– Results reveal that foreign peers lower the probability natives graduate with a STEM degree, mostly inducing switches to Social Science.
– A 1 standard deviation increase in foreign peers reduces the likelihood of native-born students to graduate with STEM majors by 3 percentage points — equivalent to 3.7 native students displaced for 9 additional foreign students in an average course.
– STEM displacement is offset by an increased likelihood of choosing Social Science majors.
– The earnings prospects of displaced students are minimally affected, as they appear to be choosing Social Science majors with equally high earning power.
– Comparative advantage and linguistic dissonance may operate as underlying mechanisms.
– The probability of graduating with a STEM major is positively correlated with peer SAT math and negatively correlated with peer SAT verbal and High School GPA.
– Including foreign peer composition across all other classes did not change the results, indicating that the transmission of foreign peer impacts on STEM major choice occurs within introductory math classes as opposed to other courses.