College-bound friends and college application choices: Heterogeneous effects for Latino and White students

Friends are among the most influential social forces affecting adolescent behavior, yet little work has focused on the influence of friends on the decision to apply to college. Using data from the senior cohort of the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project, we employed propensity score matching with sensitivity analyses to investigate links between having college-oriented friends and applying to college. We found that college-oriented friends increased the likelihood of applying to any college and to 4-year colleges, both for White and Latino students. However, Latino students benefited less from college-oriented friends compared to White students. Our findings suggest that college-choice models should more directly account for the influence of friends in applying to college, taking account of racial and ethnic differences, and future research should explore why Latino students benefit less.

► We examine whether college-bound friends influence college application decisions.
► We use data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project and propensity score models.
► Having many college-bound friends increases college application for both Whites and Latinos.
► Latinos benefit less than Whites from having many college-bound friends.
► Sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of the effects from propensity score models.