Women-Only Colleges: Some Unanticipated Consequences

Women Students at Coeducational and Women's Colleges: How Do Their Experiences Compare?

“…Our findings showing that students at women's colleges interact more frequently with faculty suggest that faculty members at women's colleges may be more accessible and that students have more opportunities to talk with faculty members outside of class than women at coeducational institutions. This finding lends further insight into the discussions raised by Tidball (1973Tidball ( , 1980 and Kim and Alvarez (1995), regarding the advantages of the number of female faculty at women's colleges, by suggesting that it is the frequency of interactions among students and faculty members at women's colleges that makes a positive educational difference for women.…”

“…After reviewing the literature, Harwarth (1999) concluded there was a lack of diversity in the quantitative data available to fairly judge the efficacy of women's colleges and called for additional studies that used new databases. For example, many of the more prominent studies of the experiences of women at women's colleges, such as those by Astin (1977Astin ( , 1993, Smith (1990), Smith, Morrison & Wolf (1994), Smith et al (1995), and Kim & Alvarez (1995), rely on the same data sources, UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey and College Student Survey. Although these studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of women's colleges, it supports Harwarth's (1999) assertion that scholars are "examining the same database over and over and reaching the same conclusions" (p. 14).…”

“…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.…”

Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Employer Expectations

“…Many researchers identify the internship as the activity that offers the greatest impact on students' career preparation, pointing to positive outcomes including growth in academic performance (Dundes & Marx, 2006/2007, obtaining job-related skills (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005;Kim & Alvarez, 1995), making professional contacts (Bottner, 2010), and developing soft skills such as professional etiquette and communication (Walgran, 2010). Having an internship is also a factor in many companies' hiring practices; over the past years, employers report growing importance placed on hiring graduates with internship experience (Koc, 2010).…”

The Role of Living–Learning Programs in Women’s Plans to Attend Graduate School in STEM Fields

“…Although the findings of this study may appear surprising, they bear a strong resemblance to the generally inconclusive nature of research evidence addressing women's education in single-gender college environments (Astin 1993;Kim and Alvarez 1995;Kim 2002;Kinzie et al 2007;Pascarella and Terenzini 2005;Riordan 1994;Stoecker and Pascarella 1991;Tidball 1986;Tidball et al 1999;Whitt 1994).…”