The Gender Factor in College Admissions

For 35 years, women have outnumbered men in American colleges.

Federal data show that female students became the majority in 1979 and for the past decade have accounted for about 57 percent of enrollment at degree-granting institutions. Thisgender gap holds true for many kinds of students at many kinds of schools, from part-timers in community college to full-timers in private, nonprofit colleges.