demystify elite university admissions procedures and analyze the current state of racial and socioeconomic diversity at selective institutions, all in clear prose and with abundant statistical detail. Should universities implement class-based admissions? What roles should top schools play in eliminating racial inequality across generations of students? Not only does this book offer some answers to these questions, even more importantly, it will give you the tools you need to decide for yourself.
Review by Barbara Barrow
February 10, 2010
Most interesting insight (based on statistical analysis) - if both affirmative action AND the racial achievement gap were to be removed at the same time, race composition in top colleges would remain almost the same.
June 4, 2010
annoyed by how they explain every chart to the last detail but then don't explain WHY these trends exist. chapter on why other policies would not provide minority representation at elite institutions the way affirmative action does was interesting.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews