<p>I was looking for any evident reasons why Whitman has an approximate 6/4:female to male ratio, and I found tangentially that it is actually a trend in Washington State according, at least, to the Washington (state) Student Achievement Council:
<a href=“http://www.wsac.wa.gov/sites/default/files/KF2012ChapterIV.pdf”>http://www.wsac.wa.gov/sites/default/files/KF2012ChapterIV.pdf</a> | (Page 5)</p>
<p>"More than half of college students at two- and four-year institutions are female</p>
<p>In 2010, females continued to outnumber males on Washington college campuses— although the percentage of women enrolled at community and technical colleges continued a slight decline from the previous two years. Female enrollments at most institutions have consistently outpaced male enrollments at most Washington institutions since at least 1996.</p>
<p>While females outnumber males in overall numbers on college campuses, they trail in pursuit of degrees in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In 2009-10, just 32 percent of all STEM postsecondary degree awards in Washington’s public and private institutions went to female students.1 That represented a slight downward trend from two years earlier."</p>
<p>So, it seems a balanced ratio is preferable; maybe it makes up for male overrepresentation in the past; neither a plus or a minus.</p>