Northstarmom

"When admissions officers gather to create a freshman class, there is a large elephant in the room, wrote Jennifer Delahunty Britz, in The New York Times last week: the desire to minimize gender imbalance in their classes. Britz, the admissions dean at Kenyon College, wrote that her institution gets far more applications from women than from men and that, as a result, men are “more valued applicants.” Britz discussed a female candidate who was considered borderline by the Kenyon team but who — had she been a he — would have been admitted without hesitation.
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Why is it important to favor male applicants? “Beyond the availability of dance partners for the winter formal, gender balance matters in ways both large and small on a residential college campus. Once you become decidedly female in enrollment, fewer males and, as it turns out, fewer females find your campus attractive,” Britz wrote.

The gender gap in undergraduate enrollments is, of course, no secret in academe. Women are solidly in the majority (about 57 percent nationally) and their percentages are only expected to increase in the years ahead. The gender gap first started to show up — more than a decade ago — at liberal arts colleges, with educators guessing that men preferred larger institutions or the engineering and business programs more prevalent at universities. But recently, the gap has started to show up at flagship public universities, too: Some board members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were so stunned in May to learn that this year’s freshman class would be 58 percent female that they asked if it was time to institute affirmative action for men.

Chapel Hill isn’t going that route, but Kenyon is. And while Britz’s column stunned many applicants and parents and frustrated many advocates for women, its substance didn’t surprise admissions officers. While few admissions officers wanted to talk publicly about the column, the private reaction was a mix of “of course male applicants get some help” along with “did she have to share that information with the world"

Affirmative Action for Men :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs

collegealum314

Kenyon College is not exactly an elite LAC. I think it's misleading when people say that "top LACs" have AA for males.

Northstarmom

Kenyon is ranked #32 in US News' college guide, so is among the top tier LACs.

collegealum314

ok, well top 30 is not what people think of on this forum when they think elite.

Sazari

Yea, i think people act like race plays a bigger role than it does. As an african-american people just assume that i get in anywhere i apply and that's not even close to true.

I already know if i get into a top college im not telling anyone because i dont want to hear their crap.

BIGTWIX

"Kenyon is ranked #32 in US News' college guide, so is among the top tier LACs."

I don't think that's really top tier tho. I mean sure it is a good LAC, but usually when I hear top tier or tier 1, I associate it with the best. Kenyon doesnt exactly stick out in my mind when I think of LACs. However, schools like Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, Middlebury, Vassar do. And to say that they are a league above Kenyon would imo be very true, and thus mean Kenyon can't really share tiers with them.

Also, I don't believe being Male is nearly as big as an advantage as being a URM. The ratio in a handful of Lacs is something like 3(women):2(men)

For Whites to Blacks at many lacs it can be/ is closer to 15:1. There's a huge disparity.

It can be a huge factor with private universities/colleges (race), however I don't think it is quite as large as perceived.

imaparasite

^ Yeah, but think about campus social life. It's more relevant to have equal numbers of males and females than equal numbers of people from different races.

tang007

Race is definitely a huge factor in college admissions. I go to school with this black female who was accepted at top colleges (MIT, Ivy Leagues, etc) with good grades, decent SAT scores, and no extracurricular activities. An Asian male at my school was rejected by some of the same college with better grades, much higher SAT scores, and a ton of extracurricular activities and leadership positions. So, you tell me how much race helps.

Jonathan1

College Admission Officers
Scroll to the bottom of the page.

The acceptance for under represented minorities applications at MIT is nearly double for Caucasian, Asian, and Asian American applicants.

dillbilly123

Am I considered a minority if I'm a hispanic who lives in the suburbs (Houston, TX) whose parents, their incomes combined, make less than $60 k a year?

A simple yes or no will do? But hopefully you can explain.

karajanhra

Are you Hispanic? Period? End of statement?

Then it doesn't matter if your parents make 500k a year and you can fly to Belgium on your private jet if you feel like some chocolate - you're an underepresented minority. URMs are judged not by the context of their character (or wallets), but by the color of their skin.

Bourne

LOL. Wow, way to reverse a historic line.

Gabs91

Yes. Of course you are. Latino is latino regardless of what country, state, income or where you live. I live in the suburbs as well but I'm still a very proud Latina who will always remember where that I came from. Hope I answered your question!

entomom

Actually, Latinos are not distinguished by the color of their skin, as they can be white, black or brown.

For the OP, yes if you are Latino, you are a URM.

dillbilly123

Thanks
Gabs91, I'm a proud latino too!! lol