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Drop out, switch majors, or persist? The contrasting gender gaps

Author

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  • Astorne-Figari, Carmen
  • Speer, Jamin D.

Abstract

Men and women respond differently to early-college struggles. Men are more likely than women to drop out of college, while women are more likely to switch majors. These effects offset so that there is no gender gap in the probability of graduating in one’s initial major choice. For students who begin in STEM majors, however, women are far less likely to graduate in the field, driven by the fact that they are twice as likely to switch majors. We find no evidence that women are more sensitive to poor academic performance in the switching or dropout decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Astorne-Figari, Carmen & Speer, Jamin D., 2018. "Drop out, switch majors, or persist? The contrasting gender gaps," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 82-85.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:164:y:2018:i:c:p:82-85
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2018.01.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Aina & Chiara Mussida & Gabriele Lombardi, 2023. "Are Business and Economics Alike?," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(2), pages 557-585, July.
    2. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2021. "High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Speer, Jamin D., 2023. "Bye bye Ms. American Sci: Women and the leaky STEM pipeline," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Berlingieri, Francesco & Diegmann, André & Sprietsma, Maresa, 2023. "Preferred field of study and academic performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Thomas Ahn & Peter Arcidiacono & Amy Hopson & James R. Thomas, 2019. "Equilibrium Grade Inflation with Implications for Female Interest in STEM Majors," NBER Working Papers 26556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Mcnally, Sandra, 2020. "Gender differences in tertiary education: what explains STEM participation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108232, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Fernando Saltiel, 2019. "What's Math Got to Do With It? Multidimensional Ability and the Gender Gap in STEM," 2019 Meeting Papers 1201, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Nguyen, Hieu, 2019. "How does alcohol access affect transitional adults’ healthy dietary behaviors?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 82-95.
    9. Isphording, Ingo E. & Qendrai, Pamela, 2019. "Gender Differences in Student Dropout in STEM," IZA Research Reports 87, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Jasmin Meyer & Kathrin Leuze & Susanne Strauss, 2022. "Individual Achievement, Person-Major Fit, or Social Expectations: Why Do Students Switch Majors in German Higher Education?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(2), pages 222-247, March.
    11. Chiara Cavaglia & Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, 2020. "Gender, achievement, and subject choice in English education," CVER Research Papers 032, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    12. Granato, Silvia, 2023. "Early Influences and the choice of college major: Can policies reduce the gender gap in scientific curricula (STEM)?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 494-521.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender gaps; College major; STEM majors; Persistence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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