Changes in Texas Universities’ Applicant Pools after the Hopwood Decision

Abstract

This paper evaluates how the distribution of applicant and enrollee attributes at seven Texas universities changed after the Hopwood decision and the implementation of a policy guaranteeing admission to students with high class ranks. We analyze changes in the distributions of test scores and high school class ranks for underrepresented minority groups as well as white and Asian American applicants across institutions and between admission regimes. We show that these admissions policy changes, which have direct effects on only the most selective institutions, have substantial indirect effects at other institutions. Average test scores of applicants to less selective institutions rose following the change in admission criteria, as students with high test scores who did not qualify for the admission guarantee applied to a broader set of institutions. Furthermore, as the share of high rank applicants at UT-Austin rose, the pre-Hopwood assent in the test scores of their applicants stagnated.