College admissions bias reflects cultural stereotypes

Researchers recently released the results of two separate studies on discrimination against women based their weight. The first study by Burmeister and colleagues was recently published in the journal Obesity. They examined the correlation between a person's BMI (body mass index) and admission to graduate school after attending an in person interview. Researchers found that applicants with a higher BMI received fewer post-interview offers of admission into graduate programs. Additionally, they found that this discrimination affected women more than men.

A second study conducted study by Swami & Monk and published in The Journal of General Psychology evaluated the community's perception of obese college candidates. When presented with obese versus non-obese candidates, participants were asked which applicants they would accept if given the opportunity to choose. Participants chose 6% of overweight candidates and 60% of underweight candidates.

In 1997 sociologist Robert Crosnoe analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health that tracked nearly 11,000 American adolescents. The study showed that social norms surrounding weight affected the educational attainment of girls while the likelihood of obese boys to attend college did not differ from non-obese male peers. More shockingly, researchers found that obese girls were half as likely to attend college as non-obese girls. Furthermore, the likelihood that an obese girl would attend college dropped for girls who attended a high school where obesity was uncommon among the student population.

This recent research regarding society's perception of women and judgement of them based on appearance should come as no surprise. In 1966 researchers Canning and Mayer studied the effect of "weight problems" among female applicants on their admission to highly selective colleges in the Northeast. They found no difference in the number of obese and non-obese female college applicants to prestigious colleges, but their findings revealed a bias among admissions committees. They reported that a “marked discrimination is exercised by teachers and college interviewers against obese adolescents.” In other words, while obese girls were just as likely as non-obese girls to apply to elite colleges, obese girls experienced a lower rate of admission than their non-obese peers.

In comparison to the 1966 study, recent research shows that the phenomenon of bias against girls who do not meet the societal standards of attractiveness has worsened in the ensuing decades. At least the female teens in the 1960s were willing to apply to elite colleges in equal numbers, regardless of weight or appearance. The research implies that presently obese young women choose not to compete in the race for admission to college. Rather than deal with the rejection of colleges, girls today do not put themselves in a position wherein they must contend with rejection. That is, young women who have gone through adolescence experiencing the judgement of others based on their weight lack self-esteem to apply to college while women of previous generations applied regardless of their appearance. This suggests that society's message to young women has intensified.

We live in a culture that places a disproportionate value on a woman's appearance. This sad, yet true and very relevant reality dominates our society on every level. Our institutions of higher learning do not offer an exception to the bias against overweight or unattractive women. After all, some colleges ask applicants to attach a photo with their application for a reason. The new photo identification requirement for standardized testing enables the CollegeBoard to offer colleges the opportunity to access their national photo database of students. Though most college officials would surely deny participating in such a practice, they nevertheless have the option to choose to evaluate a student's appearance along with her scores.

Feminists and sociologists have studied society's preoccupation with female attractiveness for decades. While the dominant stereotypes have not changed as a result of this research, it seems that people would have a more heightened awareness about the perception of women in our society and the treatment of them as a result of their appearance. The stigma against women who do not fit the typical mold for our cultural standards of female beauty pervades every facet of our culture.  While researchers and others who attempt to reveal these stereotypes have so far failed in their efforts unravel the dominant power structure that constructs societal norms, their efforts should at the very least provide us with the tools to recognize the existence of this bias in an effort to overcome it - at least on an individual level. Thus, while I do not blindly accept or agree with the objectification of women, I am steadfast in my effort as a woman to remain cognizant of its existence and use it to my advantage whenever possible.

Adolescent girls embark on a new chapter of their lives when they participate in the college admissions process. Unfortunately, the process may force them to realize the unfairness embedded in judgements of others, but they should use it as a life lesson and accept the inevitability of lifelong battle against it. My mother always said, "life isn't fair and don't expect it to be." The strength of women arises not from allowing other to break their will, but from their bold determination to realize their goals, no matter what the odds. I much prefer to battle an enemy that reveals itself in the light of day over that which lurks in dark shadows; bias in college admissions has not hidden from our sight. Rather, we have simply chosen to ignore it.