More men in the UNC class of 2015

The prayers of female students unhappy with the University’s male-to-female ratio have been answered — slightly.

There are 125 more male students enrolled at UNC this year than in 2010, while the number of female students fell by 45 since last year.

The minor shift, prompted by a change in the yield of out-of-state students who chose to enroll, gives the class of 2015 the highest percentage of men of all classes from the past 31 years.

For fall 2011, 33.3 percent of out-of-state men who were offered admission enrolled at the University, compared to only the 29 percent of out-of-state women. Usually, more out-of-state women than men accept admission, said Stephen Farmer, vice provost and director of undergraduate admissions.

But the overall ratio of female to male students remains roughly 60:40.

“There was no conscious effort involved,” Farmer said, adding that the application pool almost exactly mirrors the enrolled class.

“It’s 60:40 in applications, 60:40 in admitted students, 60:40 in enrolled students.”

The 60:40 trend has applied for the past 25 years, said Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean for undergraduate education.

The higher percentage of females is not unique to UNC.

“This is happening nationwide,” Owen said. “Men only dominate women in schools of engineering.”

This trend reflects women’s higher performance in high school and in earning college degrees.

Owen said she doesn’t think the female presence on campus affects academics or campus life.

But Philip Cohen, assistant chairman of the sociology department, said it would be hard for the uneven ratio not to affect campus social life.

“I imagine it skews the dating and marriage market quite a bit,” Cohen said.

He added that more females on campuses does not necessarily mean women are getting ahead.

“I wouldn’t say they’re getting ahead in all fields, but women are doing better than men in getting some sort of college degree,” Cohen said.

The admissions office reviews applications in a way that keeps the sex of the applicant from being considered, pursuant to federal law, Owen said.

Farmer said more women have enrolled at the University in the past 25 years simply because of their qualifications.

“We can’t balance things,” Farmer said. “We’ve never tried. We’ve been pretty happy with the quality of our students we’ve accepted.”

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