The Myth of Meritocracy: Informational and Financial Barriers to Graduate Education in Economics

Last registered on September 17, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Myth of Meritocracy: Informational and Financial Barriers to Graduate Education in Economics
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014352
Initial registration date
September 12, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 17, 2024, 11:54 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Samira Roshni Adhar
Affiliation
Boston University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Konstantin Poensgen
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-05-01
End date
2026-10-01
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
graduate school, higher education, economics, representation, barriers
JEL code(s)
I23, I24
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study (a) evaluates the mentorship program run by the Graduate Applications International Network (GAIN) and (b) seeks to shed light on the graduate school application barriers faced by students from across Africa.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Adhar, Samira Roshni and Konstantin Poensgen. 2024. "The Myth of Meritocracy: Informational and Financial Barriers to Graduate Education in Economics." AEA RCT Registry. September 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14352-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2023-05-01
Intervention End Date
2026-05-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Applications submitted (extensive and intensive margins, and by type of program and continent), offers of admission (extensive and intensive margin, and by funding status and continent), accepted offers of admission (extensive margin), graduate school attendance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study sample consists of individuals who applied to the GAIN mentoring program after successfully completing the webinar series and who were considered to be qualified to participate in the mentoring program in the application screening by the GAIN program. Among this set of individuals there are three groups: (i) applicants directly admitted to the mentoring program due to exceptionally strong profiles, (ii) qualified but not outstanding applicants randomly selected to participate (treated group), and (iii) qualified but not outstanding applicants randomly not selected to participate (control group). Given the relatively small sample size of a given program cohort, we plan to include cohorts from 2023-2026 in the study to increase statistical power.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
150-200 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
150-200 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
75-100 individuals in control group, 75-100 individuals in treatment group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Our power calculations (without accounting for stratification) suggest that we can detect a minimum effect size of 0.15 standard deviations for the main outcomes at a power of 90% and significance level of 5%.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard University
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-30
IRB Approval Number
IRB24-0367
Analysis Plan

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