It’s Friday the 13^th, and even though I’m not particularly superstitious—I’ve stepped on many a crack in my day, and my mother’s back is still working just fine—I do feel a little uneasy. That’s mostly because, as my main man Tim Gunn might say, I’m concerned about a lot of things right now. Senior year just isn’t as stress-free as I thought it would be. I’ve got stupid group projects, the college gender gap, and the Gosselin-Johnston unholy d-bag alliance to worry about.

And that’s not all—we’re living in a world where wearing a miniskirt to class can get you expelled, for Pete’s sake. It’s enough to make you want to abandon college altogether. Here are some of the other things that have been worrying CC writers this week:

-       Gossip Girl’s ill-advised threesome. Was anyone else hoping that the ménage would turn out to be between Chuck, Blair, and a clone of Chuck?

-       What exactly is Google Wave, and does it mean that the robot revolution is coming sooner than we thought?

-       How long it’ll take to get off the waitlist at Rent the Runway, a website that promises to make all your fantasies come true. Read More »

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.

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. Read More »