Science High School Students' Socioeconomic Background and Their Preferences Regarding Their Transition into Higher Education

• Published in: Yuksekogretim Dergisi Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 356 - 370
• Main Authors: Suna, Hayri Eren, Gür, Bekir S., Gelbal, Selahattin, Özer, Mahmut
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2021
• ISSN: 2146-796X; 2146-7978
• DOI: 10.2399/yod.20.734921

The aim of this study is to determine the socioeconomic background of students at science high schools and to examine their preferences and placements into higher education programs on a yearly basis. The data regarding the socioeconomic background and placement into higher education programs of 103,635 students who graduated from science high schools between 2011 and 2019 were analyzed. The results show that there has been a partial decrease in the science high school graduates' placement into higher education programs in recent years. This finding seems to be related to the higher education quotas, rather than a dramatic change in the performance of graduates. Nevertheless, the total number of graduates placed into medicine and engineering programs continued to increase between 2011 and 2019. The results also show that placement ratios of graduates to their first, first five, and first ten preferences have decreased remarkably in recent years. The findings indicate that the imbalance of supply-demand in higher education adversely influences the graduates of science high schools, who are among the highest performing-students. The authors suggest a reevaluation of the current higher education quotas to allow an increased access to higher education. Further, our findings show that graduates have a distinct advantage in terms of their parental income and level of education. The authors suggest strengthening remedial education to minimize achievement differences in primary education and to improve the equality of opportunity in secondary education.