There's been a lot of press lately on the gender gap in higher education. As of the most recent report by the American Council on Education, while men currently make up only about 43% of college enrollment, the gender gap is for the most part holding steady.

The following chart, published by Inside Higher Ed, shows the percentage of male undergraduates who are ages 24 or younger, according to race and ethnicity.

You'll see that most ethnicities are holding steady, neither widening nor narrowing the gender gap significantly; Latino male enrollment, however, does seem to be decreasing. The report shows that educational achievement and enrollment is lowest among Hispanic men who were born outside of the United States.

One explanation for the widening gender gap among Latinos, according to Deborah A. Santiago, VP for Policy and Research at a Latino advocacy group, is that "for many low-income Latino males, the opportunity costs of higher education seem too great, when they compare paying for college to 'earning $25 an hour in a construction job.'"

It is because of this attitude, elaborates Santiago, that work-study programs may be the only way to appeal to these Latino immigrant males.

And what about the future of gender gaps in higher education? Will the men ever catch up?

According to an article in The Chronicle, the current economic situation may actually help further narrow the gap.

Jacqueline E. King, a vice president at the American Council for Education, explains this outlook:

There has been some anecdotal evidence coming in from community colleges saying that since the recession, they've seen enrollment of non-traditional-aged men expanding pretty rapidly. They've been laid off or they're worried about being laid off, so the job market is pushing them to upgrade.

That's not to say that the number of male applicants below 25-years-old will also go up, but it is a start.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

• Round 3 MBA Special: Save $100 on all orders over $1,000 placed by February 22, 2010. Can be used for MBA essay editing, waitlist letters, and mock interviews. Use coupon code R3100.

• In the State of the Union address, President Obama urged colleges to “get serious about cutting their own costs.” To assist in the goal of making higher education more affordable to the greatest number of students, Obama plans to increase federal support for education by 6% in 2011. Obama also supports the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act which, if passed by Congress, would eliminate bank-based federal student loans. This bill, according to the presdient, “will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans.”A more lenient payback plan is also being discussed. (The Chronicle)

• According to The Chronicle last week college endowments have declined by about 23% in the last two years. In fact, the investment return for 2009 was the worst return recorded in the history of the endowment study, at -18.7%. According to John D. Walda, president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, however, “the picture for endowments is a lot cheerier than it was a year ago.” Optimism for the future, though, doesn’t help the fact that certain schools that had been dependent on endowments are now in pretty bad shape, especially considering the sizable loans they’re now forced to take out. The only reason why these schools didn’t go under was because of fortunate investment returns from previous years.

• The Moscow Times reports that “Russia’s business education market was among the world’s worst hit in 2009.” In some cases, admissions fell about 50% from last year. Some schools are even dipping into their own funds to create lending programs for students in order to maintain adequate student enrollment. Besides the fact that students (or their sponsoring companies) can no longer afford to pay for business schools, students in general seem to have lost interest in pursuing an MBA, at least for the time being. However, despite the decrease in MBA program enrollment, interest in EMBA programs in Russia is on the rise.

• Women are equally represented in medical and law schools, but still lag well behind in numbers in the b-school sphere. “Business Schools Sweeten Lures for Women,” a recent article from WeNews, suggests that in order to increase female enrollment in America’s business schools, MBA programs are forced to lure women in by their sweet teeth, both figuratively and literally. Recruitment events for female MBA prospects are popping up all over the country, including a private party at New York City’s Dylan’s Candy Bar.

• Do students benefit from being in a diverse educational climate? Is affirmative action, or "race-conscious admissions," justified? Will diversity improve education? These are questions raised by Peter Schmidt, author of a recent Chronicle article on campus diversity. The answer: It depends (of course). If situations are handled optimally then educational benefits will increase and the inherent problems of affirmative action will decrease. Most agree that affirmative action is not a policy that can be accepted on its own, but most be implemented along with other educational and diversity initiatives and even at that, with caution. Still, many universities are skeptical of the educational benefits derived from race-conscious admissions and believe that accepting more qualified students will benefit the students and the school, both long- and short-term, more than were they to focus on boosting classroom diversity.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

While most universities only require verification on test scores and grades and will rely on the applicant's integrity for the rest of the details, reports MercuryNews, the University of California system will further investigate applicant assertions.

So if you didn't really donate your last paycheck to save the whales, then don't say you did. And if you aren't really descended from a Sioux Indian chief, then don't say you are. And finally, if you don't really dance for the Rockettes, then don't say you do.

In short, be honest. The UC "application police" won't just be checking for plagiarism in your essays, but for falsifications (read: FIBS or even, yes, EXAGGERATIONS).

In fact, last month alone UC sent 1,000 letters to applicants requesting that they provide proof for claims in their application essays, personal statements, or other application fields. The admissions offices at UC schools are now being flooded with photos, certificates, trophies, receipts, and other memorabilia that will prove a student's accomplishments.

UC chooses students at random to receive letters requesting proof. The UC administration believes the fear factor associated with the possibility of being chosen will inspire an applicant to stick as close to the truth as possible. Just like the potential IRS audit for the applicant’s parents.

UC has been utilizing this sleuth-style admissions strategy since 2003.

Related Resources:

• Ten Do's and Don'ts for Your College Admissions Essay, a free article.
• 5 Fatal Flaws, a free, 5-day email course.
• Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays, a book.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Whenever a major ranking report is released (like last month's Financial Times rankings), the world starts to go crazy about rankings: Are rankings valuable? Are they accurate? How can prospective students benefit from rankings? How do you read rankings? And lastly, the topic of a recent Chronicle article, how will global rankings affect global education?

The Chronicle article discusses the European Union's initiative to create a comprehensive global university ranking system. The project promises a "superior product" that will significantly influence the internationalization of higher education.

The EU's new rankings have a budget of $1.6 million. It will be run by a German-Dutch-Belgian-French consortium whose mission is to develop a ranking system "that goes beyond the research performance of universities, to include elements such as teaching quality and community outreach."

The consortium will develop university profiles based on the following six categories: teaching and learning, student body, international orientation, research, disseminating research, and regional engagement.

Why are universities so inclined to "measure up" on an international scale? A few factors have led to this increased pressure:

• Worldwide enrollment jumped more than 50% last decade.
• An increase in university expansion to and partnership with foreign universities.

As universities and prospective students become more and more hyped about global rankings, those rankings will hold more and more weight, and attract increasing criticism.

"[The rankers] all understand they're very vulnerable to criticism," says Thomas D. Parker of the Institute for Higher Education Policy. "All of them are aware that they started out with pretty simple tools, and that if they're going to satisfy anybody, they need to get a bit smarter."

Most of the skepticism on the forthcoming EU rankings rests on the rankings' perceived vagueness. For example, Frans van Vugt, one of the leaders of the new project, describes the "resulting classification of each institution to a sunburst, with each category contributing a ray." I guess we'll have to see it to know what he's talking about.

Potential areas of weakness in the EU’s rankings include:

• Peer review, one of the EU ranking’s criteria, is subject to abuse and is highly criticized. Will peer attitudes be biased or will they accurately reflect what test scores and more measurable criteria can't assess?
• Research, a key criterion in other major rankings, may move decidedly off the radar. The EU rankings will steer focus away from "research intensity and toward a handful of other indicators."

In all fairness, the EU rankings are still in the early stages of development. A test run is scheduled for 2011. We'll reserve judgment until then.

Related Resources:

• How to use the MBA Rankings: Admissions Chat with Dean Paul Danos

• The Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report

• Study Casts Doubt on Rankings



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

While top Ivy universities Columbia and Harvard saw a 4% and a 5% rise in applications (respectively) this past year, other universities in this category saw a higher than 15% jump in the number of applicants applying to their undergraduate programs. University of Pennsylvania experienced a 17% increase, Brown came in at 20%, and Princeton University at 19%. University of Chicago (a top university outside the Ivy League) saw a whopping 42% increase. Yale University, in contrast, experienced a 1% decrease.

According to The Daily Pennsylvanian there are a few possible explanations for these significant application increases across the board (almost) at these top universities. Here are few suggestions:

1. Certain schools (like Penn) have broadened their advertisements, including a feature in a New York Times blog by Eric Furda, Penn Dean of Admissions.
2. Applicants are applying to more places in order to keep their options open when it comes to receiving and then comparing financial aid offers.
3. For Harvard, the elimination of the early decision option and the opening of the new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have led to an increase in the applicant pool. Harvard has also implemented other financial aid initiatives, says Jeff Neal, Harvard spokesman.
4. University of Chicago’s huge application increases are attributed to the school’s switch to allow the Common Application.

Yale Universities 1% decrease, according to Sally Rubenstone, a Senior Advisor at College Confidential, may be due to the murder of Ph.D. student Annie Le or to Yale’s “hyper-selective and seemingly unpredictable admission decisions.”

Additional Resources:

• Sample College Application Essays.
• 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your College Application Essay, a free ecourse.
• Perfect Phrases for College Application Essay, a book by Accepted's Sheila Bender.
  

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best