College major peer effects and attrition from the sciences

Table 4 Determinants of college outcomes of intended non-STEM majors

Variables	Graduated in sciences	Final major science	Cumulative GPA	Graduated	Time to degree
Peer Ability Index:
Intended STEM Majors	−0.0303	−0.0356*	−0.167**	−0.0704**	−0.0673
	[0.0167]	[0.0161]	[0.0594]	[0.0267]	[0.130]
Intended Non-STEM	0.0345*	0.0330*	0.137*	0.0867**	−0.168
Majors	[0.0157]	[0.0148]	[0.0703]	[0.0279]	[0.0885]
Own Characteristics:
Math SAT score	0.0479***	0.0510***	0.0257***	0.00478**	0.000716
	[0.00607]	[0.00608]	[0.00518]	[0.00182]	[0.0102]
Verbal SAT score	−0.0219***	−0.0241***	0.0989***	0.000802	−0.0809***
	[0.00360]	[0.00387]	[0.00359]	[0.00276]	[0.0129]
UC-adjusted HS GPA	0.0315***	0.0307***	0.241***	0.0635***	−0.279***
	[0.00518]	[0.00523]	[0.00731]	[0.00550]	[0.0249]
Asian	0.0335***	0.0349***	−0.0740***	0.0219**	0.118***
	[0.00636]	[0.00658]	[0.00928]	[0.00613]	[0.0280]
Black or Hispanic	0.00115	0.000968	−0.101***	−0.0225**	0.325***
	[0.00372]	[0.00360]	[0.0147]	[0.00720]	[0.0298]
Other non-white	0.0157***	0.0177***	−0.0236***	0.00206	0.0944***
Race/ethnicity	[0.00317]	[0.00410]	[0.00438]	[0.00208]	[0.0201]
Observations	156,596	156,596	153,010	156,596	125,909
R-squared	0.266	0.273	0.392	0.201	0.247

Notes: Each column contains coefficient estimates from separate regressions. Each regression also contains controls for parental education, family income by cohort, college, college selectivity tier by cohort, and UC application-admission pattern fixed effects that account for the intended major listed on each application. Robust standard errors, clustered by campus, are reported in brackets. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1, based on a t-distribution with 5 d.f.