Perhaps men really are from Mars.
Male students at UF are becoming increasingly alien as female enrollment grows.
Data show that the female student population at UF has outnumbered the male population over the past 10 years and has continued to rise. This fall, women will comprise 60 percent of incoming freshmen.
The increasing number is not about innate ability, but rather women's organizational abilities and tendency to set and reach goals, said Mary Ann Clark, an associate professor in the College of Education who researches male underachievement in public education.
"I don't think colleges and universities seek to admit more female students, but in general, the applicant pool of women is stronger as a group," Clark said.
"They are showing higher GPAs, more advanced course work in high school and are involved in more extracurricular and leadership activities than men as a group."
The increase in females is not restricted to UF. Female enrollment tops 60 percent in five of Florida's 11 state universities. Nationally, women comprise 57 percent of college enrollment. This trend is projected to continue through 2015, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.
In addition, flagship universities like University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill "have been 60 percent female for quite a few years," Clark said.
In the past, people assumed men would "land on their feet" and did not need help in school, Clark said.
But now that women outnumber men in college, and recent data show that women in their 20s earn more than men in the same age group in big cities, admission offices are encouraging more males to apply, she said.
The gender gap at the college level can affect marriage and family patterns as well as economic patterns, Clark said.
"Numbers in enrollment matter," said Milagros Pena, director of the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research.
Pena said that gender diversity enriches the college experience and helps students prepare for a globalized world.
"I think this is significant and welcomed, and of course we want to encourage young men to seek higher education," Pena said. "But we are also still challenged by inequities in pay and access to opportunities, even as educated women."
Pena said it is also important to see if the increase in numbers translates for women in less traditional professions like engineering.
While the majority of UF's colleges are dominated by women in terms of population, engineering is one of two colleges where women are outnumbered, Clark said. The second is business administration.
Women are entering the engineering field and taking advantage of UF's status as the top-ranked engineering program in Florida, said Andrea Eckstrom, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering.
"I didn't initially choose engineering because there are fewer women involved in the field. It was just something I had always wanted to do," Eckstrom said.
However, Eckstrom said people questioned her ability to succeed in engineering in high school and her freshman year of college.
"Not being taken seriously can be a huge motivator. I felt like I had something to prove," she said.
