The teaching profession has long struggled to attract academically high-achieving students who reflect the diversity of America’s K–12 population. A new study by Brendan Bartanen and Andrew Avitabile at the University of Virginia and Andrew Kwok at Texas A&M University uses college application data to identify which high school students are most likely to express interest in teaching. They found that factors like race, gender, and certain character traits were strong predictors of students’ interest in the profession.
The researchers analyzed 64 million Common Application submissions, an undergraduate admissions platform, from 11.5 million students between 2014 and 2025. Each applicant self-identified demographics, family, and academic information, as well as career interest. Beginning in 2017, the Common App also collected ratings on personal and academic traits from teacher-recommendors.
Race and gender emerged as strong predictors of teaching interest: white students were the most likely to express interest, and women were nearly three times as likely as men. On average, teacher-recommendors rated aspiring teachers higher on “concern for others” and lower on “intellectual promise.” These applicants also had lower GPAs and test scores on average, though these differences largely disappeared after accounting for college selectivity.
Students interested in teaching were more likely to apply to less selective colleges, while their peers aiming for other careers tended to apply to more selective colleges. The researchers suggest that ambition and desire for prestige, rather than academic ability, may have a greater influence on students’ interest—or lack of interest—in teaching.
The study also compared interest in teaching with other lower-paying, “helping” professions like nursing, social work, and therapy. Like teaching, these careers attracted more women and students with lower academic achievement who applied to less selective colleges. But they were significantly more racially diverse, suggesting that the lack of representation in teaching is driven by factors specific to the profession rather than broader labor-market patterns. Between 2015 and 2025, interest in teaching declined by about 20 percent, similar to declines in social work and therapy, but in sharp contrast to nursing, which saw a 25 percent increase in interest.
The researchers identified important limitations to their study. First, the Common App is not a random sample of the college-intending population since not all colleges use the platform. Additionally, the study identified interest in teaching only at the time of college application; it didn’t reveal whether students ultimately entered the profession.