Do men have an edge over women in college admissions?

Applying to College
1

Not sure if this Washington Post article was discussed when it came out in March but very interesting indeed:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-gender-factor-in-college-admissions/2014/03/26/4996e988-b4e6-11e3-8020-b2d790b3c9e1_story.html

in a nutshell: The reporter looked at whether it was easier for a male or female (with equal stats) to get into particular colleges:

"At 48 schools, women were admitted at a higher rate than men. The female edge was notable at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (eight percentage points), California Institute of Technology (10 points), Carnegie Mellon University (10 points) and Harvey Mudd College (24 points). At those four schools, men outnumbered women significantly.

At 64 schools, men were admitted at a higher rate. At Brown University and Amherst, Swarthmore and Pitzer colleges, the male edge was three percentage points. At Vanderbilt, Wesleyan and Tufts universities, and Davidson and Pomona colleges, it was five points. At the College of William and Mary, it was 14 points. Women outnumbered men at some of these schools, but not all. There was an even gender split among Vanderbilt and Davidson undergraduates, and men were a slight majority at Amherst."

2

The article does not appear to say anything about whether the male and female applicant pools at any of the colleges differed on stats or other qualifications that the admissions readers look for.

3

Schools try to balance their classes. Schools with heavy emphasis on engineering tend to skew male, so they recruit females more heavily. Non-engineering schools typically have a much higher female to male ratio so they favor qualified male candidates. This is nothing new or surprising.