I was reading an ESPN article, which mentioned the fact that there are significantly more women in colleges, and applying to colleges, than men. I thought this was a pretty interesting fact. I was than led to a New York Times article entitled, To All The Girls I’ve Rejected. It was written by Jennifer Delahunty Britz, dean of admissions at Kenyon College. The fact is, that because colleges want to keep Male to Female ratios as close as possible, more women are getting rejection letters. This also means that it’s easier for a man to get into a highly selective university than for a woman.
There’s no real advice that can be associated with this. It just plain stinks. Women get the real short end of the stick because instead of competing against everyone equally for a spot, they are now competing against other women, and there are more of them. While it works out in the favor of men, it’s quite troubling that such a fewer number of men are going to college. In fact, if this situation continue, some experts think that college student bodies will be 60-40 female by 2010. So, the climate remains that men are getting left in the dust (academically), while women are now competing with each other.
One of the best things you can do is apply to a load of safety schools. If you have your heart set on one university, but don’t gain admission, you can always do well at a different college and apply for a transfer. For men, I wouldn’t be too excited about the prospect of having to work less to be accepted to colleges. I’d be concerned that the gender is lacking and being passed by women. It’s unfortunate that the crapshoot that is admissions seems to become cloudier every day.
People are just too good any more. Everyone has a million extra curricular activities, top grades, great service projects, and fantastic SAT or ACT scores. When everyone is lumped together, distinguishing the outstanding students from the bad students is one of the most challenging things. I used to be insanely bitter because I was rejected from ND while my friend, whom I got better grades than, but not better test scores was accepted.
Thinking back, I’m almost positive our applications were very close (we both played varsity sports, I even held a job throughout High School), and they simply had to choose one and leave the other one be. So, some other advice is to try to distinguish yourself somehow. Start a web site, study abroad, live in Africa and help people with AIDS. No longer does captain of the soccer team and student body president with a 4.0 and 35 ACT score cut it, because there are loads of other students who have that. For women, the number is increased dramatically.
Also, if you don’t get into that dream college, don’t fret. Your school could crush them in a bowl game sometime.