“Many colleges favor applicants who show ‘demonstrated interest’ – and the way they measure it puts those without money at a disadvantage, study finds.” …
Not exactly a surprising conclusion.
Article is about a research paper by someone at Mathematical Policy Research and three economists at Lehigh University, which considers “level of applicant’s interest” to be “important”, according to http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=794 . Lehigh University has about 50% of undergraduate students paying list price, and only 14% on Pell grants, according to https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=lehigh&s=all&id=213543#finaid .
Here is the research paper (but pay wall):
https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/publications/demonstrated-interest-signaling-behavior-in-college-admissions
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/coep.12216/full
In order to demonstrate my interest in reading the research paper, I’d have to pay for it. The wealthy has an advantage in accessing such online articles… :-?