The male–female gap in post-baccalaureate school quality

Women are less likely than men to earn degrees from high quality post-baccalaureate programs, and this tendency has been growing over time. I show that, aside from the biomedical sciences, this cannot be explained by changes in the type of program where women tend to earn degrees. Instead, sorting by quality within degree program is the main contributor to the growing gap. Most of this sorting is due to the initial choice in which program type to apply to. No gender differences in selection with respect to ability or program quality arise as students progress through the admissions, enrollment or persistence choices. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Portions of this research were written while I wassupported by a t from the American Educational Research Association which ives funds for its ‘‘AERA Grants Program’’ from the National Science dation and the National Center for Education Statistics of the itute of Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education) under NSF t #DRL-0634035. Opinions reflect those of the author and do not ssarily reflect those of granting agencies. Tel.: þ1 734 615 8156. E-mail address: [email protected]. 1 Berelson (1960) presents a detailed history of the early days of formal graduate education.