Hard to Fathom Male and Female Graduation Rates

I went looking for certain education statistics the other day but found more interesting data along the way.

It has come to be commonly understood that American girls are doing better than America boys in virtually every education (and noneducation) category, with the same holding true for young women compared to young men.  This is particularly the case regarding college graduation rates.  But until one sees most recently available numbers, I’m guessing most people don’t come close to grasping the size these gaps.

The following estimated data, for the 2016-17 academic year, are from the National Center for Education Statistics and can be found at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_258.asp

Associate’s Degrees

  • Men: 273,000
  • Women: 489,000

Bachelors Degrees

  • Men 707,000
  • Women 1,057,000

Master’s Degrees

  • Men 287,000
  • Women 487,000

First-Professional Degrees

  • Men 48,700
  • Women 55,800

Doctor’s Degrees

  • Men 29,800
  • Women 37,100

I’ll elaborate later about what this all means, or at least I’ll try.  But for now, just let these hard to fathom numbers sink in.