College Major Choice and the Gender Gap

Abstract

Males and females make different choices with regard to college majors. Two main reasons have been suggested for this gender gap: differences in innate abilities and differences in preferences. This paper studies the question of how college majors are chosen, focusing on explaining the underlying gender gap. Since observed choices may be consistent with many combinations of expectations and preferences, I collect a unique dataset of Northwestern University sophomores that contains the students ' subjective ex-pectations about choice-specic outcomes. I estimate a choice model where college major choice is made under uncertainty (about personal tastes, individual abilities, and realizations of outcomes related to the choice of major). Enjoying coursework, enjoying work at potential jobs, and gaining the approval of par-ents are the most important determinants in the choice of college major. Males and females have similar preferences while in college, but differ in their preferences in the workplace: Females care more about the non-pecuniary outcomes in the workplace, while males value the pecuniary outcomes in the work-place more. I decompose the gender gap into differences in beliefs and preferences. Gender differences in beliefs about academic ability explain a small and insignicant part of the gap; this allows me to rule out females being low in self-condence as a possible explanation for their under-representation in the sciences. Conversely, most of the gender gap is due to differences in beliefs about enjoying coursework and differences in preferences.

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