Duke Sanford School of Public Policy

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation approached the presidents of more than two dozen academically selective colleges and universities to ask for their cooperation in the creation of the College and Beyond Database. Specifically, the Foundation asked each school to release a broad set of data about several classes of graduates. The database would collate such information as the students’ high school grades, test scores, family background at the time they applied, as well as collegiate performance indicators, such as undergraduate grade point average, graduation status (whether the student graduated and, if so, in how long), major field of study, and whether each student had participated in varsity athletics or any other time-intensive extracurricular activity.

The College and Beyond Database now contains data from over 90,000 former students at thirty-four participating institutions. These include four of the best public universities in the nation, several women’s colleges, and a number of the most selective private institutions in the United States. The database was the basis on which Mellon Foundation President William Bowen, who is also the former president of Princeton University, and former Harvard President Derek Bok wrote their landmark defense of affirmative action, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions.