What SAT Scores Reveal and the Demise of Marriageable Males
Girls, young women, there are too many of you on America’s college campuses. That is in comparison with your male counterparts. The college world has been waiting patiently for the scales to rebalance themselves, but male enrollment remains lackluster, so intervenes humankind.
Male Affirmative Action
Our report, The White Man’s Guide to Getting a Minority Scholarship, examines the possibilities for a white male qualifying for minority scholarships. It is a controversial topic, at best, and not one we take lightly.
But, what exactly has happened to the populations of males, many white, on college campuses, that continues to inspire the marginally offensive concept?
SAT Scores: Education’s Favorite Metric
Back in the mid-90s legal action against College Board and Educational Testing Service served to correct what educational experts had alleged for years “that the PSAT, the test that makes high school students eligible for National Merit Scholarships” was designed to appeal more to males than to females. The corrected test was designed with a writing component, which seemed to offer an equitable correction.
It’s been understood for decades that females perform better in the classroom than males, but on tests the opposite was true. In 1995, based on university research, the following SAT truths were proven:
“The SAT falls far short of its sole advertised claim — the accurate prediction of first year college grades — by consistently underestimating the academic performance of females.”
So college admissions systems based on test scores of course tended to favor males.
Why the Shortage of Males on Campus, though?
Current research suggests that because girls “from all backgrounds” adapt more readily to classroom environments many are quite prepared for college when it rolls around. Secondary school systems lag alarmingly behind in proper college preparation. But if females can keep up, it may just be a symptom of Education’s bigger ill that a larger percentage of males than in the past are not making it to college, a problem that is complicated even more because it apparently cuts across all other demographics.
Does the SAT continue to influence college demographics? Here’s a basic comparison test. Consider:
- Males tend to score higher on the math portion of the SAT.
- Females tend to score higher on the reading portion of the SAT.
- Given an average math SAT score and an average reading SAT score from a college campus, how closely do the scores reflect the gender demographics of the campus?
Armed with statistics on average math and reading SAT scores from almost any college campus in the U.S., I chose a few colleges with scores significantly higher in both categories and a few with scores relatively even. My questions: in cases where math scores far outpace reading scores will I find a larger population of males on campus, and when the scores in reading are significantly higher will I find more females? At the same time, when SAT averages for both categories are somewhat even will the gender demographics be also fairly split?
A couple of obvious choices:
- Sweet Briar College (women’s college); math: 548, reading: 586
- Hampden-Sydney College (men’s college); math: 573, reading: 571
- Bowdoin College; math: 690, reading: 690; 577 males, 655 females.
- Carnegie Mellon University; math: 718, reading: 657; 60% male, 40% female (CMU admits more women to try and balance its heavy engineering and comp sci degree programs)
- College of the Atlantic; math: 586, reading: 624; 55 males, 133 females (very small college enrollment)
- Evergreen State College; math: 539, reading: 587; 25% males, 75% females.
- Lafayette College; math: 665, reading: 620– 1,095 males, 1,051 females
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology; math: 755, reading: 712; 44% females (undergrad)
- Ohio Wesleyan University; math: 605, reading: 606– 1,111 males, 1,076 females.
- Reed College; math: 661, reading: 698– 55% female and a strong Humanities curriculum.
Drive for Balanced Campuses: Better Social Life and the Fear of a Diminishing Educated (Nubile) Male Population
For the most part the above SAT scores are indicative of the demographics, but a more telling statistic may be the comparison between the numbers of male and female applicants at any one institution versus those actually chosen for admission. This is likely where major turns of the screw occur. While the debate seems focused on ‘gender parity’, a much murkier, and at times sophomoric, rationale is at work: for example, the unspoken fear that the decreasing population of male students will translate into a less educated, less marriageable male population for their well-educated female counterparts.
- At MIT females face a much easier time of admission over 7,000 males apply annually, compared with over 2,000 females, but the ratio of those actually admitted is 758 males : 736 females.
- At Lafayette College, the formerly male student body has emphasized female enrollment and now is close to gender parity. Nearly 800 more male applicants than female are considered annually, but enrollment is almost balanced.
- The College of William and Mary is one that has made headlines in the last few years for its high rejection rate for women. Men have a much easier time with admissions: over 2,000 more applications from females are received annually, in comparison to males, but the ratio of students admitted is 1,596 male : 1,696 female.
The William and Mary syndrome has become the way of admissions at many smaller, private schools.
Why is it that we always want to fix things?
Some conservative pundits think that favoritism in college admissions is perfectly fine “we just must be upfront about it.” I’m a bigot & that’s okay, because I’m being honest about it. The Admitting-it-Makes-it-Okay Theory. Hmmmm.
Do we really have that much of a problem just enrolling students based on the merit of their applications and interests? What are the roadblocks to unbiased college admissions? What trips us up and makes us favor one type of student over another? And what, pray tell, keeps some admissions officers up at night fearful of a less than worthy male (viable mate) population?
I wonder when the education ecosystem, unnaturally manipulated, might begin to exhibit signs of a new kind of stress.
