For my full research statement, please click here.
“Do Transfer Students Harm Direct Admits? A Peer Effects Case Study”
In recent years, policymakers across the United States have established more programs to help community college students transfer to four-year programs to earn bachelor’s degrees. Evidence from recent papers (Bianchi, 2020, Genakos and Kyrkopoulou, 2023, Machado et al., 2025) suggests that the implementation of similar programs to expand educational access to non-traditional students may have detrimental effects on traditional students. By using administrative and post-graduation survey data from one of the University of California schools, this paper is the first to investigate the peer effects of community college transfer students on students who are admitted through traditional channels (direct admits). To identify these effects, I compare students with similar academic preparation and course preferences who are exposed to different shares of transfer students in their courses due to randomness in the scheduling of courses. In the short run I find a small, statistically significant positive effect of transfer exposure on direct admits’ grades that is visible in upper and lower division courses and for all fields of study. These effects appear to be driven by a “curve effect”: because transfer students academically perform worse on average, they increase the ranking of direct admits. Controlling for the major choice of direct admits (which is minimally impacted by transfer exposure), I find that direct admits who are more exposed to transfer students in their college career graduate faster. I do not find statistically significant effects on labor market outcomes, though the estimates are noisy.
“How do Transfer Students and Direct Admits Compare? Academically and Post-Graduation”
Using administrative student data from one of the University of California schools, this paper analyzes the status of transfer students entering between 2012 to 2019 compared to direct admits. Academic outcomes, such as on-time graduation rates, time-to-degree, and final GPA, all improved over the sample period, but the gap between the two student groups remains. By linking to survey data, this paper also provides insight into initial post-graduation outcomes. Compared to direct admits, transfer students are 9-13 percentage points less likely to be in full-time employment after graduating. Internship experience is the most important factor, with other aspects like GPA and major contributing as well, however these variables do not fully explain the difference between transfer students and direct admits. Transfer students are also 5 to 7 percentage points more likely to still be planning for graduate school as opposed to already enrolled in a program.
“Did COVID-19 Academically Scar College Students?”
This project uses administrative student data for students that enter between 2012 to 2019 to determine if students who took foundational classes remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly performed worse in advanced classes than peers who took foundational classes in-person before the pandemic. Preliminary results show similar findings to other related papers, such as a large decrease in time-to-degree and larger graduation rates for cohorts affected by the pandemic. By liking the data to a university survey, this project will also be able to document how students’ post-graduation outcomes were affected by the pandemic.
“Coming From Quarter Versus Semester Systems – How Transfer Students Fared” (with Tihi Gatihi and Carlos Rodriguez)
(Analysis in progress)
“Predicting Community College Student Success and Decision-Making”
(Analysis in progress)