Play the College Gender Card

(MoneyWatch)  There's one college admission strategy that has never occurred to most teenagers: Students can increase their chances of getting in by playing the gender card.

Let me explain. Women represent more than 56 percent of today's college students. At many schools, it's more than 60 percent. Yet lots of colleges grow nervous when there are too many women, and their tipping point seems to be around 60 percent.

Consequently, some schools will hold their noses and admit men who aren't quite as qualified because they don't want to worsen their gender imbalance. The admission director at Kenyon College once wrote about how boys can play the gender card in an op-ed piece in The New York Times. So, parents of teen men: Look for colleges with low percentages of males on campus. Your sons may be very desirable there.

What about the women? Magnets for wannabe engineers and scientists would love to have them. Here's an example from MIT: In the 2007-'08 school year, MIT admitted 9 percent of male applicants but a striking 21 percent of female applicants.

You can find MIT's gender bias by looking at its Common Data Set, which is a document all schools produce yearly.

The best way to find this document with its gold mine of statistics for parents seeking financial aid, is to Google the name of any school and the words "Common Data Set." If you can't find the document this way, contact the school and ask for it.