UCLA

This dissertation examines how first-generation high school Students of Color from California’s San Joaquin Valley navigate digital marketing and advertising during their college search and application processes, offering a timely contribution to the study of college admissions in a post-affirmative action landscape. Higher education institutions are competing for the attention of prospective students, yet the overwhelming influx of online information—through emails and social media advertisements—often leaves students confused and fatigued. This is particularly critical for underrepresented communities, where providing clear, credible information can make a significant difference in students’ college decisions. Using a 14-month Chicana/Latina Feminista Critical Ethnography (CLCFE), I explore how first-generation, low-income, high-achieving Latinx and Students of Color from the San Joaquin Valley make sense of digital advertising in their college search. The study employs pláticas (a Chicana/Latina Feminista methodology focused on community reflection), participant observations, document collection of 2,000 digital advertisements (e.g., emails and social media posts), and a focus group to examine how these students interact with digital marketing during their college decision-making process. Informed by the conceptual frameworks of college-conocimiento (Acevedo-Gil, 2017), academic capitalism (Slaughter et al., 2004), and critical digital studies, this study, explores how technology shapes the social dynamics of college application processes for Students of Color. Findings reveal that students primarily rely on Google searches and social media platforms to navigate their college search, creating a feedback loop where exposure to college advertisements influences their subsequent interactions and decisions. Despite seeking information about California’s public universities (UC and CSU systems), students are bombarded with advertisements promoting private and out-of-state institutions, further complicating and overwhelming their college application process. This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the college choice literature by critically examining the role of digital technologies in students’ decision-making, a topic that has been largely overlooked. It also offers new insights for the field of enrollment management, which has focused on marketing strategies but often neglected the impact of these efforts on students’ choices. Finally, the findings have important implications for policy and practice, particularly in developing culturally relevant digital marketing strategies to engage prospective students from underserved communities across California.