{
  "id": 5626409,
  "title": "Students with lower grades earn degrees more often when they belong to an academic major's majority group",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/students-with-lower-grades-earn-degrees-more-often-when-they-belong",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-04T19:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-students-grades-degrees-academic-major.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study published in Nature Human Behaviour reveals that students with lower pre-college grades and test scores are more likely to earn degrees in majors dominated by a different demographic group than their own. Specifically, straight cisgender men with lower academic performance are overrepresented in male-dominated fields such as engineering, computer science, and business. This trend is less pronounced among students with higher academic achievement, with gaps narrowing among the top performers. Conversely, LGBTQ+ individuals tend to be underrepresented in fields that are majority male. The study, which analyzed two large, nationally representative datasets collected by the U.S. Department of Education, found that these disparities tend to be more pronounced among students with lower academic performance. The researchers suggest that this may be due to social norms and institutional environments that subtly favor the majority demographic in these fields. They caution that while the study is correlational and cannot establish causation, it highlights a missed opportunity if talented students are leaving or never entering fields where they could excel and contribute based on factors unrelated to their preparation or interest.",
  "summary": "Despite efforts to encourage broader participation, women earn about 25% of undergraduate engineering degrees and 18% of undergraduate computer science degrees—and men remain a small minority among people earning nursing and education degrees.",
  "key_points": [
    "Lower-achieving students more likely to succeed in majority-group academic majors",
    "Study finds gender gaps in STEM fields, LGBTQ+ underrepresented in male-dominated fields",
    "Disparities more pronounced among lower-performing students"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}