“…For example, women attending women's colleges are 1.5 times more likely to earn baccalaureate degrees in the life and physical sciences or math than women at coeducational institutions (Sebrechts, 1992;Sharpe & Fuller, 1995). Compared with their counterparts at coeducational colleges and universities, women attending women's colleges exhibit greater gains in such cognitive areas as academic and intellectual development (Astin, 1993;Baxter Magolda, 1992); academic involvement (National Survey of Student Engagement [NSSE], 2003;Smith, 1990;Smith, Wolf, & Morrison, 1995); intellectual self-confidence (Kim, 2002); and self-perceived academic ability (Kim & Alvarez, 1995). The less paternalistic culture and rituals characteristic of women's colleges provide students more support to assume leadership, reward collective achievements, and move beyond traditional gender roles (Manning, 1994(Manning, , 2000.…”