<p>As we look through the ratio of males to females applying to the top colleges, it is obvious that females--who are in the majority among all high school students today--are even more so at some of the most prestigious colleges and universities. Yet many of these top schools, such as Williams and Amherst, just to point out two of the most prominent LACs--wind up with close to 50/50 male/female enrollment ratios. So it seems that being a male applicant is a definite advantage. Has this been your experience? Does anyone have data on relative admit ratios or average SAT/ACT scores for male vs. female applicants at these top-tier schools? If so, do most admissions offices see being male, just like being a legacy or an underrepresented ethnic group, a new "hook"? Or is it relatively unimportant these days?</p>
<p>Relatively important. But you still have to be among the best males.</p>
<p>It may be a tip factor, but I don’t think the female/male ratio hasn’t gotten skewed to the point where being male is a hook.</p>
<p>you need to look through the common data sets to really see how much of a differential there is between male and female admits. Some of them, even the most selective ones, there isn’t much. Some schools I recall as having big splits in selectivity were Pomona, Swarthmore and Vassar. In any event, you still need to be the most competitive with those in your gender group. Vassar’s male admit rate was 35% compared to 20% female, so maybe the standards are a bit lower, but Pomona and Swarthmore are still under 20% or male, and the applicant pool is largely cream of the crop to begin with!</p>
<p>Relatively unimportant.</p>
<p><a href=“Opinion | To All the Girls I've Rejected - The New York Times”>Opinion | To All the Girls I've Rejected - The New York Times;
<p>Your gender is and never will be a hook. It’s not a unique trait – you can either be one or the other lol. Your argument mistakes correlation to be causation.</p>
<p>^well, many schools attempt to have a gender balance and will give preference to either men or women depending on the gender balance of applicants. At most engineering schools being female is an advantage in the application process, however I wouldn’t quite call it a hook. Likewise, at vassar, pomona and swarthmore being male is an advantage, unless you assume that the female applicants to engineering school are significantly more qualified, and the males applicants to these liberal arts colleges are significantly more qualified.</p>
<p>You can either be a good athlete or not–being a good athlete is often a hook. So is being a male at an under maled school. The numbers are clear.</p>
<p>it depends on the college. Some LACs are upfront that they favor males. Towson U does so as well. Of course, Engineering and Business programs tend to favor females.</p>
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<p>theyre not that clear. numbers reported by schools on their ncaa re-certification documents repeatedly show what one would expect based on the college boards sat reports: at top school after top school, enrolled males have higher average sat scores than enrolled females. the data for yale shows a range of 7 to 17 points, depending on the year. at bucknell, males have consistently out-scored their female counterparts by 25.</p>
<p>of course, it would be equally unwise to assume that enrolled males and females at a given school have similarly strong high school grades or extracurricular profiles. maybe it all evens itself out. maybe it doesnt. but either way, it makes the assumption that a relatively small difference in the respective sizes of a schools male and female applicant pools is particularly telling a dangerous one.</p>
<p>I read something that said that once a school crosses the 55/45 barrier, the school gradually becomes less desirable to both sexes and then once a school crosses the 60/40 barrier, the school starts to become exponentially less desirable to both sexes. So, in theory, if a school wanted to maintain its desirability to both sexes, they’d try to be as close to even as possible.</p>
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<p>Yeah, my female cousin attributes part of her acceptance into Cornell Engineering to her sex. She actually got rejected into her first school choice, which wasn’t heavily male/female skewed.</p>
<p>My question is, would choosing a major that is predominantly female, such as elementary education, help a males chances as much as say a female choosing engineering? Basically, are schools trying harder to get females into predominantly male areas than males into predominantly female areas?</p>
<p>Is Yale or Bucknell suffering from being under maled? I don’t think so. Thus no help. It only helps at sexually skewed schools. Of course. Your point is useless.</p>
<p>erica:</p>
<p>Schools with D1 sports (and engineering and business) tend to have a more balanced application pool. (Saturday afternoon football is a big attraction to guys.) Take a look-see at some D3 LACs…</p>