By Danielle Tobb ’17

Most know the common saying: dress for success. Two economic professors at the Metropolitan State University of Denver further explored the concept that appearance may be a factor that enables female students to gain higher grades during in-person sessions as opposed to online classes.

To put their theory to the test, thousands of students’ ID card pictures were rated 1-10 in terms of attractiveness by a group of diverse judges. The researchers then divided the women into three groups—average, more attractive, and less attractive. The researchers looked at the student’s ACT scores. Among students with the same score, the more attractive students did significantly better in class.

Rey Hernandez-Julian and Christina Peters, the professors in charge of the study, explained that for in-person courses, female students rated to be more attractive tended to obtain higher grades. On the other hand, female students considered less attractive got lower grades.

For in-person courses, the data showed that male students’ physical appearances tended to matter less than their female classmates’ looks. On the other hand, for online courses, both male and female students who were considered attractive did not do as well as they theoretically would during an in-person session.

A possible explanation to their findings could be due to the fact that professors reward more attractive females with higher grades, regardless of performance. Another theory is that professors harbor unconscious biases for more attractive females. Professors may spend more time and energy with more attractive women, thus enabling these women to gain higher marks on their assignments.

As suggested by the study, there are implicit biases that professors have regarding more attractive females. Success in the classroom may have something to do with how the grade-giver perceives the student, thus indicating the reason why the trend was not found in the online environment. Their findings also suggest that online courses may be a way of balancing out disparities in grades among female students.