From 'Opportunity to Learn' to 'Opportunity to Connect': A Two-Mode Social Network Approach to Examining College Choice

Getting a college degree and specifically a four-year degree is getting more and more important. The purpose of this study was thus to examine the social context and the institutional structures in high schools which contribute to the enrollment in higher education and specifically the matriculation in four-year and selective four-year institutions. In taking a social network approach to college choice, this study examined two-mode social networks (student-course affiliations) which represent distinct student experiences of curriculum and content, peer environment, and the resources available through these peer networks. Hence, this study examined how opportunity to learn and opportunity to connect to advantaged peers predict college choice. Much has been written about the effect of curriculum and tracking as well as the effects of peers on achievement. However, this study's main contribution is the comprehensive nature in which usually separately studied topics are combined and understood theoretically and the novel ways in which they are studied empirically.;Results suggest that college choice is indeed strongly driven by the opportunities to learn and the opportunities to connect that students experience in high school. This research shows that the effect of connecting to advantaged peers in classrooms is a strong predictor of college-going in general and enrollment in four-year institutions in particular. These potential connections to advantaged peers are shaped by the selection and assignment of students to specific classes which also determines their exposure to curriculum and content. These results suggest that focusing on the social connections established between students opens up several fruitful implications for policy and practice as well as theory and future research. Results also challenge attempts at explaining student differences solely on student background which often contain more deterministic and deficit oriented rationales. Thus, focusing on social networks established during high school can improve inefficiencies in education and improve higher education outcomes.