Outstanding Seniors: Where Have All the Young Men Gone?

The gender gap reversal in higher education, first noted in the early 1980s, has evolved into an educational policy issue due to its persistence. We explore the gender gap among outstanding graduating seniors within a college of agriculture and life sciences. Our investigation found a predominance of female outstanding seniors in the college, including in STEM-like, male-dominated academic majors. We attribute this significant gender gap to national behavioral trends (e.g., male disadvantages in non-cognitive skills) and to organizational changes within the college.