Do Colleges Discriminate Against Women in Admissions?

Last month, the US Commission on Civil Rights announced that it is conducting an investigation of DC area colleges to determine whether admissions offices are discriminating against women in admissions. Nineteen colleges and universities representing a range of four-year institutions have been selected for review including:

• Historically black: Howard University, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Virginia Union University
• Religious: Catholic University, Loyola of Maryland, and Messiah College
• Highly selective private institutions: Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and Gettysburg College
• Very selective private institution: University of Richmond
• Moderately selective private institutions: Goucher College, Goldey-Beacom College, Washington College, and York College of Pennsylvania
• Moderately selective public institutions: Shepherd University, Sippensburg University of Pennsylvania, University of Delaware, and University of Maryland Baltimore County

It’s no secret that women dominate college enrollment and currently represent 57 percent of all undergraduate students. By 2018, the total number of women on US campuses is projected to rise to 59 percent. They graduate from high school in higher numbers, are more likely to take college entrance tests such as the SAT, go on to college in higher numbers, and are more likely to complete their undergraduate education. Last year, 58 percent of all bachelors’ degrees were awarded to women.

The question the Civil Rights Commission hopes to resolve is whether colleges are attempting to fix undergraduate gender imbalances by discriminating against female applicants. In other words, are highly qualified women being unfairly rejected in favor of less qualified men to keep campuses closer to a 50/50 gender split?

The Commission might start by simply comparing rates of admission for men and women at each of the colleges being investigated. The following chart was generated using the most recent Common Data Set information found on a sample of area college websites:

Institution	Enrolled		Applied		Admitted		% Admitted
	M	W	M	W	M	W	M	W
UVA	1406	1846	8380	9983	3014	3721	36	37
William & Mary	605	871	4309	7327	1859	2107	43	29
Mary Washington	295	553	1539	3061	1111	2147	72	70
U of Richmond	325	413	3343	4627	1074	1451	32	31
Christopher Newport	494	719	2966	4351	1665	2757	56	63
VCU	1520	2174	7093	10,396	4170	6023	59	58
Virginia Tech	3005	2451	11,863	8752	7503	5982	63	68
George Mason	1156	1341	6042	6901	3616	4499	60	65
Washington & Lee	230	224	2963	3423	554	520	19	15
Lynchburg	274	327	1712	2536	1207	1727	71	68
American	604	969	6003	9410	2982	5175	50	55
Catholic	426	475	2352	2828	1857	2342	79	83
GW	1041	1408	8265	11,165	3258	4003	39	36
Georgetown	1571		18,696		3514		Unavailable
Howard	Data not made available
Johns Hopkins	624	582	7562	7286	1893	1710	25	24
Goucher	122	277	1198	2365	678	1683	57	71
Loyola Maryland	430	638	3105	4518	2082	3150	67	70
UMBC	907	650	2834	2986	2215	1960	78	66
Washington College	167	248	1356	2057	900	1455	66	71
UMD	4150		28,000+		Data not made available
Towson	1039	1787	5978	9721	3354	6255	56	64
St. Mary’s of MD	208	256	932	1419	532	756	57	53
St. John’s of Annapolis	Data not made available
U of Delaware	1412	1985	9213	13,278	5140	7446	56	56

Note that both Georgetown and the University of Maryland have removed Common Data Set information from their websites. St. John’s of Annapolis has a long-standing policy not to participate in data collection related to the US News and World Report rankings.

A more complete analysis aimed at determining possible discrimination in admissions would involve a review of data over time as well as comparisons of credentials, proposed majors, and financial aid awarded. Presumably this information is what is being subpoenaed by the Civil Rights Commission. For now, it’s interesting to compare how different colleges and universities dealt with gender imbalances within their applicant pools during the most recent year for which data is available. It was clearly more difficult to be admitted as a woman to the College of William and Mary than at American or Catholic, based on simple admissions percentages. Yet of the three, only Catholic University is under review for possible discrimination in its admissions practices.

All that is known about the colleges selected for investigation is that they are within 100 miles of DC and are representative of six categories of four-year institutions. "There is no suggestion that any of these schools are doing anything wrong," said Lenore Ostrowsky, the commission's acting chief of public affairs. "They just fit the profile."