Diversity in Education
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Persistence of Women and Minorities in STEM Field Majors: Is it the School that Matters?

  1. Although descriptive statistics show that a smaller percentage of women and minorities persist in a STEM field major as compared to male and non-minority students, regression analysis shows that differences in preparation and the educational experiences of these students explains much of the differences in persistence rates.
  2. Students at selective institutions with a large graduate to undergraduate student ratio and that devote a significant amount of spending to research have lower rates of persistence in STEM fields.
  3. A higher percentage of female and minority STEM field graduate students positively impacts on the persistence of female and minority students.
  4. There is little evidence that having a larger percentage of STEM field faculty members that are female increases the likelihood of persistence for women in STEM major.
  5. The racial composition of the students in the department seems to have no significant effect on the persistence decisions of minority students.
  6. Students in all four groups are more likely to remain in a STEM field major as the ratio of their grades earned in STEM courses to grades earned in non-STEM courses increases.
  7. All four groups are more likely to remain in a STEM field major at institutions with more undergraduate relative to graduate students, as well as at institutions with no graduate programs at all.
  8. After controlling for background characteristics, female non-minority and all minority students are less likely to switch into STEM than male or minority students, respectively, in the NLSF sample, and all female students in the NELS:88 sample are less likely to switch.
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