How attending an elite college affects later-life outcomes

This paper revisits the question of how attending an elite college affects later-life outcomes.

For men, the findings echo those in Dale and Krueger (2002): controlling for selection eliminates the positive relationship between college selectivity and earnings. There are also  no significant effects on men's educational or family outcomes.

The results are quite different for women: the authors  find effects on both career and family outcomes. Attending a school with a 100-point higher average SAT score increases women's probability of advanced degree attainment by 5 percentage points and earnings by 14 percent, while reducing their likelihood of marriage by 4 percentage points. The effect of college selectivity on own earnings is significantly larger for married than for single women. Among married women, selective college attendance significantly increases spousal education.