Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College
University of Zurich, Department of Economics, Working Paper No. 300
49 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2018
There are 3 versions of this paper
Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College
Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College
Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College
Date Written: September 2018
Abstract
This paper studies how a student's ordinal achievement rank affects performance and specialization choices in university. We exploit data from a setting where students are randomly assigned to teaching sections and find that students with a higher rank in their section achieve higher grades, become more likely to graduate, and are more likely to choose related follow-up courses and majors. These effects are stronger for men who, in contrast to women, respond to a higher rank with an increase in their study effort. Our results highlight that social comparisons with peers can have lasting effects on students' careers.
Keywords: Rank, Social Comparisons, Higher Education, Peer Effects
JEL Classification: I21, J16, J31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation