招生倾斜政策下重点大学农村学生的学业准备和初期学业表现———基于X大学的实证案例研究

Early Academic Performance of Rural Students under Special Admission Policies: Evidence from an Elite University

The government has implemented a series of special admission policies in recent years to increase the access to elite universities for rural students. However， it is concerning that these rural students might underperform due to disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and academic preparation. Using administrative data and survey data of 2014 freshman cohort at X University， applying kernel density estimation and regression analysis techniques， we examine students' freshman year academic performance， focusing on GPA， rank within the major and class failure. Quota plan rural students perform as well as urban students， yet poverty plan rural students and regular rural students significantly underperform， particularly in the Technology field， and polarize in the Medical field. The significant underperformance of poverty plan students and regular rural students partly reflects both the regional differences and greater rural-urban difference within the western region. Although rural students' test scores are comparable to those of urban students or only at slight disadvantages， they are much less well prepared for university study. Results show that elite universities should help Social Science students with math and time management， Technology and Medical students with math and study skills.