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Aquilla Obare
Professor Marcus
Intro to Sociology
20 February, 2019
Socioeconomic Status (SES) and its Relation to College Selectivity;
Defining Social Reproduction and the Sociological Imagination
Students across the nation attend college every year, but what makes them choose that
specific college? Why do some students go to a more prestigious college compared to a less
prestigious college? Why do these schools pick certain students over others? Is it due to merit or
SES? These are all questions to ask when it comes to analysing college selectivity. In addition,
how does this apply to the sociological imagination? Our perspective of why we pick what we
pick has a lot to do with the world around us, and how does this play into social reproduction, we
carry these ideas and structures from generation to generation.
When we take a look at SES in accordance to college selectivity we see that students who
come from a higher SES background are more likely to go to a more selective or prestigious
college. One way to look at it is that students from these backgrounds have certain advantages to
gain access to these schools. For example, a student may have a parent or grandparent who went
to that selective school that they’re applying, the student has a legacy advantage. Most students
from a low SES may have parents who were not able to attend college this creates a disadvantage
to low SES students. Students with high SES also have a lot more resources from the high
schools they attend and from parents. With extended resources and more access to knowledge,
success in school may come easier. A student may be able to have a tutor, or attend prep courses,
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etc. The schools they attend may fund these resources as well. If we look further, the reason why
some of these students may have the resources is because their parents have higher SES,
meaning higher income and with higher income comes certain advantages. To support this, if we
look at the statistics ab...
