Admission outcomes in master’s programs: a comparative analyze

Warning: The dataset analyzed in this study is not an official list provided by ASE and was created based on the information available on site.

In this article, our propose is to analyze the candidates’ admission results in ASE master’s programs across 12 specializations using data available on ASE, master admission, Decision No. 89/14.05.2025 platforms, namely:

  • Facultatea de Business și Turism (BT)/Faculty of Business and Tourism

  • Facultatea de Contabilitate și Informatică de Gestiune (CIG)/Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems

  • Facultatea de Cibernetică, Statistică și Informatică Economică (CSIE)/Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics and Economic Informatics

  • Facultatea de Drept (DA) /Faculty of Law

  • Facultatea de Economie Teoretică și Aplicată (ETA)/Faculty of Theoretical and Applied Economics

  • Facultatea de Finanțe, Asigurări, Bănci și Burse de Valori (FABBV)/Faculty of Finance, Insurance, Banking and Stock Exchange

  • Facultatea de Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine (FABIZ)/Faculty of Business Administration in Foreign Languages

  • Facultatea de Management (MAN)/Faculty of Management

  • Facultatea de Marketing (MRK)/Faculty of Marketing

  • Facultatea de Relații Economice Internaționale (REI)/Faculty of International Business and Economics

The analysed variables are presented below:

## Rows: 5,357
## Columns: 16
## $ nr_crt          <dbl> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,…
## $ cod_candidat    <dbl> 4397, 1068, 1726, 1670, 1841, 2369, 2372, 1681, 1078, …
## $ proba_scrisa    <dbl> NA, 84, 84, 81, 78, 78, 78, 84, 75, 75, 75, 75, 75, 72…
## $ medie_concurs   <dbl> NA, 9.76, 9.76, 9.64, 9.52, 9.52, 9.52, 9.46, 9.40, 9.…
## $ medie_licenta   <dbl> 9.00, 10.00, 10.00, 10.00, 10.00, 10.00, 10.00, 9.50, …
## $ statut          <chr> "Standard", "Standard", "Standard", "Standard", "Stand…
## $ rezultat        <chr> "Absent", "Admis", "Admis", "Admis", "Admis", "Admis",…
## $ forma_invataman <chr> "Absent", "Buget", "Buget", "Buget", "Buget", "Buget",…
## $ specializare    <chr> "EAM1", "EAM1", "EAM1", "EAM1", "EAM1", "EAM1", "EAM1"…
## $ program         <chr> "Economia si administrarea afacerilor agroalimentare, …
## $ facultatea      <chr> "Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului", "Economie Agr…
## $ pob             <dbl> 187, 187, 187, 187, 187, 187, 187, 187, 187, 187, 187,…
## $ pot             <dbl> 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, …
## $ nlb             <dbl> 182, 182, 182, 182, 182, 182, 182, 182, 182, 182, 182,…
## $ nlt             <dbl> 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36, 36…
## $ ntl             <dbl> 218, 218, 218, 218, 218, 218, 218, 218, 218, 218, 218,…

So, we have 5,357 candidates seeking to obtain a position to ASE master’s programs.

The available places are divided into two categories:

  • tuition - free (buget) positions and

  • tuition - paying (taxa) positions.

Candidates were allowed to apply for one or more specializations within the same faculty. The analyzed variables are:

  • the admission test score - proba_scrisa variable,

  • the final admission score - medie_concurs variable,

  • the bachelor score - medie_licenta variable,

  • status (if the person has a different situation (e.g., different nationality or ethnicity, or comes from the social protection system etc.) than the other),

  • the result (if the person is admit/rejected/absent),

  • the form of education (tuition-free/tuition-fee),

  • the cod of the program,

  • the program,

  • the faculty,

  • number of positions available (pob variable - the number of candidates that apply for a tuition free position as first option, pot variable - the number of candidates that apply for a tuition-fee position, nlb variable - number of tuition-free positions, nlt variable - number of tuition-free positions, and ntl variable - the total number of positions)

Below we present the name of the faculty, the programs and the abbreviation of the program/programs (specializare variable):

Here we present the list of the participant candidates (information that were available on the site), their results, and some additional information about each candidate:

Since only the lists with the results obtained by the candidates were available on the site, the distribution of the candidates was carried out taking into account the following variable: number of positions available at each faculty/specialization (nlb, nlt, and nlt), pob (number of candidates how chose tuition free positions as their first option), pot (number of candidates how chose tuition fee positions as their first option), and the candidate options (if the candidate selected more than one specialization and was declare admitted at more than one specialization, the candidate was declare admitted at a single one, based on the final admission score and budget/fee status). The dataset was created based on this information and is not an official list provided by ASE.

The tuition free and fee positions available at each faculty and program/specialization are presented below:

The numbers of tuition free and tuition fee positions by faculty are presented:

In the table are presented the number of tuition - free position available, the number of tuition - paying position available, the number of candidates who selected that faculty/specialization as their first option (with tuition - free and with tuition - fee)

The detailed information regarding the number of tuition - free position available, the number of tuition - paying position available, the number of candidates who selected that faculty/specialization as their first option (with tuition - free and with tuition - fee) on each specialization is presented below:

There are 12 faculties and each faculty has a numbers of master programs, as followed:

  • in the master program Afaceri_Digitale_Si_Inovatie_(In_Limba_Engleza) taught in English, only tuition - fee positions are available, and up to 43 candidates can be admitted if they qualify

  • in the Drept master’s program taught in Romania, both tuition - fee positions (where up to 106 candidates can be admitted, if they qualify) and tuition - free positions (up to 14 candidates who meet the admission criteria can be admitted) are available and so on.

So, the faculty with the bigger number of tuition - free postilions is Cibernetica_Statistica_Si_Informatica_Economica (455 positions), followed by Economie_Agroalimentara_Si_A_Mediului faculty (182 positions). In case of tuition-fee positions faculties, the top three facutlies are Management, Contabilitate_Si_Informatica_De_Gestiune, and Marketing.

Distribution of tuition-free positions by program and by faculty

So, the faculty with the bigger number of tuition - free postions is Cibernetica_Statistica_Si_Informatica_Economica and the top three master program within this faculty are:

  • Sisteme_Informatice_Pentru_Managementul_Resurselor_Si_Proceselor_Economice, Ebusiness, Baze_De_Date__Suport_Pentru_Afaceri and Analiza_Afacerilor_Si_Controlul_Performantei_Intreprinderii with 56 positions,

  • Informatica_Economica with 40 positions and

  • Cibernetica_Si_Economie_Cantitativa and Statistica_Aplicata_Si_Data_Science with 39 positions.

The distribution of tuition - fee positions by faculty and by program:

The distribution of tuition - free positions by faculty and by program:

Regarding tuition-fee positions, the top three programs are:

  • Cariera_Judiciara (from Drept faculty, with 63 positions),

  • Managementul_Afacerilor_La_Piatraneamt and Managementul_Afacerilor_Mici_Si_Mijlocii_Deva (both from the Management faculty, with 50 positions),

  • Marketing_Online, Marketing_Si_Comunicare_In_Afaceri and Relatii_Publice_In_Marketing (all from Marketing faculty, with 50 positions), and

  • Diplomatie_In_Economia_Internationala from Diplomatie_In_Economia_Internationala faculty, with 49 positions.

The number of missing values on each numerical variable:

## The number of missing values on proba_scrisa variable is: 342
## The number of missing values on medie_concurs variable is: 342
## The number of missing values on medie_concurs variable is: 0

The missing values (in the proba_scrisa and medie_concurs variables), in this case, are represented by the candidates that did not attend the admission test and were declared Absent in the result variable.

The number of missing values is 342.

The number of all participant candidates is 5357.

## The number of observations is 5357 , and the number of variables is 16 .

Descriptive statistics

The distribution of bachelor score At the ASE level is

The distribution of final admission score, admission test score and bachelor score by faculties is

Distribution of the bachelor score, admission test score and final admission score by program/specialization

Economie_Agroalimentara_si_a_Mediului

Economie_Agroalimentara_si_a_Mediului

Administratie_si_Management_Public

Business_si_Turism

Drept

Economie_Teoretica_si_Aplicata

Contabilitate_si_Informatica_de_Gestiune

Finante_Asigurari_Banci_si_Burse_de_Valori

Cibernetica_Statistica_si_Informatica_Economica

Management

Marketing

Relatii_Economice_Internationale

Testing the differences between the means of the groups

In order to test whether there are significant differences between the means of the groups, we will use the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the post-hoc Dunn test.

The hypotheses in each case are:

Kruskal-Wallis test:

Null hypotheses (\(H_{0}\)): All groups have the same distribution (no significant differences between the mean of the groups, $ _1 = _2 = = _k $)

Alternative hypotheses (\(H_1\)): At least one group differs from the others

To check if there are significant differences between the mean values of the groups (the 12 faculties), we use the Kruskal-Wallis test. This is a non-parametric test (an alternative to ANOVA test, used when the assumption of normality or equal variances is not met). The test determines whether 3 or more independent groups come from the same distribution.

The result of the test indicates a significant difference between the means of the groups (faculties), as the null hypotheses (which states that at there is no difference between the groups) is rejected. Therefore, we accept the alternative hypotheses (which states that at least one group has a mean that is different from the others).

Table. Descriptive statistics (by faculty)
Feature test_name test_value P_Value Decision
proba_scrisa Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared 1,563.29 < 2.22e-16 Reject
medie_concurs Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared 896.21 < 2.22e-16 Reject
medie_concurs Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared 896.21 < 2.22e-16 Reject
post-hoc Dunn test:

Null hypotheses (\(H_{0}\)): The two compare groups have the same distribution (no significant differences between the mean of the groups)

Alternative hypotheses (\(H_1\)): The two compare groups have different distributions.

The results of the post-hoc Dunn test for the analyzed variable:

The admission test score variable

A selection of the faculties where the null hypotheses is accepted
Variable: admission test score (proba_scrisa)
Tabelul. The result of the post-hoc Dunn test
Comparison Z P.adj Decision
Business si Turism - Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune -0.2424619 1.0000000 Accept H0
Business si Turism - Drept 0.5058608 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Drept 0.6200332 1.0000000 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului 1.9968716 1.0000000 Accept H0
Drept - Economie Teoretica si Aplicata -3.2809534 0.0682815 Accept H0
Business si Turism - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 2.7738586 0.3656119 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 2.8382802 0.2993585 Accept H0
Drept - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 0.9709724 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Management -3.2102981 0.0875143 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Management 2.6028190 0.6102411 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Marketing 2.2634986 1.0000000 Accept H0
Management - Marketing -0.3393204 1.0000000 Accept H0

The bechalor score variable

A selection of the faculties where the null hypotheses is accepted
Variable: bachelor score (medie_licenta)
Tabelul. The result of the post-hoc Dunn test
Comparison Z P.adj Decision
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Administratie si Management Public -0.3923862 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica -1.6557401 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune 1.7469199 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune 1.5441533 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului 0.5819462 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului 0.7741498 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului -1.1178948 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Economie Teoretica si Aplicata -3.0112360 0.1717231 Accept H0
Business si Turism - Economie Teoretica si Aplicata 2.4048640 1.0000000 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Economie Teoretica si Aplicata -2.8457333 0.2924413 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 1.9900936 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 1.7230009 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 0.2919909 1.0000000 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 1.3735309 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Management -1.0934813 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Management -0.3332439 1.0000000 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Management 2.1408182 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Management -2.7840182 0.3543541 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Management -1.6275172 1.0000000 Accept H0
Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori - Management -2.9925007 0.1826233 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Marketing -1.3586055 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Marketing -0.5053772 1.0000000 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Marketing 1.8481178 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Marketing -3.0504902 0.1507890 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Marketing -1.8855913 1.0000000 Accept H0
Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori - Marketing -3.2513332 0.0758110 Accept H0
Management - Marketing -0.2552970 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Relatii Economice Internationale -2.6133856 0.5916907 Accept H0
Business si Turism - Relatii Economice Internationale 2.5713523 0.6685946 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Relatii Economice Internationale -1.9277442 1.0000000 Accept H0
Economie Teoretica si Aplicata - Relatii Economice Internationale 0.4728076 1.0000000 Accept H0
Marketing - Relatii Economice Internationale -3.1877759 0.0946252 Accept H0

The final admission score variable

A selection of the faculties where the null hypotheses is accepted in case of bachelor score variable
Variable: final admission score (medie_concurs)
Tabelul. The result of the post-hoc Dunn test
Comparison Z P.adj Decision
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune -2.9918432 0.1830171 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Drept -2.3396998 1.0000000 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Drept 1.4908200 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Drept 2.7932764 0.3443687 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului -3.0831738 0.1351716 Accept H0
Drept - Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului 0.2451118 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Economie Teoretica si Aplicata 1.8487563 1.0000000 Accept H0
Business si Turism - Economie Teoretica si Aplicata -2.7470893 0.3968366 Accept H0
Cibernetica, Statistica si Informatica Economica - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori -0.0082422 1.0000000 Accept H0
Contabilitate si Informatica de Gestiune - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori 2.4083928 1.0000000 Accept H0
Drept - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori -1.4117939 1.0000000 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori -2.9440314 0.2138183 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Management -2.4210512 1.0000000 Accept H0
Drept - Management 0.7734443 1.0000000 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Management 0.9649586 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administratie si Management Public - Marketing -2.6757964 0.4920427 Accept H0
Drept - Marketing 0.5701736 1.0000000 Accept H0
Economie Agroalimentara si a Mediului - Marketing 0.5937002 1.0000000 Accept H0
Management - Marketing -0.3712584 1.0000000 Accept H0
Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare in limbi straine - Relatii Economice Internationale -0.3387945 1.0000000 Accept H0
Economie Teoretica si Aplicata - Relatii Economice Internationale -2.3361604 1.0000000 Accept H0

Based on the post-hoc Dunn test results, we can draw the following conclusions:

  • there are significant differences between the majority of faculty pairs in terms of the admission test score variable (most of p-values are lower than 0.5) however, some faculty pairs show no significant differences between (p-value > 0.05), suggesting a similar performance level between those candidates

  • This supports the initial Kruskal-Wallis test finding, which showed significant group-level differences. These findings can be valuable for identifying faculties with distinctly higher or lower candidate performance.

To identify which faculties have higher admission test scores, we can compare the medians of the admission test scores across faculties.

The blue spots indicate the faculties that differ the most in terms of admission test scores, while the red spots represent faculties with similar performance levels.

Comparisons between the mean of the groups

In the image below is presented the comparisons between the mean of the analyzed variables of the faculties.

The figures show the distributions of the mean admission test score, bachelor’s score, and final admission score obtained by the candidates.

Admission test scores show the greatest variability across faculties. The faculties with the highest mean values at the admission test are Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine (80), Relații Economice Internaționale (78), and Economie Teoretică și Aplicată (72). The lowest mean value, 45, was recorded by Administrație și Management Public. The results also indicate a wide spread for some faculties (e.g., Marketing, Management) and a tighter spread for others (e.g., Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine).

For the final admission score, the top three faculties are Relații Economice Internaționale (9.1), Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine (9.0), and Economie Teoretică și Aplicată (8.9). The distributions show that final admission scores are much more concentrated compared to admission test scores. Among the three measures, the admission test score exhibits the greatest variation between faculties, while the bachelor’s score is the most uniform. Across both admission test and final admission scores, Relații Economice Internaționale, Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine, and Economie Teoretică și Aplicată consistently appear among the top performers.

Bachelor’s scores are relatively uniform across faculties, suggesting less differentiation in undergraduate academic performance compared to admission test outcomes. Faculties with higher admission test scores generally also rank high in final admission scores, indicating a strong influence of the admission test on final placement.

Conclusions:

In this study we analyzed the results obtained by the ASE candidates. The Dunn test results confirm that there are significant differences between many faculties, implying that the groups do not come from the same distribution. This supports the initial Kruskal-Wallis test finding, which showed significant group-level differences. These findings can be valuable for identifying faculties with distinctly higher or lower candidate performance.

Admission test results vary across faculties, with Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine, Relații Economice Internaționale, and Economie Teoretică și Aplicată achieving the highest scores. Bachelor’s scores are more uniform, while final admission scores largely reflect the influence of admission test performance. Faculties with tighter score distributions tend to be more selective, whereas wider spreads suggest greater diversity in candidate performance.

The analysis reveals notable differences in candidate performance between faculties. Administrarea Afacerilor cu predare în limbi străine, Relații Economice Internaționale, and Economie Teoretică și Aplicată attract candidates with the highest admission test scores, suggesting either stronger competition or a higher entry standard. In contrast, faculties such as Administrație și Management Public record lower average scores, possibly reflecting broader admission criteria or attracting candidates with more diverse academic backgrounds.

Bachelor’s scores remain relatively uniform across faculties, indicating that prior academic performance is less variable than admission test results. This suggests that the admission test plays a more decisive role in differentiating candidates. Faculties with narrow score distributions likely maintain more selective admission processes, whereas those with wider spreads, such as Marketing and Management, may admit candidates with a broader range of abilities.

References

  1. https://ase.ro/comunicare/noutati/regulamentul-admitere-masterat-2025-2026/, accessed on 04.08.2025.
  2. https://ase.ro/admitere/masterat/, accessed on 28.07.2025.
  3. Decision No. 89/14.05.2025, accessed on 04.08.2025