Gender, peer advising, and college success

This study leverages a natural experiment in which peer advisors (PA) were quasi-randomly assigned to first-year university students. Male students assigned to male peer advisors were significantly more likely to meet with their assigned PA, persist into the second year of postsecondary schooling, and graduate within four years. We find no such effect on male students’ academic performance, nor do we find a same-sex PA effect on female students’ use of the PA program or on subsequent academic outcomes.