Can learning communities boost success of women and minorities in STEM? Evidence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

I study the impacts of a freshman learning community at MIT called the Experimental Study Group (ESG) which has features aligning with the National Academies' recommendations for expanding the representation and success of women and minorities in STEM fields. I exploit the lottery-based admission system to estimate causal treatment effects. I find no statistically significant effects on academic outcomes for ESG enrollees generally, but women who participate in the program have higher GPAs and complete more credits of coursework. Minority students are more likely to major in math, computer science, or electrical engineering after participating in the program. Though quite noisy, the results are suggestive that women and minorities in STEM may benefit from learning communities.