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With most adolescents now aspiring to graduate from college, assisting students in making the transition to college has become a key institutional function of high schools. Information about the application process is especially important for college entry since U.S. colleges and universities are not standardized and have localized admissions criteria. Gaining access to information is one of the most important benefits of social capital. This study asks whether high schools with high levels of social capital are more successful in helping their students gain admission to college. Schools' organizational efforts for students in making the transition to postsecondary education can be facilitated, in particular, by actions that individual families belonging to a school take despite the individuality of such actions. This study investigates the effects of having college representatives at a school on students' college entry and shows that actions taken by individual families in a particular school bring about a contextual effect on the selectivity of the college attended net of the high school's academic standing and socioeconomic composition. These effects also mediate the relationship between school socioeconomic status and enrollment in selective colleges, suggesting that such channels or ties may be particularly important in helping students at disadvantaged schools gain admission to selective four-year institutions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]