More than just grades: The role of physical attractiveness in college admission processes

IF 1.6 3区经济学 Q2 ECONOMICS

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics Pub Date : 2025-05-29 DOI:10.1016/j.socec.2025.102391

Yunyun Wang , Ting Chen , Xunyong Xiang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Despite extensive research on appearance discrimination in labor markets, little attention has been given to its role in higher education admissions. This paper investigates the impact of students' physical attractiveness on college admission outcomes, using unique data from an international high school in China. Employing an ordered logit model and AI-based attractiveness scoring, we find that more attractive students tend to be admitted to higher-ranked colleges. This effect is particularly pronounced in business-related majors, private institutions, and among male students. Furthermore, face-to-face interviews mitigate the bias induced by physical attractiveness, leading to more balanced admission decisions. These findings suggest that the “beauty premium” extends beyond labor markets into education, with important implications for fairness in university admissions. Our research contributes to the growing body of literature on appearance-based discrimination and highlights the need for more transparent and inclusive admissions practices.

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不仅仅是成绩：外表吸引力在大学录取过程中的作用

尽管对劳动力市场中的外貌歧视进行了广泛的研究，但很少有人关注其在高等教育录取中的作用。本文利用中国一所国际高中的独特数据，研究了学生外表吸引力对大学录取结果的影响。采用有序logit模型和基于人工智能的吸引力评分，我们发现更有吸引力的学生往往被排名更高的大学录取。这种影响在商业相关专业、私立学校和男生中尤为明显。此外，面对面的面试减轻了由外表吸引力引起的偏见，导致更平衡的录取决定。这些发现表明，“美貌溢价”已经从劳动力市场延伸到了教育领域，对大学录取的公平性有着重要的影响。我们的研究为越来越多的关于外貌歧视的文献做出了贡献，并强调了更加透明和包容的招生实践的必要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

2.60

自引率

12.50%

发文量

113

审稿时长

83 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly the Journal of Socio-Economics) welcomes submissions that deal with various economic topics but also involve issues that are related to other social sciences, especially psychology, or use experimental methods of inquiry. Thus, contributions in behavioral economics, experimental economics, economic psychology, and judgment and decision making are especially welcome. The journal is open to different research methodologies, as long as they are relevant to the topic and employed rigorously. Possible methodologies include, for example, experiments, surveys, empirical work, theoretical models, meta-analyses, case studies, and simulation-based analyses. Literature reviews that integrate findings from many studies are also welcome, but they should synthesize the literature in a useful manner and provide substantial contribution beyond what the reader could get by simply reading the abstracts of the cited papers. In empirical work, it is important that the results are not only statistically significant but also economically significant. A high contribution-to-length ratio is expected from published articles and therefore papers should not be unnecessarily long, and short articles are welcome. Articles should be written in a manner that is intelligible to our generalist readership. Book reviews are generally solicited but occasionally unsolicited reviews will also be published. Contact the Book Review Editor for related inquiries.