The Mismatch Of University And Major

This paper studies the phenomenon of “mismatch” in college admission.We explore the topic by using the data from the China College Student Survey(CCSS).In the ideal situation of complete information,each candidate can receive his or her favorable admission result.However,due to the asymmetric information,a large number of candidates cannot receive his or her favorable admission result,resulting in the phenomenon of mismatch.The survey data shows that 41% of students have been mismatched,21% of the students are in “major mismatch”,7% are in “university mismatch”,and 13% are in “major and university mismatch”.By constructing a game theory model,we find that college entrance examination scores have a great influence on the candidate's admission results,and information privilege can reduce the probability of candidates' mismatch.These inferences are also proved in empirical studies: the improvement of college entrance examination results will increase the probability of major mismatch;reduce the probability of university mismatch and major and university mismatch.High-quality educational resources and excellent family economic conditions will slightly reduce the probability of mismatch.Compared with students who are in "correct match of university and majors," "major mismatch " has no significant effect on the scores in university,score rank and the rate of failing course.Both "university mismatch" and "major and university mismatch" will lead to an increase in the student's rate of failing course.At the same time,“major mismatch” will reduce the student's best starting salary by about 8.7%.“University mismatch” and “major and university mismatch” have no significant effect on best starting salaries after graduation.