Students offered a seat in the boarding school were randomly selected out of a pool of applicants.
We study the boarding school’s first two cohorts, those admitted in September
2009 and September 2010. In 2009, 129 seats were offered to students in 8th to 10th grades.
In 2010, 150 seats were offered to students in 6th to 12th grades. The school received 275
applications in 2009, and 499 in 2010. In the spring of each year, a committee screened applications
to make sure that the students met the school’s eligibility criteria. The policy was
intended to target motivated students living in homes that were considered unconducive to
scholastic progress. In 2009, 73 applications were discarded for lack of eligibility. In 2010,
216 were discarded. A few applicants (five in 2009 and seven in 2010) were granted priority
admission because they faced particularly tough conditions at home. The boarding school
had set a predetermined intake of students at the grade and gender levels, to ensure that
male- and female-only dormitories of given sizes could be formed. In each grade × gender
stratum in which the number of applicants still exceeded the number of seats remaining after
the screening and priority admission, we randomly allocated applicants a waiting list number.
Seats were offered following this order. Our study population is made up of the 395 students
who participated in a lottery. Our treatment group consists of the 258 students who received
an offer, and our control group consists of the 137 students who did not receive an offer.