Girls disadvantaged?

[Anonymous]

Argh. So after overcoming several millennia of patriarchy, girls are graduating from high school with higher grades and test scores than boys -- so now colleges are engaging in affirmative action for boys?

As the parent of two daughters, this kills me.

$%@$#*&!

On a more practical note, any suggestions about how to overcome this for female applicants who are not in STEM fields?

[Anonymous]

Carnegie Mellon (and a lot of STEM-focused schools) accepts a greater percentage of women than men. And I think most colleges in general are accepting a higher percentage of women than men, though not as much as CMU. A notable exception is Vassar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Argh. So after overcoming several millennia of patriarchy, girls are graduating from high school with higher grades and test scores than boys -- so now colleges are engaging in affirmative action for boys?

As the parent of two daughters, this kills me.

$%@$#*&!

On a more practical note, any suggestions about how to overcome this for female applicants who are not in STEM fields?

girls do fine at the major colleges. 50% at Harvard. More than that at W&M. What's the problem. You don't like holistic admissions?

[Anonymous]

I think girls have had higher grades and lower scores (still true) than boys for decades.

Most colleges are looking for gender balance so some my favor whatever gender they perceive to be underrepresented in their pool.

Your daughter(s) could, of course, apply to women’s colleges. If your question is how do non-STEM girls stand out in the college application process, the answer is (1) do something competitively (debate, sports, music, Scholastic arts or writing awards) and win state or national recognition and/or (2) blaze their own trail and do something interesting and worthwhile.

But honestly your high-stats girl is going to have no problem getting into a good college. You just can’t name the school in advance and you can’t assume it’ll be one of the hardest to get into. That’s true for pretty much anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Argh. So after overcoming several millennia of patriarchy, girls are graduating from high school with higher grades and test scores than boys -- so now colleges are engaging in affirmative action for boys?

As the parent of two daughters, this kills me.

$%@$#*&!

On a more practical note, any suggestions about how to overcome this for female applicants who are not in STEM fields?

First of all, that is insane and I would love to see a list of colleges engaging in this practice so I can cross them off our list and encourage others to do the same. Second, we have not "overcome" patriarchy. It is alive and well. Women are still stifled at lower rungs of achievement in many fields, either by gender harassment, sexism, or the good ol boys network. Patriarchy and racism live and breathe in this country and we need to continue to fight them both.

[Anonymous]

Try these if it bothers you so much. I heard Wellesley is good.

Agnes Scott College
Barnard College
Bryn Mawr College
Mills College
Mount Holyoke College
Scripps College
Simmons College
Smith College
Stephens College
Sweet Briar College
Wellesley College

[Anonymous]

I was going to say, there are plenty of women's colleges to suit you, OP. Won't find anything like that for my boys.

[Anonymous]

This article is from 2016, but has data from a number of colleges where one gender or the other has a higher acceptance rate, usually because significantly more students of one gender tend to apply and they wish to maintain a roughly 50/50 ratio of students. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/03/13/want-an-edge-in-college-admissions-see-the-schools-where-women-and-men-have-an-advantage/?utm_term=.aabf1ea46e56

If you are curious about a particular college, its common data set will break out applicants by gender and you can see the percentages for yourself.

[Anonymous]

Presumably your daughters would like to have some college-educated men as potential future husbands, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article is from 2016, but has data from a number of colleges where one gender or the other has a higher acceptance rate, usually because significantly more students of one gender tend to apply and they wish to maintain a roughly 50/50 ratio of students. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/03/13/want-an-edge-in-college-admissions-see-the-schools-where-women-and-men-have-an-advantage/?utm_term=.aabf1ea46e56

If you are curious about a particular college, its common data set will break out applicants by gender and you can see the percentages for yourself.

Basically the article shows the OP's premise is false. No need to get worked up about something until she provides some specifics backed up by real evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Presumably your daughters would like to have some college-educated men as potential future husbands, right?

Or maybe they would prefer Smith College? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

[Anonymous]

We visited Connecticut College & even though my daughter liked it a lot, she did not like that it was over 60% female. She ended up not even applying. I’m not sure if this is appropriate to say, but hook up culture can be kind of bad when there is so few men on campus. Plus there are schools that only accept women that are excellent such as the seven sisters.

[Anonymous]

While I agree that patriarchy is alive and well and that women still have too many battles to fight in our society, as the mother of two boys who have spent 13 years struggling to function in a heavily female environment which rewards behaviors that come more easily to girls than to boys, it is a relief to see them get a little bit of a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I agree that patriarchy is alive and well and that women still have too many battles to fight in our society, as the mother of two boys who have spent 13 years struggling to function in a heavily female environment which rewards behaviors that come more easily to girls than to boys, it is a relief to see them get a little bit of a break.

Seriously. The stats don’t lie.

[Anonymous]

Most schools have more than 50% women.