Recruit to reject? Harvard and African American applicants

Elite colleges in the US have seen dramatic increases applications over past few decades, part result of expanded applicant recruiting. However, broadening pool while also maintaining diversity may require encouraging from individuals who little to no chance admission. We shed new light on this behavior using detailed data Harvard University that was made public as SFFA v. lawsuit. show encourages many students effectively being admitted, and is particularly true for African Americans. After a 28-year period where American share applicants roughly stable, grew by almost 57% four years. Yet, there change admits were American, consistent with our finding increase driven those lower SAT scores. resulted substantial convergence overall admissions rates across races yet large cross-race differences high-SAT applicants.