High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM

Judith Delaney; Paul J. Devereux

doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2021.101969

High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM

Judith Delaney, Paul J. Devereux

University College Dublin

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Abstract

Using unique data on preference rankings for all high school students who apply for college in Ireland, we investigate whether, conditional on absolute achievement at the end of high school, within school-cohort rank in English and math affects choice of college major. We find that higher rank in math increases the likelihood of choosing STEM and decreases the likelihood of choosing Arts and Social Sciences. Similarly, a higher rank in English leads to an increase in the probability of choosing Arts and Social Sciences and decreases the probability of choosing STEM. The effects of subject ranks on STEM are larger for boys than girls while there is no evidence of a gender difference in the effect of subject ranks on Arts and Social Sciences. We also find that English and math rank can explain about 4% of the gender gap in the choice of STEM as a college major and 9% of the gender gap that is not explained by absolute achievement. Overall, the tendency for girls to be higher ranked in English and lower ranked in math within school-cohorts can explain about 10% of the difference in the STEM gender gap between mixed-sex schools and same-sex schools and about 25% of the difference that is unexplained by absolute achievement. Notably, these effects occur even though we control for an extensive set of measures of absolute achievement at the end of high school, and the institutional setup implies that within-school rank plays no role whatsoever in college admissions decisions.

Original language	English
Article number	101969
Journal	Labour Economics
Volume	69
Early online date	1 Feb 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2021.101969
Publication status	Published - 30 Apr 2021

Funding

We are grateful to the Central Applications Office for providing access to the data used in this paper and to the State Examinations Commission for helpful information. We would also like to thank Richard Blundell, Ben Elsner, Eric French, Richard Murphy, Cormac O'Dea, Fabien Postal-Vinay, Barra Roantree, Uta Schoenberg, Michela Tincani and seminar participants at NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, UCD Dublin, European University Institute, University of Bath, Lancaster University, and University of Manchester. This is a heavily revised version of a paper previously circulated as ?The Effect of High School Rank in English and Math on College Major Choice?. This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence Scheme, FAIR project No 262675. We are grateful to the Central Applications Office for providing access to the data used in this paper and to the State Examinations Commission for helpful information. We would also like to thank Richard Blundell, Ben Elsner, Eric French, Richard Murphy, Cormac O'Dea, Fabien Postal-Vinay, Barra Roantree, Uta Schoenberg, Michela Tincani and seminar participants at NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, UCD Dublin, European University Institute, University of Bath, Lancaster University, and University of Manchester. This is a heavily revised version of a paper previously circulated as “The Effect of High School Rank in English and Math on College Major Choice”. This work was partially supported by the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence Scheme, FAIR project No 262675.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 5 Gender Equality

Keywords

gender gap in STEM
high school rank
college field of study

Access to Document

10.1016/j.labeco.2021.101969

Revised Manuscript.PDFAccepted author manuscript, 786 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM",

abstract = "Using unique data on preference rankings for all high school students who apply for college in Ireland, we investigate whether, conditional on absolute achievement at the end of high school, within school-cohort rank in English and math affects choice of college major. We find that higher rank in math increases the likelihood of choosing STEM and decreases the likelihood of choosing Arts and Social Sciences. Similarly, a higher rank in English leads to an increase in the probability of choosing Arts and Social Sciences and decreases the probability of choosing STEM. The effects of subject ranks on STEM are larger for boys than girls while there is no evidence of a gender difference in the effect of subject ranks on Arts and Social Sciences. We also find that English and math rank can explain about 4\% of the gender gap in the choice of STEM as a college major and 9\% of the gender gap that is not explained by absolute achievement. Overall, the tendency for girls to be higher ranked in English and lower ranked in math within school-cohorts can explain about 10\% of the difference in the STEM gender gap between mixed-sex schools and same-sex schools and about 25\% of the difference that is unexplained by absolute achievement. Notably, these effects occur even though we control for an extensive set of measures of absolute achievement at the end of high school, and the institutional setup implies that within-school rank plays no role whatsoever in college admissions decisions.",

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AB - Using unique data on preference rankings for all high school students who apply for college in Ireland, we investigate whether, conditional on absolute achievement at the end of high school, within school-cohort rank in English and math affects choice of college major. We find that higher rank in math increases the likelihood of choosing STEM and decreases the likelihood of choosing Arts and Social Sciences. Similarly, a higher rank in English leads to an increase in the probability of choosing Arts and Social Sciences and decreases the probability of choosing STEM. The effects of subject ranks on STEM are larger for boys than girls while there is no evidence of a gender difference in the effect of subject ranks on Arts and Social Sciences. We also find that English and math rank can explain about 4% of the gender gap in the choice of STEM as a college major and 9% of the gender gap that is not explained by absolute achievement. Overall, the tendency for girls to be higher ranked in English and lower ranked in math within school-cohorts can explain about 10% of the difference in the STEM gender gap between mixed-sex schools and same-sex schools and about 25% of the difference that is unexplained by absolute achievement. Notably, these effects occur even though we control for an extensive set of measures of absolute achievement at the end of high school, and the institutional setup implies that within-school rank plays no role whatsoever in college admissions decisions.

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High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this