My daughter is applying as a math major, she chose a few LAC’s- Sarah Lawrence, Barnard, and Bryn Mawr among them. We shall see how it goes.
Are top LACs doing enough to attract the best & brightest FEMALE math and physical science students?
BTW here are some comparisons; Fraction of female math majors awarded 2014-2015. Total # in parentheses.
Certainly doesn’t look like most of the top LACs in previous post are targeting female applicants interested in math. If anything, quite few look rather low (<30%) esp given that overall they are all >50% female.
overall is for the whole school. % on the far right is just the math majors.
Big Public Flagship Universities
34% UC Berkeley (495)
34% Univ of Utah (93)
35% Univ of Wisconsin (219) overall 51% female
36% Univ of MD (148) overall 46% female
38% Univ of Texas - Austin (252) overall 52% female
38% Univ of MN (279) overall 51% female
40% Univ of WA (327) overall 48% female
43% Univ of Michigan (270) overall 49% female
Elite Private Universities tend to have low fractions of women awarded math degrees
9% MIT (110) overall 46% female
18% Univ of Chicago (157) overall 47% female
20% Princeton (35) overall 49% female
22% Stanford (67) overall 47% female
28% Duke (72) overall 50% female
32% Harvard (171) overall 49% female
36% Dartmouth (42) overall 49% female
37% Yale (41) overall 49% female
from college factual pages. like so
http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-wisconsin-madison/academic-life/academic-majors/mathematics-and-statistics/
Neal Abraham wrote a wonderful piece some years back titled “Mentoring the Whole Life of a Physics Major.” Here is the link. http://www.aps.org/units/fed/newsletters/aug97/#abraham
There has been a lot of research on these issues since then, but Mr. Abraham’s article was spot on then (and now) for what to look for at a school.
“If anything, quite few look rather low (<30%) esp given that overall they are all >50% female.”
I think the pre-med factor is the elephant in the room at all the elite privates, with the exception of MIT. The pattern that I observed above in high school is simply carrying through to college. As for MIT, 9%–wtf!
Sarah Lawrence has very limited math offerings:
https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/undergraduate/science-mathematics/mathematics/
Looks like there are only one to three junior/senior level math courses listed. An undergraduate math major typically takes eight or more.
@ucbalumnus hmm… they do have a mathematics major though. There was a lot she liked about Sarah Lawrence, she like the interdisciplinary approach, that she could also study economics and dance, etc…
My “kicks butt in Calculus and Physics” D did not look at LAC’s precisely because they do not include the “T” and the “E”. At the moment, she is a bit undecided about a major, but she wanted the security of knowing that the school had an engineering program if she does decide to go that direction. At the same time, she didn’t want to go to a purely technical school. Her list contains a couple state flag-ship universities, a couple Ivies and some smaller private research unis. All have engineering. Well-known and selective schools such as UChicago and UNC-CH did not make the list either, precisely because of lack of an engineering program. LACs did not even get the opportunity to sell themselves, so they weren’t doing anything wrong, they just weren’t what she was looking for.
@xraymancs: Does Harvey Mudd know they are not an LAC?
From Mudd’s website: https://www.hmc.edu/about-hmc/
"About Harvey Mudd College
We’re one of the premier engineering, science and mathematics colleges in the United States.
We’re also unique because we are a liberal arts college. Aren’t engineering, science and mathematics mutually exclusive of the liberal arts? Maybe at some places, but not at Harvey Mudd."
Below is an excerpt from a link I found to send to someone a little while ago. It is searchable on Google by looking for “Defining Liberal Arts,” and maybe adding ‘Mudd’ after that, but I don’t think I’m allowed to link it here. This is not an official statement by the college, but clearly allowed to be associated with the college.
“It’s really no surprise that so many students are confused as to the definition of liberal arts, because as a quick cursory Internet search will tell you, not everyone agrees on a set definition. Long ago, the Greeks “invented” the liberal arts education, based on topics that were worthy of study if you were a free person. Somewhere along the line, the trivium (study of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics) and quadrivium (study of music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy) were formally defined as the main parts of a liberal arts education. Nowadays, chances are no matter where you get a liberal arts education, it’s not likely to include all of these subjects. Over time, it’s morphed into an approach to education, rather than just a list of seven subjects to be taught.”
Not to get off track too much from the main topic, but I’d like to add to what @Waiting2exhale said…
@xraymancs - I’ve posted this on another thread but I’ll repeat it here:
If you google liberal arts college you’ll find many definitions. Here is one of them:
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/glossaryofkeyterms/g/liberal-arts-college-definition.htm
In summary it defines it as:
Undergraduate focus, Baccalaureate degrees, Small size, Liberal arts curriculum,Faculty focus on teaching,Focus on community,Residential
By this definition, Harvey Mudd is definitely an LAC. The only thing that might make you wonder is “Liberal arts curriculum” but as it is explained: “Liberal arts colleges focus on broad skills in critical thinking and writing, not narrow preprofessional skills. Along with a focused major, liberal arts students will take a breadth of courses in fields such as religion, philosophy, literature, math, science, psychology, and sociology.)”, Mudd definitely fits the bill here too.
Anecdote of one:
My friend’s tall, pretty well dressed daughter went to the first day of computer programming at Big State U. The instructor announced while looking straight at her, " This is programming XXX. Those of you who are in the wrong room, this would be a good time to leave." She stuck it out, did well, but never took another programming class.
Regarding LAC’s: both my daughters have attended top LACs. Lots of good mentoring from women (and at one college Latina professor) and oldest is in a top PhD program. Latinas in grad school sciences are rare.
For both of them, getting good summer research and internships has been key to diversifying their experiences and getting additional mentoring.