What SHOULD the top 50-75 colleges do in their marketing to attract more men to attend to improve gender ratios?
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Anonymous
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I feel bad for my DD who is a strong candidate for top 75 and wants to be in an intellectually stimulating enviro with lots of impressive straight men who are equally strong to date. What kinds of outreach should the top 75 schools be doing with strong male candidates to make their ratios closer to 50-50 or even 55-45 (and not 60-40 or 65-35 or worse)?
Our straight daughters deserve better than recruited squash players and recruited lax bros who barely passed their academic pre-reads. What about open houses run by male AOs with video-game themes? More profiles of outstanding male students on brochures (my DD's college brochures she gets in the mail feature majority women)? Webinar or student panels which are at least 50-50 women-men. I was at panels at BU, Pomona, USC and Tufts where the student panels were all female and the tour guides were all women except for one lonely male. That doesn't give a reassuring signal to prospective male students so I can understand why they go elsewhere. Additional ED3 round with later deadline for males (since they are slower to develop)? |
Anonymous
| Video game themes? |
Anonymous
| Oh shut up. There’s a gender imbalance at all colleges not just the top ones. |
Anonymous
| Guaranteed job upon graduation. That sure will attract a lot of boys and girls. |
Anonymous
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On the off chance you're serious ... where do you think all these outstanding male students are going to school? Somewhere other than the top 75?
Sorry to be blunt but they are going to schools your kid didn't get into. |
Anonymous
| lol intellectually stimulating and T75 is an oxymoron. Intellectually stimulating stops at about T20. Everything after is a cakewalk to the degree (my kid’s T30 college included) |
Anonymous
I think something got lost in translation here. Sounds more like you talking than your DD. |
Anonymous
| Give merit for SAT scores. Weigh scores more than they currently do vs GPA. |
Anonymous
Even HYP have a large number of intellectually mediocre ones. Even a T100 has intellectually stimulating kids. It’s a gradient not a cutoff |
Anonymous
First serious and productive suggestion on this thread! |
Anonymous
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While OP's suggestions seem light-hearted this is actually a serious concern for many DCs.
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Anonymous
| Nothing |
Anonymous
| De-emphasize the “need” for a cohesive narrative- for both genders! That’s not how normal teenagers are supposed to evolve during their high school years. |
Anonymous
| Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression that it’s not that these dreamy young men are applying and getting rejected en masse, it’s that they don’t exist in the first place. |
Anonymous
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Suggestions from AI:
Tailor programs to in-demand careers Focus on ROI. With young men increasingly prioritizing faster payoffs over lifelong learning, colleges are emphasizing real-world career outcomes in their pitches. Promote popular fields. While all colleges should assess their course offerings, fields like computer science, business, and criminal justice tend to attract more male students. Many top universities have strong programs in these areas. Launch entrepreneurship programs. Some colleges create pitch competitions and other programs to appeal to entrepreneurial-minded high school boys. Modernize marketing and outreach Meet students online. Young men spend more time on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Discord, and Reddit than on traditional college websites. Colleges should adapt their marketing strategies to meet them where they are. Tell compelling stories. Use video and other modern formats to highlight student success stories and career outcomes. Use targeted language. Colleges can use focus groups of young men to get insight into how they perceive the institution and adjust marketing language to be more appealing. Leverage school pride. Promote school spirit, especially during campus tour days, which research has shown particularly appeals to men. Enhance student support and campus culture Build community. Some institutions are finding success by getting new male students together in small groups to help them connect and reduce feelings of isolation. Create mentorship programs. Mentoring, especially by male peer mentors, can help new male students navigate the college experience, manage stress, and seek help when needed. Prioritize retention. Since male students are more likely to drop out, especially in their first year, retention efforts are just as critical as recruitment. Strengthen athletic programs Add sports teams. Colleges have used athletics to boost male enrollment by adding new sports, such as football and lacrosse. Consider long-term impact. Studies show that while adding a football program may provide an initial enrollment spike, it does not guarantee long-term gains. |