Application to College: A Comparison of Asian American and White High School Students.

This paper explores an important component of the high college enrollment of Asian American students: application to college while in high school. Using data from the 1988-1992 waves of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), rates of application to college are compared for Asian Americans and Whites and various Asian American ethnic groups. Using logistic and negative binomial regression models, the study examines whether the high educational expectations of Asian Americans are sufficient to explain their higher college application rates, and, if not, whether factors such as immigration generation, socioeconomic and family background characteristics and tested ability further explain these differences. Educational expectations explain a great deal of the greater propensity of Asian Americans to apply to college. In addition, the favorable socioeconomic and other background characteristics of Koreans and South Asians enable them to apply to more schools than do Whites. Chinese are more likely to apply to college and to apply to more colleges than Whites, owing in part to their high proficiency test scores. High expectations are an important determinant of college attendance, although some Asian American ethnic groups have advantages above and beyond those that affect their educational expectations. (Contains 3 tables and 47 references.) (Author/SLD)