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The College Application Essay Mediating Inequality Along The Path To Higher Education, Ralitsa S. Todorova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines inequality and access in the college admissions process and, in particular, via the college application essay. With a research design and analysis sampling documents from multiple stakeholders in the college admissions process, this research considers how students with diverse histories of preparation for higher education interact with actors relevant to the admissions process in their college admissions essays. This research project ultimately asks how the college essay process (its importance, the preparation, and ultimate writing) mediates inequality in admission to higher education. Essays were collected from students at one large public university and one small private liberal …