Students in Higher Education, Comparing Women and Men

I don't think I have anything particularly insightful to add to this topic, but I wanted to point out a couple of recent articles that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education:

For Women on Campuses, Access Doesn't Equal Success by MaryAnn Baenninger
http://chronicle.com/article/For-Women-on-Campuses-Access/129242/

Saving the 'Lost Boys' of Higher Education by Robert B. Smith
http://chronicle.com/article/Saving-the-Lost-Boys-of/129243/

Some general trends (she does stress that, of course, individuals from groups can have more differences between each other than the general differences between groups) that Baenninger notes:

"Women underestimate their abilities and express lower levels of self-confidence than their abilities suggest. Men overestimate their abilities and express higher levels of confidence than their abilities warrant. This difference arrives with them as first-year students and leaves with them as seniors...both of those profiles have some good attributes and some bad attributes, and there is an optimal level of self-confidence to ensure the best results. Underestimating one's abilities probably results in more time in academic preparation and a more team-oriented approach to problem solving. Higher levels of self-confidence probably support innovative practices and may help one nail a job interview."

"Men in college spend significantly more time in leisure activities (especially, for example, video-game play and athletic pursuits) than do women. College women are hyper-scheduled participants in co-curricular activities."

Smith brings up some statistics in his article, concerned with gender disparities in enrollment:

"In April 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau released data showing that, for the first time, women have sailed past men in obtaining both bachelor's degrees and advanced college degrees. "

"Nationally, the female-to-male ratio in higher education is roughly 60 to 40 percent."

Now that we are mid-semester, have you noticed anything that conflicts or confirms what either of these two articles discuss? What have your classroom experiences taught you?