Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech receives more applications from men than women, bucking a strong national trend.

Although some claim discrimination against women in the world of higher education, that’s not the case at Tech, according to Amy Widner, spokesperson for undergraduate admissions.

On Nov. 17, the Washington Post article, “Do college admissions officers discriminate against girls?” suggested that in a delayed reaction to larger amounts of females applying to college after Title IX, admissions offices are now discriminating against females in order to balance out the male-female ratio.

Not true, Widner said.

“There is no discrimination here,” she said.

The Post based its assessment on a comparison of the Common Data Set since 2006 from Harvard University, the University of Virginia and The College of William & Mary.

It used this data to show
an apparent discrepancy between the admissions policies at Harvard and UVa as opposed to those at William & Mary.

At Harvard, a consistent proportion of females and males applied and were accepted between 2008 and 2006. About 9 percent of applicants of both genders were accepted all three years.

At UVa, about 1,000 more females than males consistently applied between the 2006-2007 school year and the 2008-2009 school year. About 35 percent of both genders were accepted all three years.

Tech’s numbers provided in the CDS do not imply gender favoritism being practiced in undergraduate admissions.

In fact, over the last seven school years, Tech has become more selective for both genders. While 66 percent of men who applied and 71 percent of women who applied in 2002 were admitted, only 63 percent of men and 68 percent of women who applied in 2008 were admitted.

Since 2002, Tech’s numbers also show a slight increase in the proportion of women in incoming classes. Only 43 percent of the 2002 incoming freshman class was female; in 2008, that number rose to 45 percent.

Widner said Tech traditionally has fewer females than males in its incoming classes although she wasn’t sure what factors contribute to the discrepancy. Unlike all schools studied by the Post, Tech draws more applications from men than women.

“We are in the minority,” she said of colleges that still have a general majority of men over women.

At William & Mary, about 3,000 more females applied than males consistently since 2006. However, about 43 percent of males who had applied were accepted, whereas only about 28 percent of the females who had applied were accepted.

William & Mary is currently one of several schools being investigated by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for unfairly favoring males during the admissions process, according to the article.

Widner attributed Tech’s gender gap to the strong draw of science, technology and engineering to males. She said that the university is involved in programs designed to recruit “underrepresented students,” including females, to areas of study that show notable lack of women and minorities.

“We don’t have quotas,” Widner said. “In our areas with underrepresented groups, we do seek more applicants.”

However, in general, women are not classified in those underrepresented groups, which usually are understood to constitute low-income or ethnic minority students.

Consistently, about 40 percent of all students of both genders who are admitted end up enrolling.

“We’re about 50-50 here,” Widner said, “which is a pretty darn decent ratio.”