“They’re outside of the process”: How admissions officers maintain inequality when evaluating course rigor through holistic admissions

Authors

• Awilda Rodriguez, University of Maryland at College Park
• Katherine Lebioda, Eastern Michigan University
• Davinia Rodriguez-Wilhelm
• Cassandra Arroyo
• Joshua Skiles
• Briani McKenzie
• Reuben C. Kapp
• Nicole J. Wilson, University of Michigan

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Department/School

Leadership and Counseling

Publication Title

American Educational Research Journal

Abstract

Admissions officers practicing holistic admissions judge students’ course taking based on what was available to them, yet how representatives learn about students’ high school context and subsequently evaluate students’ course rigor within it remains underexamined. Using signaling theory and effectively maintaining the inequality framework, we leveraged interview data with college admissions representatives to investigate how they construct their understandings of high- versus low-resourced schools and how they evaluate course taking within each context. We found that admissions officers were less likely to understand low-resourced schools’ course offerings, had different approaches for determining how students made the most of their opportunities, and held deficit-oriented beliefs about them. These findings provide insights into the holistic admissions process and the ways it disadvantages low-resourced schools and students.

Comments

K. Lebioda is a faculty member in EMU's Department of Leadership and Counseling.

Link to Published Version

DOI: 10.3102/00028312251360905

Recommended Citation

Rodríguez, A., Lebioda, K., Rodríguez-Wilhelm, D., Arroyo, C., Skiles, J., McKenzie, B., Kapp, R. C., & Wilson, N. J. (2025). “They’re outside of the process”: How admissions officers maintain inequality when evaluating course rigor through holistic admissions. American Educational Research Journal, 62(5), 1019–1055. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312251360905