The college decision is one of the most critical decisions that most young Americans make. Institutional reputation, internships, jobs, scholarships, and the party atmosphere all factor into that decision, though not necessarily in that order. The male-female ratio at schools could provide extra incentive for the hot-blooded teenagers; for those past those baser obsessions, a look at the dynamics of the male-female ratio could provide food for thought.
The male-female ratio in higher education has been steadily moved in favor of the females ever since the 1970s. Total enrollment figures show that females outnumbered their male counterparts for the first time in the late 1970s, and they have steadily increased their numerical advantage ever since. The superiority first came in public universities, but soon private universities saw female enrollment surpass male enrollment.
However, these numbers are the consolidation of all states’ fall enrollments. What provides an interesting topic of study is a state-by-state examination of their male-female ratios in degree-granting institutions. (All of the higher education data for this blog post came from the Digest of Education Statistics: 2010, and are based on 2008 total enrollment figures. All population data comes from the US Census Bureau.)
On a national scale, public universities had the most even division between male and female students, with a male-female ratio of 43.6–56.4. While that difference is substantial, it still