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theses

In Chapter 1, I study whether the increase in immigrants with at least a four-year college education affects the tendency of US high school students to take science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Advanced Placement (AP) exams. I use data from both IPUMS American Community Survey 1-year samples (for 2005-2014) and the College Board AP (for 2005-2014) to construct state level panels. Using the 1980 distribution across states of immigrants from different countries, I construct an instrumental variable to account for the potential endogeneity of immigration location. I find a positive effect of highly educated immigrants on STEM AP exams per youth. In Chapter 2, I study whether family background affects students’ college major choice using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. I find parents’ education level plays a more important role than family income in determining students’ college major choice. Students with more educated parents are more likely to choose STEM majors, mainly due to higher GPAs in high school, higher 9th grade mathematics proficiency, and parents more likely to be employed in STEM fields. Multinomial logistic regression suggests students with more educated parents are more likely to major in engineering, natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and business in college. In Chapter 3, I study whether family background affects students’ choice of Associate’s degree major using the 2009 High School Longitudinal Study. Students with more educated parents are slightly more likely to consider STEM majors upon enrolling in postsecondary education, an effect driven by higher 9th grade mathematics proficiency. However, I do not find any impact of family background on whether students actually declare a STEM major. I examine the determinants of students’ declaring a different major from the one originally considered. Men are more likely than women to consider a STEM major yet declare a non-STEM major, in contrast to the results of Chapter 2, where I found men are more likely than women to consider a non-STEM major yet declare a non-STEM major for the students pursuing a four-year Bachelor’s degree. Students with foreign-born parents are more likely to consider non-STEM majors yet declare a STEM major, which is consistent with the findings from Chapter 2.

http://dissertations.umi.com/gsnb.rutgers:12248

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-7131-fa10

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