Males not favored in admissions despite imbalance....

Parents Forum
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<p>The following excerpts are from an article in the March 1 online edition of the U of Miami college newspaper, The Hurricane. It came to me courtesy of another CCer, who pointed it out in relation to SAT scores (that part edited out as I tried to quote only briefly). But since we have been debating on other threads whether schools with a gender imbalance may be inclined to lower standards a bit for the less well represented gender, I thought this was quite interesting: </p>

<p>"....statistics reveal that there is a slight disparity between the number of applications from males and from females....making the applicants' male-to-female ratio 47 percent to 53 percent. </p>

<p>...females are expected to be admitted at a somewhat higher rate than males. According to Matthew Ward, senior associate director of the Office of Admissions, the reason is that their applications are more qualified. </p>

<p>"There is a national trend that females perform better than males," Ward said. "Colleges all over the country are noticing that more females are doing what it takes to get into college-they are pursuing it more."</p>

<p>Simply put, there are more girls in colleges because more of them apply and more of them are well-qualified applicants. And, as UM becomes more nationally prominent, the influence of that national trend is taking effect on the school. While the rumor of a 30 to 70 percent male to female ratio on campus is inaccurate, the real statistic still shows a see-sawed scale. The male-to-female ratio of admitted freshmen for the Fall 2004 semester was close to 40 to 60 percent male to female.</p>

<p>"The school is not doing anything aggressive to maintain gender equity," Ward said. "If we're giving males more leeway so more of them can be admitted, that would be unfair to the females. What do you think that'd be called?" </p>

<p>Ward also says that it is UM's mission to make admission decisions that would make the campus' composition academically strong, as well as socially diverse. </p>

<p>"We're not making decisions along stat lines," Ward said."</p>

<p>....It is expected that more females than males will be admitted for the next school year, but the gender ratio will not be hugely disproportioned...." </p>

<hr>

<p>It was written by Bryce Pham. See: Thehurricaneonline.com</p>

<p>I am the mother of a boy but I must say, I agree!</p>

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<p>The highest ranked male in my class of 430 is 35th. Crazy!</p>

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<p>That might be the case for UMiami, but I have seen some pretty disparate stats for male/female admissions for some schools. When the ratio starts dipping below 40%, most colleges start some sort of action to keep the percentage level. 47/53 is not an issue. I know at the private schools in our area, there is generally a 50/50 male/female ratio in the entry years. However, there have been occaisions where the ratio would shift in favor of the female because of the better preparedness of the girls. They would allow for that only to a point.</p>

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<p>Went to Nat'l Honor Society induction ceremony this AM....girls made up 60+ %.</p>

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<p>I've been looking at a lot of lesser known (but still highly ranked) LAC's, and I've noticed a 40/60 split at almost all of them, which is why I'm losing interest in them. Interestingly, this, the 2nd semester of my junior year, is the first time a male has entered into the top ten.</p>

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<p>What will happen years hence when these gals want to marry? The guys will often be not nearly as well educated and the gal will have the earning power - how to balance being the breadwinner and mom?</p>

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<p>heck, if I had it to do over again, I would definitely consider a school with an imbalance....one of my friend's sons chose Arizona State specifically for the "chick ratio", altho he told his mom it was for their fine xx program....yeah, right.</p>

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<p>Many are doing that now. When my oldest was in nursery/elementary school, there may have been one or two homedads. With my little one, each year there have been a number. My brother joined those ranks not long ago when he retired from the military and is working part time at home and is the primary caretaker of their baby girl while his wife has a high powered job. Both of them have Harvard MBAs. My brother works at a private school and makes about half or less than his wife. Several of my children's moms are doctors, and the spouses make much less than they do. A lot of dads are doing the car pooling these days. Generally both parents work anyways, and now I am seeing more women who earn more than their husbands. The men who teach at my sons' parochial school have wives that have some high powered jobs and earn the salaries that permit them to live in the neighborhoods they do. The tuition remission the dads get does help, as many of their kids are in the school and the associated high school. We have a number of class dads each year at the school.</p>

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<p>interesting article in today's WSJ which addressed this issue. In essence, Title IX, which we all thought was just concerned about women's participation in sports, originally was designed to outlaw all discrimination in college, i.e., admissions too. But, our good friends at HYP & S (which capped women at 40%), made a persuasive argument to Congress that it would force them to empty out thier science buildings bcos no girls wanted to take those courses and that H would be hurt dispropotionately bcos its male alumni gave more money than female alums. (Yikes, this was 30 years ago, Pres. Summers.) Anyway, the Title IX that was passed only outlawed discrimination in public colleges, but left the privates to discriminate in undergrad admissions if they so chose. (discrimination on sexes, only, not race, of course)</p>

<p>Couple of points from teh article:</p>

<p>In 1972, women accounted for 44% of bachelor's degrees -- today = 57%</p>

<p>In 2002, women earned more undergrad degrees in agricultural sciences, biological sciences and health sciences</p>

<p>Also, women earned 47% of math degrees and 42% of physical science degrees</p>

<p>the last line in the article:....the common app footnote states: "the admission process at private undergraduate institutons is exempt..." from Title IX.</p>

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<p>jamimom - any of these moms struggling with balancing kids and work or do they seem content? how about the dads? mutually acceptable?</p>

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<p>Jamimom, Re: your first post, the man interviewed at Miami did allude to the possible need to do something if the ratio got significantly more lopsided. While he didn't come out and say that, he did say:</p>

<p>"We're not creating any aggressive affirmation action policy, but I'll tell you, if it gets to a 30 to 70 ratio, it's an imbalance," Ward said.</p>

<p>Given what he also said about creating a campus that was "academically strong" and "socially diverse," I read that final comment to mean they might do something if they hit the imbalanced numbers.</p>

<p>As for whether that makes for a more or less desirable campus, my S and his friends - at least those who've discussed it with me - see it as a plus when the males are out numbered by the females.</p>

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<p>The bottom line is what have been your experiences with this. I'm a male junior planning to apply to some schools next year with about a 40/60 ratio. My GPA at some is slightly below norm although my SAT will be at or above. I was hoping the male/female thing would give me a tiny edge.</p>

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<p>Makam, I realize that students typically think first about whether they will get into a particular school, so that may indeed be your "bottom line." But there are other issues here too - what a 40/60 gender mix does to the general tone on campus, how much schools should consider gender when considering applicants, how different schools deal with the situation, how we as parents/educators can best advise students who are trying to select schools with the right fit, what this imbalance may mean in the work world and for family life in the future, etc . In starting this thread, I really had no "bottom line" in mind.</p>