Where Have All The College Guys Gone?

October 23, 2009 3:00 pm     Posted in College, Reality  Hillary - Columbia g+ page

all girls graduate

Dude, where are all the dudes?!

Here’s some food for thought: for every 100 women at American colleges, there are only 77 men. And for every 100 women who graduate from American colleges, only 73 guys manage to snag their Bachelor’s degree.


By Hillary

The college gender gap isn’t a new phenomenon—women first started outnumbering men in 1982—but it is widening by a significant margin every year. I knew that there were statistically more women than men in the world of higher education (and of a much higher caliber), but I had no idea that the discrepancy was so huge. Projections show that enrollment could soon grow closer to a 60/40 ratio, making men even scarcer on campuses than they are already.

I’m really mystified by the extent of the gender gap. Where the hell are all the guys going? Haven’t they heard that college is awesome—an opportunity to open your mind and push your liver to its absolute limit, one last chance to enjoy freedom from responsibility before being unceremoniously thrust headfirst into the real world? (Can you tell I’m a senior?)  And on a more serious note, don’t they know that having a B.A. is pretty much essential if they want to get a good job?

Does the scarcity of dudes mean that a college environment is naturally more suited to girls than guys? The fact that our culture views guy-centric things like football games and wild frat parties as stereotypically “college” activities would seem to contradict this idea, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers.

Either way, one thing’s for certain—I finally have a valid excuse for why I’m single. It’s not that I’m doing something wrong; there just aren’t enough guys to go around! Comforting, right? So all the single ladies, put your hands up: statistics have officially proven that your boyfriend-deficiency isn’t your fault. And everyone knows that statistics don’t lie.

7 Comments on "Where Have All The College Guys Gone?"

  1. Johnnie says:
    Fri, 23rd Oct 200910:41 am 

    "lies, damned lies and statistics"

  2. J says:
    Fri, 23rd Oct 20091:01 pm 

    Whereas in my class the guy/girl ratio is more like 66/33… there are WAY more boys in my class. I think the class under me did a little better, but there's still a lot of testosterone here.

  3. Justin says:
    Sat, 24th Oct 20097:00 pm 

    we're all in engineering thats where we are

  4. Guy says:
    Sat, 24th Oct 20099:40 pm 

    "Where did all the college (aged) men go?"

    so far this century? Thats easy….Work or War. Next question…..

  5. Guy says:
    Sat, 24th Oct 20099:58 pm 

    I couldnt resist since I only asnwered your title question and just finished reading your article.

    "BA is pretty musch essential to getting a good job."

    Really? I have one parent who doesnt have a college degree of any sort and works a trade, is the breadwinner over the other who is about to finish they're Masters in Education. Not that it matters but guess which one is my father.

    Futhermore who do you think built the building you walk into everyday at Columbia? In fact I wager a stupid little man either got killed or seriously injured in the erection (pun intended) of each and everyone. Think about that this winter when your warm in your womens studies lecture hall.

    "I’m really mystified by the extent of the gender gap."

    Really? Becuase I am not. Men vastly outnumber women, 8 or 9 to 1 in small business ownership. Put 100 entrepreneurs in a room and 80% (atleast) will be dudes….relatively young at that. Also to touch on what has already been suggested. Men are more likely to go to college for a practical purpose. Hence why Business, Engineering, Pre Med are all full of men. The fact that Pre Law and Law School has more women shows how irrational they tend to be since the law market has been flooded for years, and is the dumbest move for the career minded. Do a study of people who arent in school to get wasted and hide from responsibilty and youd be singing a different tune….but then youd just call them nerds anyway. whatever *shrug*

    And also

  6. Engineer says:
    Sun, 25th Oct 20092:49 am 

    Happily our university has only 23% women.

    Out of 200 Mechanical Engineering freshmen this year, 8 are women.

  7. Darwin - New York Un says:
    Sun, 25th Oct 20098:13 pm 

    Go to an engineering school… Then you'll be asking where the girls are.

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