Stanford GSB Works to Close Achievement Gap Among Disadvantaged College Freshmen
Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) recently posted an article on cutting-edge research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that explores how “first-generation, low-income, and minority students” can effectively “weather the transition to college life.” The findings offer a way to close the college freshmen achievement gap by approximately one-third.
Global Innovation Programs Managing Director Rob Urstein believes this work could have larger social implications outside the hallowed walls of academia.
“There are many junctures in life where people face major transitions, and this work could help better frame the experience of what it’s like to make the leap into a new environment.”
Urstein, along with a team of researchers, presented 10,000 incoming college freshmen with interventions from upperclassmen, “short narratives detailing how they felt out of place at first but gained a sense of belonging over time.”
Urstein explains: “We’ve found it helps students understand that it’s normal to struggle at first in college—it’s hard—but for most people those initial struggles are short-lived, and there are lots of resources to help you.”
According to the article, the Stanford GSB research paper demonstrated that “students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds receiving the interventions were much more likely to maintain full-time enrollment through the first year and have higher grade point averages.”
“These interventions alone aren’t silver bullets,” Urstein was quick to point out. “They have to be done in conjunction with other efforts to ensure that students can be successful.”
As a result of this work, some of the researchers formed the College Transition Collaborative at Stanford, designed to serve incoming students as well as apply the research outside the classroom.
Urstein is deeply invested in understanding how to “combine these psychological interventions and insights with entrepreneurial instincts to make improvements to higher education or meaningful settings at a fairly low cost.”
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
