<p>My son is interested in a couple schools that seem to be 60-70% female (if the College Board site is accurate). One of these would be considered a high match/reach. Do these schools want to increase their male population and could this possibly help him?</p>
<p>Absolutely.</p>
<p>Sometimes, at these schools, being a male could even be considered somewhat of a "hook".</p>
<p>It will vary from school to school. It clearly isn't much of a hook at many, or standards for males would be lowered enough to help equalize the population, and they aren't.</p>
<p>In other words, males might not be as highly sought after as one might expect.</p>
<p>Yes, at many colleges females greatly outnumber males, and the latter is therefore highly sought after. I remember reading that about 59% of college students in the US are female, highlighting a big turnaround from decades ago.</p>
<p>Stephens College in Missouri has a few thousand women...and 12 guys. It's historically a women's college, but since it excels with performing arts men are needed for certain parts. There are actually only a few majors available to guys. However, the men that go there are great guys and are very well trained for a fine arts career.</p>
<p>This is irrelevant, but is the only school I can think of off hand that is mostly girls and few guys. I've never known (or heard of) a guy getting turned down from Stephens.</p>
<p>HisGraceFillsMe is right. Being a guy in applying at some schools is a big advantage. There was an article in, I believe, U.S. News and World Report a year or so ago about boys and receiving special treatment by admission people. Whether or not it's true remains to be seen, although my son pointed out that one of the schools listed in the article has not granted admission to a girl from our school in four years, and the girls have applied, too. But we have guys there. But there are also schools that have large male populations that seek females, too. It all balances out.</p>
<p>All 12 of the schools my son visited had a higher percentage of female to male students. You know that middle 50% of the stats that schools publish (SAT/ACT)?? Well, someone on these boards asked "Who's in the bottom 25%?" Many people thought it was males.</p>
<p>Do you know what we call a guy who attends a mostly female school?</p>
<p>LUCKY!</p>
<p>
<p>LUCKY!
</p>
<p>LOL. I chose my 2nd of four UG's for that very reason.</p>
<p>"Lucky!"</p>
<p>For one of the two reasons.</p>
<p>Off the OT, but related--
obviously it's a plus in terms of the dating (or hookup or whatever they call it now) scene for males in these schools -- say, Vassar, for example -- but does it ever feel too lopsided, too female-oriented, or harder to find male friends with similar interests?</p>
<p>All but one of the state u's in our state have more female students. The exception is the big state u. engineeirng school and that ratio is getting pretty clsoe to 50/50. </p>
<p>S2 will be attending a state u. where the ratio is something like 61/39 females to males. It is a noticable difference but with over 20,000 students, I don't think the guys will have trouble finding friends. S2's SAT was prob. 75-100 points below the school's avg. but did fall in the middle 50% range. I definitely think being a boy from a part of the state that doesn't send a lot of guys to that school gave him a boost.</p>
<p>I asked if he saw any pretty girls at Orientation. His reply was "Many,many,many".</p>
<p>I will add that even though it is predominately female, it is known as a football school with thousands of rabid fans filling the stadium on Saturdays.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone's insight. I guess we'll find out after he applies.</p>
<p>^^Seems to be true even in the not as highly rated schools. I personally know 2 young ladies who applied to both the big state u. engineering school (but not to be engineering majors) and also a popular regional highly female state school. Both were turned down by the regional school but accepted to the enginering school even though it's avg. stats for admittance are higher.</p>
<p>If anyone wants to look up more recent admission rate data for males and females, go to College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics</p>
<p>Write in the name of the college you're interested in and then go to "admissions" for the rate. Go to "enrollment" to see a breakdown of percentage males/females enrolled in the college. Other useful info as well. </p>
<p>There would appear to be an admissions advantage for males at some schools --- the higher admission rate for men continued as a trend in the 2007-2008 stats for W&M, BC, Tufts, Pomona --- but it is not universal. And Kenyon still has a lopsided admit rate, 33 percent for men and 26.5 for women.</p>
<p>But don't assume there's a blanket advantage for men. Vandy's admit rate is 34 percent for men, 37 for women. Macalester also: 38.6 percent for men, 42 percent for women. Michigan's admit rate is 48.7 percent for men, 52 percent for women. And UNC-CH, which is nearly 60 percent female enrollment, has a nearly even admit rate, 34.1 percent for men and 34.2 percent for women, despite the enrollment imbalance. </p>
<p>The most selective universities are either equal, or within a few percentage points. Harvard: 8.8 percent for both men and women. Princeton: 9.7 percent for both. Duke: 22.9 percent for men and 22.5 percent for women. Notre Dame: 25 percent for men and 24 percent for women. </p>
<p>And it is still true that MIT admissions favor women. The admit rate in 2007-2008 was reported as 9.1 percent for men and 21 percent for women. CMU also, with 24.5 percent for men and 33.9 percent for women. </p>
<p>It's not a given that male applicants will have an advantage, but you can look up the data for any U.S. college or university.</p>
<p>Jazzymom - great reference for anyone looking for a potential edge in admissions.</p>
<p>Yes, I go to this site a lot. Fast way to compare the COA too. It even breaks down in state and out of state expenses if you're looking at a public university in a state other than your residence. Gives an indication of the relative size and popularity of academic programs as well, and a quick way to see what type of, say, language or visual arts programs are offered. You can compare info for a lot of colleges fairly quickly. </p>
<p>I think the admission rate data is useful not only to see where a student might have some advantage, male or female, but also just to get the lay of the land....to know that if the pattern has been to admit males or females at a lesser rate, then despite a very strong app, an applicant may not get in for reasons that have nothing to do with whether he or she was "good" enough. It's a cold hard data point that can provide a reality check one way or the other.</p>
<p>Remember that even within schools the numbers can change. There are certain programs at CMU for example being female wouldn't be a help. Even at a school with rough admissions parity certain programs are still dominated by one sex or the other and you can gain an admissions advantage by taking a "reverse commute".</p>
<p>D at one time considered engineering. The amount of recruitment info she received was unbelievable. I learned what the Fu Foundation was early on. LOL. Had no idea. ;)</p>
<p>Is the Fu foundation the parent organization of FUBAR?</p>
<p>Randolph College just went coed and I am certain males have a far better shot at admission. I'd guess a male at the low end of the 25/75 range would be almost certain to get in.</p>