<p>Another data point: Several years ago I compared statistics for the flagship university and the state colleges in the state where I live (which will remain anonymous). The state flagship, which was harder to get into, was 60/40 female to male. But the colleges, which rarely turned down anyone, were weighted the opposite – heavily male. </p>
<p>That said to me that a significant chunk of boys were not performing well enough in high school to qualify for the tougher standards to be admitted to the flagship. And it also was one answer to the question – where are the boys.</p>
<p>Interesteddad: really interesting statistics about Swarthmore, and I’ll bet there are many other LACs that have similar numbers for white females. I’ll also wager that many of those white females at Swarthmore are science/math majors. A white female from a Northeast suburb who wants to major in English or international relations or art history is going to have a rough time getting into many selective colleges.</p>