Affirmative action in higher education can lead to mismatch, where students admitted through preferential treatment struggle academically due to inadequate preparation before college. Although some students may face initial challenges, by providing access to quality education for talented individuals who might have otherwise been overlooked due to systemic disadvantages, these programs may enable students to bridge the gap and catch up to their peers. In this study, we examine the effects of a quota-type affirmative action policy on gaps in college outcomes between potential beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Using comprehensive administrative data from a leading Brazilian university which implemented affirmative action in 2005, we find that compared to their non-quota peers, potential quota beneficiaries are less likely to progress smoothly through college and less likely to graduate, a result that is mostly driven by those who would not be admitted to the university otherwise. Notably, however, most of these differences shrink as the students progress through college, suggesting a catch-up effect between those groups. While potential quota students initially face challenges, resulting in a reduced course load in their early college years, they compensate by taking more credits in later years to ultimately graduate.

高等教育中的平权行动可能会导致不匹配，即通过优待录取的学生由于大学前准备不足而在学业上陷入困境。尽管一些学生可能会面临最初的挑战，但通过为那些可能因系统性劣势而被忽视的人才提供接受优质教育的机会，这些计划可能使学生能够弥合差距并赶上同龄人。在这项研究中，我们研究了配额型平权行动政策对潜在受益者和非受益者之间大学成绩差距的影响。利用 2005 年实施平权行动的巴西一所领先大学的综合行政数据，我们发现，与非配额受益人相比，潜在配额受益人不太可能顺利读完大学，也不太可能毕业，这一结果主要是由于那些否则不会被大学录取的人。然而值得注意的是，随着学生升入大学，这些差异大部分都在缩小，这表明这些群体之间存在追赶效应。虽然潜在的配额学生最初面临挑战，导致大学早期的课程负担减少，但他们通过在后来的几年中获得更多学分以最终毕业来弥补。