Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 17:06:20 -0600
From: Sally Ryan <leata-AT-ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Women earn higher GPAs


Some excerpts from today's St. Paul Pioneer Press regarding grades at the
University of Minnesota:

"...women earn higher grade point averages than men in every college and on
every campus of the university.

The university-wide GPA last fall was 3.11 for women and 2.94 for men.

In graduate school, women earned a 3.75 compared to 3.66 for men; in law
school, women earned 3.75 compared to 3.49 for men; in the College of
Liberal Arts, women earned a 3.03 compared to 2.86 for men; and even the
Institute of Technology, where women only make up 21 percent of the
enrollment, women earned 2.97 compared to 2.92 for men."

There were many explanations offered but maybe the most interesting came
>from students themselves. "One theory may be that women earn higher grades
because the instructors are male and show favoritism to the women," said
Adam Pitt, a senior majoring in microbiology. Women are more likely to
approach an instructor and that can influence a grade."

Nicole Theis, a history major, said the findings "simply show that women
work harder."

Sally