Information and College Choice

Last registered on March 21, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Information and College Choice

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0015449

Initial registration date

March 17, 2025

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

March 21, 2025, 9:53 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

France

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Raphaelle Aulagnon

Affiliation

UNIVERSITÀ COMMERCIALE LUIGI BOCCONI

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Nina Nikiforova

PI Affiliation

Bocconi University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-03-17

End date

2025-04-02

Keywords

Behavior, Education

Additional Keywords

Information Treatment, Subjective Criteria

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This research examines how colleges select students based on academic and non-academic factors, such as grades, statements of purpose, and extracurricular activities.The study uses administrative data to analyze how colleges rank students and conducts an online survey with an information treatment to assess and affect students’ awareness of selection criteria. [Same survey as companion project "Leaning and College"]

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Aulagnon, Raphaelle and Nina Nikiforova. 2025. "Information and College Choice." AEA RCT Registry. March 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15449-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention will involve an information treatment delivered through an online survey targeting high school seniors who are applying to college via the centralized French admissions platform.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-03-17

Intervention End Date

2025-04-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Intermediate outcomes include
1) survey data: knowledge about how to access subjective criteria (manipulation check)
2) admin data: changes in the quality and emphasis of non-academic components, analyzed through text-analysis methods, and time spent on applications.

Final outcomes involve the quality of programs offering admission, and program rankings of students.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The experimental design follows a RCT in which half of the population is randomly assigned to receive an information treatment. The experimental data will be merged with administrative data.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Qualtrics randomization assignment tool

Randomization Unit

individual (student)

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

3000 students (it is an estimation from instagram cost per click.)

Sample size: planned number of observations

An estimation of 3000 students based on Instagram's cost per click. In this setting, we cannot freely set our number of observations; it depends on the budget allocated to Instagram and how efficiently they manage to reach the target.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

1500 (estimation from instagram cost per click)

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

We consider effect sizes ranging from 0.05 to 0.2, with key assumptions of 80% power and a 5% significance level. Additionally, based on Hakimov et al. (2023), we assume a 20% click conversion rate. The power analysis calculates the required sample size at the click level, as shown in Figure C. For the budget, we focus on an effect size of 0.075, which requires approximately 14,000 clicks to achieve sufficient power.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB