2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work in progress research paper presents the development of a taxonomy of undergraduate engineering admissions to classify admissions practices and protocols. Engineering admissions has a profound influence on engineering participation as the entry point to higher education programs but has only been partially studied and questioned. Undergraduate engineering admissions counselors often use private methods to assess the qualifications of high school applicants and typically only share aggregate measures of standardized test scores and grade point averages publicly. As legal judgments like the recent Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v President & Fellows of Harvard College restrict admissions protocols, it is important to understand the new processes that will emerge as a result. Undergraduate admissions processes vary across institutions; however, there is no current coherent framing of admissions practices in the engineering education research community. A taxonomy will enable a shared classification to accelerate research and triangulate findings across studies.

Data for taxonomy development are being collected for all ABET-accredited undergraduate colleges/universities across four domains from undergraduate admissions websites, informational phone calls, and actual applications. “Admissions Experience” data include information that dictates the pathway a student must follow to enter the admissions process (e.g., deadlines). Data categorized as “Student Data” include pieces of personal and educational information requested from the applicant, either through the application (e.g., demographic information and essays) or third-party submission (e.g., transcript and recommendations). These data capture the scope of information used by an admissions office to determine an admissions decision. “Admissions Review” data encompass how an admissions decision is determined based on a review of the “Student Data” through an institution-specific protocol. Finally, “Institutional Characteristics,” including size/enrollment, student demographics, and location were collected to correlate the admissions data to institutional qualities. Collectively, these data represent a start-to-finish characterization of the undergraduate admissions process that addresses the roles of all parties/individuals involved.

The paper presents the progress towards developing a taxonomy that features classification which takes into account the application type, required documents, and admissions review process. Exploratory data analysis of the taxonomy data was conducted and reveals patterns in admissions processes across institutions. Analyses can also highlight the prevalence of biased practices in the engineering undergraduate admissions landscape (i.e., examining what percentage of students are admitted to universities that offer Early Decision deadlines known to restrict racial and geographic diversity). The taxonomy will provide the first comprehensive understanding of the undergraduate engineering landscape with benefits to both the engineering education research and undergraduate admissions enterprises. Future engineering education research may target individuals or groups of institutions for study according to taxonomy affiliations that are relevant to the specific research objective. Furthermore, the taxonomy will support efforts of admissions offices to contextualize their practice within the broader scope of admissions approaches.

Keywords: taxonomy development, undergraduate admissions, policies and practices