Time to baccalaureate degree in the labor market: Evidence from a field experiment

Abstract

I study whether the amount of time students take to complete their bachelor's degree affects labor outcomes after graduation using a resume-based field experiment. I randomly assign a time to degree of either 4 or 6 years to over 7,000 fictitious resumes of recent graduates and submit them to entry-level business jobs. Resumes listing degree completion in 6 years received 1% to 2% fewer employer responses than resumes indicating graduation in 4 years, which is not a statistically significant difference. There is also no difference in the effect of longer time to degree between resumes listing a more or less selective college. However, among jobs with relatively large applicant pools, resumes listing 6 years to degree receive 16% fewer responses.