<p>I agree that applying to a school where you and your kind are underrepresented can be an advantage; the trouble for me was convincing my son that this is a good strategy for him. As a senior in high school he decided after one brief look at Wesleyan (he probably decided in his mind long before he actually stepped foot on any college campus) that he was not interested in any college with fewer than 5000 or so students.</p>
<p>Looking back, I could have insisted on a few more college visits and applications, but he was stubborn. He is now a sophomore, and I have yet to see him take advantage of as many of the opportunities that a large campus offers as he was expecting to. Also, he had one spectacular flame-out class failure, which he probably would have been able to avoid at a smaller college with better advising. On the other hand, he is happy where he is (and has done very well in all other classes), so — time will tell. </p>
<p>If you have a B/B+ male student with pretty good test scores who is willing to consider small colleges with a gender imbalance problem, this is a great strategy to try.</p>