In this finely crafted qualitative study of the factors that lead to social stratification between institutions of higher education, Mullen demonstrates that the meaning of a college degree varies for different kinds of students at different kinds of institutions... An important and challenging work. Choice This well-written and well-conceptualized book improves knowledge of how advantages in social background cumulate over ... Read moretime to produce continued stratification in college-related experiences and outcomes... The theoretical and research-based insights generated by this book provide a useful foundation for education researchers as well as for public and institutional policy makers who seek productive approaches to reducing differences in higher education outcomes based on social background.
Laura W. Perna Educational Researcher Paints a vivid and disturbing picture of the growing class divide in American higher education.
Richard Kahlenberg Innovations blog, Chronicle of Higher Education Mullen addresses a lacuna in the evidence base: students' perspectives on their place in the hierarchy, and how they choose a university.
Ruth Woodfield Times Higher Education By comparing the experiences of students at institutions only a few miles but worlds apart, Ann Mullen underscores how American higher education perpetuates inequalities in the social order.
Angela P. Dodson Diverse Issues in Higher Education Well-researched and carefully presented... Mullen discovered that socioeconomic class continues to influence the structures of opportunity within postsecondary education as well as students' choices once they are enrolled. Her book highlights the interaction between habitus and institutional mission that results in stratified outcomes within a system of higher education formally structured to be open to all.
Karen Bradley American Journal of Sociology This book has a lot of data and information that makes it a must read for anyone who was interested in this topic. Cybertron Reviews Show Less