<p>Okay, don't laugh! I am really serious about this. Those of you with sons, would you send your son to a school that is 70% female? We have a school like this on our list, and I just find the gender imbalance unsettling, but not enough to take it off my son's list, and not to visit. I really don't know if I would end up agreeing to send him there, but I am still open to the idea. Thoughts about this?</p>
<p>My son would love this! lol. Really. We actually drove thru a school (on the road visiting different colleges) because it had a 56/44 female/male ratio & the girls were reputed to be very attractive. As long as it had the academics your son was interested in (school we looked at for son did not) I would tend to think the gender disparity would work to his advantage!</p>
<p>I would - if that is where he wanted to go but we would have in-depth discussions about the issue.</p>
<p>What issue? I’ve never heard of parents of daughters worried when a school that is mostly male is under consideraton. (a few engineering schools).</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t take anything off his list. I would leave that decision to him.</p>
<p>Many of the LAC’s have a gender imbalance. S is at one, not because of the girls, but because it has the program he really wanted to take.</p>
<p>The gender imbalance wasn’t an issue at all. In retrospect, I hope it is helping him socially (he is very quiet).</p>
<p>3bm, there are plenty of young women who would not attend a school that is close to 50% male. </p>
<p>Jolynne, I have not asked him what he wants yet! I think that I know the answer.</p>
<p>Karen, I know that there is gender imbalance at a lot of schools, but to me 60/40 is different than 70/30.</p>
<p>Hi, nem! LOL, as a matter of fact, we did that with S’s first school. The gender ratio didn’t matter to him, but the school was just too small for his liking.</p>
<p>When S was looking at schools, he wouldn’t consider those that were predominantly male (even though he was interested in science) because he wanted to have a social life. If there was a school that suited him academically that was predominantly female, I don’t think he would’ve minded. He ended up at a LAC that was slightly more female than male.</p>
<p>Yes, I would. Much better than a school that is 70% male. I’ve heard that guys don’t really enjoy college that much if there are very few females around! I’d think there would be a nice civilizing effect with so many girls around! Of course, he might get a skewed idea of how easy it is to have girls be interested in him! I’d just make sure he was okay with it.</p>
<p>Well, my S has approached his building of a college list kind of like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. So, even though he’s quite good in the math/science arena and will likely major in something there, he did not feel an intensively tech oriented school had the right feel for him. I’m not sure if it was the M/F ratio or not. He seems to be looking for balance in most things, except that he naturally wants his fellow students to be uniformly good.</p>
<p>I would love to go to a place like that personally. I mesh with girls better than boys and hey… thats more options for me haha! No, seriously… weigh the pros and the cons and make a choice.</p>
<p>My son was accepted to a 70% female school and nearly attended. (We had put down the deposit and filled out the forms, but then he got off the waitlist at his first choice.) He dismissed the gender imbalance with a wave of the hand; it was really a non-issue for him. He grew up with four sisters, and 4 sisters x 4 sets of their friends = a high comfort level with women, so that may have accounted for the fact that he felt perfectly at ease in such an environment.</p>
<p>Yes. While I would discuss the possible ramifications of going to school with a gender balance (either way) I would let him choose.</p>
<p>FWIW, my son went to an all-boys high school. He might think a 70/30 ratio was perfect after a 0/100!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the posts. My son has no issues with this imbalance, and I know that he really likes the idea. It is my issue, I guess. I just want him to have a regular college experience, and not pair off with someone as a couple 2 weeks into freshman year. I know its silly, bc that could happen at any school. I have read plenty of stories on cc about kids not meeting others because the paired off with a bf or gf on the 2nd day of orientation! I just feel that this is more likely to happen at a 70/30 school. See, I am really being serious about this issue.</p>
<p>Absolutely!!!</p>
<p>This is a great topic. At first glance, guys might love the idea of having less social competition to meet girls. On the other hand, I think class discussions might end up being lopsided. I don’t really like the idea of 70%/30%.</p>
<p>S2 starts in the fall at a school that is 65/35 female. It is not a problem to him. He has always had “girl” friends and is considered a “chick magnet” due to that at his HS. I don’t think it will be a problem for him. </p>
<p>I see it ultimately, to his advantage to be in the minority for a change. It should help him grow as a young man dealing w/women much for frequently than he is used to. After all, I am only female in our household.</p>
<p>nysmile, I was in a graduate program that we very lopsided and there were many more males than females. I did not mind the class discussions and classroom interaction overall. I did not live on campus though, was older, and I developed a social life/network outside of school, as well as mingling with some classmates. I do think that graduate school, more maturity, not living on a campus, and more focus on career make a difference.</p>
<p>I don’t think the ratio has much to do with meeting someone the first week and pairing up. After all, it really only takes one female and one male.</p>
<p>My youngest considered going to an engineering school that was 70/30 male. When I brought up the ration and the lack of women he said to me “I really only need one.”</p>
<p>nem, How big is the school overall? S2 attends a college with a 61/39 ratio but it is a large state sch. With an enrollment of 24,000+. That means there are still plenty of guys around.
If the school only had 1200 students, it might be more of a concern.</p>