Inequities in “Stuckness”: Exploring mobility patterns to higher ranked institutions from undergraduate to graduate school based on students’ race/ethnicity and first generation in college status

Keywords: Graduate Race/Ethnicity 1st Generation Engineering and Computer Science There is a large literature demonstrating differential access to bachelor's degree programs in engineering and computer science based on an individual's race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Much of these access issues can be explained based on historical and systemic inequities that form reinforcing feedback loops. White students whose parents attended college tend to attend high schools and have access to information that helps position their college applications to be competitive for "elite schools" based on what university admissions offices prioritize in their decisions. There is also evidence demonstrating that where a student attends college for undergraduate will influence future outcomes such as job placement and career earnings—attending such an "elite school" can have multiplying effects on an individual's future. Although we are encouraged by some recent efforts to shift resources to postsecondary institutions that have historically not benefited from an inequitable higher education system, that similar reinforcing feedback loop persists at the undergraduate level based on school ranking, and racially minoritized and first generation students are underrepresented in highly ranked schools. That kind of inter-institutional stratification is also present at the graduate level, as research has shown that attending "elite" graduate programs influence later career outcomes, including, for example, higher rates of working in tenure track academic positions, jobs with higher salaries, and access to prestigious awards such as the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship program. Thus, at every stage of education, where one attends school matters for subsequent outcomes. At the same time, obtaining a postsecondary education, in particular an education in engineering or computer science, has been described as a mechanism that enables upward mobility and a way to reduce inequality. In this session, we will interrogate that line of thinking given the stratification in the system and investigate the extent to which students tend to remain within certain strata of institutions. We will consider the extent to which movement between tiers of institutions (based on rankings in this analysis) tends to happen from students' undergraduate institution of attendance to both Master's and PhD institutions of attendance. Additionally, we will explore the extent to which students' race/ethnicity and status as a first generation college student matters for mobility between tiers of institutions. This session will present analysis based on data from the National Science Foundation's Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The SED is characterized by comprehensive coverage of doctoral recipients from institutions in the United States. Using a combination of self-administered paper surveys, web-based surveys, and computer-assisted telephone interviews, graduate schools typically require SED responses at the time of degree completion. In FY17, for example. 91.4% of the 54,664 individuals who were granted a research doctorate completed the SED, who respond to questions regarding their education paths, funding mechanisms during graduate school, and future career trajectories. Our session will draw on variables related to students' parents' education levels, race/ethnicity, and institutions of attendance for bachelor's, Master's, and doctoral degrees. We will present "flows" of students across different institutional characteristics, including ranking, by students' race/ethnicity and first generation in college status, as well as regression analyses.