Gender a deciding factor in Tech college admissions?

Applying to College
1

<p>I am Chinese, female, and have been accepted to Caltech and MIT through regular decision this year. I know of another girl who has been accepted into MIT, but none of my male classmates, despite high GPAs, SAT/AP scores, national (SCIENCE) competitions, and an overall love for the sciences, have been accepted.</p>

<p>Is there a bias in the tech schools towards female applicants, because they simply get less of them? I know MIT likes keeping its ~1:1 gender distribution, so I'm a little concerned that my classmate and I were given an edge over our male classmates simply because of our gender, and not because we were more...qualified. I'd like to think otherwise, though...</p>

<p>My own stats are at <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/665292-official-mit-rd-decisions-class-2013-a-3.html#post1062001373%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/665292-official-mit-rd-decisions-class-2013-a-3.html#post1062001373&lt;/a> .</p>

<p>Thank you,
-Kai</p>

2

<p>Darling, you are a case in point of how women underestimate their own worth! </p>

<p>You got into to these schools because you are talented and nice and smart and interesting and wrote a great application. </p>

<p>I have an old poster on the back of my office door from my MIT days: </p>

<p>Presentation by Dr. Valeri Young.</p>

<p>“How To Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are; What every Women Needs to Know About the Imposter Syndrome.” 10-250</p>

<p>You were admitted to MIT because you deserve to be there.</p>

3

<p>u definitely look way under-qualified with that 2400 SAT score & obviously got in cause you’re female…</p>

4

<p>Wow, 2400 and a 4.0 and you feel you are underqualified? MIT and Caltech especially are into the numbers, if anyone was rejected with those stats something is seriously wrong with their essay or recs.</p>

<p>Females enjoy a higher admit rate at MIT, but I tend to believe the institution when it says that female applicants are more self-selective. Here’s why:</p>

<p>Caltech conspicuously claims not to use race-based affirmative action, while MIT openly admits to it. There are a lot of URMs at MIT and very few at Caltech. Both universities are clearly telling the truth.</p>

<p>MIT and Caltech both claim not to use gender-based affirmative action. Caltech and MIT both have approximately doubled admissions rates for females. Caltech can be considered trustworthy - they are honest about the URM thing. Since MIT has the same gender admissions differential as Caltech, I’d trust them too. Why would they tell the truth about their race AA policies, but lie about gender AA?</p>

5

<p>you have really good stats. /thread…jk but seriously i’m not at all surprised you got in… :O</p>