“So the issue isn’t whether the top LACs are doing enough to attract the best and brightest female math and physical science students. The issue is that there just are not very many of these students to begin with.”
My daughter, a freshman in college, found that when programs tout themselves as STEM-oriented and focused, they almost never meant math. (And once again I give a nod to Harvey Mudd for breaking that mold.) Many programs never focused or prepared to receive the math/physics-based student, but exclusively the bio or the engineering kid.
Where there is no opening for developing one’s less-sought-after science interest in local programs, even in those well-supported locals (outside of the olympiads), many students may find they have an easier time going forward in independent endeavors.