This study analyses data from 2004 Federal University of Minas Gerais' general entrance examination, making use of a non-parametrical regression model: the Classification and Regression Trees. Its aims were to identify the main factors of college approval and, also, to verify if these factors were the same for both daytime and nighttime courses, in order to be able to affirm that the expansion of nighttime courses was promoting, in this university, a higher social insertion. In general, it was observed that the attendance to a federal or private high school, the knowledge of foreign languages and a higher socioeconomic status were factors strongly associated with candidates' approval. In nighttime courses, it was found that socioeconomics variables had a higher importance, while variables related to the quality of previous schooling had more weight in daytime courses. The average socioeconomic factor tended to be higher in the group of the approved candidates.
RACE; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTOR; STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT; UNIVERSITY
