Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS!

Girls studying

 

There is almost no doubt on who is really studying at UTSA. Women received 55 more graduate degrees than men. This figure becomes more important when we consider that across the classification there are chiefly more men than women, and yet, it is women who hold the higher graduation rates. Fifty-eight percent of all bachelor’s degrees were given to women, 57 percent of master’s and 63 percent in doctoral degrees.

More and more women are enrolling into UTSA’s graduate program. In 2011, there were 2,594 women enrolled in a graduate program, and 2,033 men.

Women closed the gender gap in UTSA’s graduate program, and have even reversed it—as for now, women outnumber men. The demographics; however, show that the gender gap is still greatly skewed depending on what college is presenting the data.

The college of engineering maintains the higher male to female ratio with 85 percent of its students being male. In the college of education and human development, the gender gap sways to the female majority at 72 percent and in the college of business, males hold a vast lead at 62 percent enrollment.

“I don’t mind. I get along with men more than women,” senior mechanical engineering student Wendy Harris said about the gender gap in the college of engineering. “It did not affect my education experience at all.” Other colleges that hold a female majority are the college of liberal and fine arts at 58 percent and the college of public policy at 52 percent.

Female students had different views depending on what major they were.

UTSA’s doctoral students are actually 58 percent female. This gender gap is because of the high enrollment of female students in UTSA’s College of Education and Human Development and the college of liberal and fine arts.

The college of business, which historically has had a larger percentage of males than females, is on pace with the rest of the country in growing its female student body. Although the number of women enrolled at the college of business has dropped 3 percent since 2008, women still make up 38 percent of the total College of Business student body and 34 percent of the college of business graduate program.

“It’s nice to have one area of life where the majority of students are women,” junior English major Aubrey Zimmerman said.

Another gender gap at UTSA in favor of women is the percentage of male students graduating over the number of female students graduating.

Some students feel that it is only natural that more women are awarded degrees than men. “I think that women are smarter than men, so it makes sense.” Junior business administration major Alexis Aguirre said. “Women have more endurance when it comes to a lot of things. So, maybe that correlates with a drive to finish and graduate.”

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