If you live in WA, UW is a great option. For out-of-state, it is a challenge to gain admission, but it’s a beautiful campus that is very accepting of LGBTQ+ students. Seattle is also a very liberal and prideful city.
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It sadly does still happen. My D was just complaining to me last month about a guy on a project team for one of the senior chem E required classes. It’s a 50/50 gender ratio in her major (chem E) but there are still jerks. Thankfully it’s much better than HS and she has the confidence to be more assertive, but profs and TAs are quick to address those behaviors if they see it. IMO it is reasonable to be thinking about those issues.
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Carnegie Mellon was LGBTQ-friendly when I was a student in the 1990s. We also had mixed gender dorm floors in a time when is was extremely rare. (Edited to add: I am. It comparing being LGBTQ to a housing policy, but my feeling at the time was that the school was progressive in certain areas that included gender.)
The school was predominantly (70%) male at that time, and the engineering programs were not especially female-friendly — and often 90%+ male. The school in general and CS specifically made it a priority to reach a 50/50 split. They achieved 50% females a few years ago.
I can’t speak to how female friendly it actually is outside of the ratio, so maybe someone with recent experience can comment.
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Anything can be a factor. There’s a need to prioritize all the factors, however. For applicants, CS is the most competitive major by far at most schools. Eliminating schools based on factors that may be low on the priority list is going to handicap a student’s chances for the best CS education possible.
The biggest name in CS is Alan Turing, who’s gay. He did suffer from prejudice and even prosecution in UK in his time (early part of last century), not from his fellow students at Cambridge or colleagues he later worked with, but because of the laws and the attitude of people in the larger society. In other words, on this issue, OP should be more concerned about geographical locations than the schools themselves.
CS seems to be an area where LGBTQ is relatively well accepted. However, gender issues may still be present. Certainly they are still present in some areas of STEM (Ben Barres’ experiences indicate that, though he was in neurobiology).
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I’m surprised the Claremont Colleges haven’t been mentioned yet. Harvey Mudd has a top-notch CS program which is actually majority-female by a very slight margin (very close to 50:50). Fantastic school for your criteria if she would enjoy their rigorous core curriculum (which includes more lab sciences than a CS major would have to take at most other schools). Pomona is also very solid for CS, and students can cross-register throughout the consortium. In the past, Scripps would have been a great option too, but access to the Mudd and Pomona CS majors and courses has become more restricted than it used to be. There’s a strong LGBTQ+ community and a very affirming atmosphere throughout the consortium.
Northeastern could be a great one to look at as well. Northeastern University launches national program to boost the number of women majoring in computing - Northeastern Global News Also, RIT has been mentioned but URochester deserves a look as well.
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In reading about the type of school your D is looking for, Smith was the first school that came to mind. Smith is known for strength in STEM, and CS is one of its larger majors. Bryn Mawr would be another women’s college that I’d look into with a pretty popular CS major.
These are some links that you might find interesting:
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This site cites a Chronicle of Higher Education paper that lists the top 5 private and top 5 public colleges graduating women CS majors (and separate lists for engineering)…there were lots of surprises here (if someone can find the original Chronicle article, please share the link): The 20 colleges graduating the most women in STEM | EAB
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This site lists 50 schools for women in STEM that were selected, “based on data covering four key criteria: resources and support for female students, percentage of women in STEM majors, alumni earning potential 10 years after graduation and lack of sexual violence against women on campus.” Lots of familiar names on this one: 50 Best Colleges For Women If You Want to Excel in STEM
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This next site has a few different lists. One is schools with the highest percentage of women majoring in STEM. Another is the best schools for women in STEM based on a, “wealth of degree options, have a substantial female study body and boast plenty of support systems designed to help women become a success in the field.” The third list is made up of the most affordable colleges for women in STEM (only 2 of them had more than 30% of women in STEM…with SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry in a commanding lead at 60%). 2023 Women in STEM College and Career Guide | Study.com
It was actually disappointing seeing the percentages of women majoring in STEM by so many tech schools. Colorado School of Mines topped the list with 98%, but MIT and Georgia Tech were 56 & 59%, and Stevens, RPI, WPI, Michigan Tech, and Missouri S&T were 68-77%. When you’re at a tech school, it’s very surprising to have one fourth to nearly half of students majoring in a non-STEM field.
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Thank you for all of this information! This is great! I do hope to convince dd to check out some of the HWCs like Smith or Bryn Mawr. I will dig into all of these links.
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My daughter went to a tech school with a big imbalance of male/female (maybe 70/30?). It wasn’t really a problem for the women! She had several teammates who were gay and it seemed that all the women who wanted partners found partners, gay or straight. The ones who may not have found partners were the men, and mostly the older, international students. Some of the older international students were married so weren’t looking, others may not have been looking for other reasons.
There was a problem with some of her male peers bossing her around on group projects, but she learned to handle it. One of her professors seemed to prefer hiring female students for his projects so she found her niche and didn’t worry about the bossy boys.
I don’t think it is a big deal anymore.
I think a lot of schools fit but besides strong and cs and welcoming go lgbtq, what else ?
Someone mentioned Bama. Campus pride says 4.5 of 5 so that’s strong. Pitt gets a 5. Purdue as mentioned - a 5. WPI a 3.5 Col School of Mines not rated. Miami Ohio …heard good stuff. Has a 4. I think this can help directionally.
But I’d narrow in. Big or small. Weather. Greek urban, rural etc. I think saying is it good for a gay student is far too broad.
And budget. Always budget.
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I don’t think it’s as big a deal anymore…but our STEM kid found that the male-dominant culture at some schools was more than the odd bossy peer or fossil prof. Talk to students, watch the dynamics. It’s not the %, it’s the attitude.
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You should seriously consider UC Santa Cruz.
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Smith makes an excellent suggestion. Nonetheless, at coeducational liberal arts colleges as well, women seem to participate on the highest level. With respect to this, these articles, although showing small sample sizes, may be of interest:
For survey-based information on schools that may be especially welcoming for an LGBT student, this list may provide further ideas:
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Two colleges that D22 liked a lot for their academics as well as the general environment were Tufts and Mount Holyoke.
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I would suggest looking at clubs at the school to see if your child can get support outside of the classroom if needed: society of women engineers, women in computing, STEM sisters, etc. those groups will help your child have a safe place to discuss issues and get support in general. Drexel is a school that is really focusing on “keeping in” vs “weeding out” for CS, so they seem to have put effort into making sure people feel safe. Take a look there. I might also recommend some liberal arts colleges. As long as they have opportunities for internships for CS students I think those might be a great fit. Washington college in Maryland is LGBTQ friendly and has a nice CS program from what I’ve heard third hand. Just an idea to check out LACs
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Was about to mention Carnegie Mellon. We visited over the summer and one of the things I noticed was tampons in the men’s restroom. My trans S25 thought the place felt super inclusive and they have a targeted campaign to attract more women.
It’s difficult to get into and expensive but probably a great option if you can afford it.
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Northeastern is very gay/trans friendly. I attended law school there in the 90s and even back then it was very supportive of gay students. One law school alum, Maura Healey, was recently elected as the first female and openly gay Governor of Massachusetts.
I think the CS program is challenging but the co-ops help graduates secure jobs after graduation. My son’s friends who are CS majors are doing co-ops with Morgan Stanley, Amazon Robotics, Wayfair, Chewy and a software development company in San Francisco. I believe NU has student housing in San Francisco, which is a gay-friendly city.
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I still thing - saying great CS and for LGBTQ - and providing little else including budget and things like size, weather, etc. - it’s too broad. There’s probably hundreds of schools that work fine - but being LGBTQ is one aspect of ones life and doesn’t answer to the student’s desires in what they want in a campus.
We can all throw out names - but in what context?
Haven’t posted in a while but the title caught my eye. My LGBTQ daughter is in her first year at WPI and just declared a double major in computer science and interactive media game design.
She is really happy there for so many reasons, one important one being its LGBTQ friendliness. She has made many good friends including many who are also LGBTQ including several who are trans. So far she’s found students, profs, admin/staff to be very welcoming and supportive.
As others said, it would help if your daughter has other criteria of what she wants in a school to help narrow the list (sounds like she’s a high school junior still?). Plus her academic stats.
Another poster recommended UC Santa Cruz which I’d also agree would be a great school for an LGBTQ kid in CS, but out of state tuition is crazy high and housing so hard to get. If those are ok for you, my daughter has friends who are LGBTQ in cs there who love it and it stayed high on her list to the end.
Good luck!
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Thank you! I have read some of the thread on your daughter’s journey and it looks like my dd will be looking at some similar schools. I need to go read the rest of it.
I have both WPI and Pitt on our list to visit. If I get her up to WPI, I will likely try to take her to Smith and Mt. Holyoke.
She really doesn’t know what she wants in a school. I think a smaller (3000-5000) school would be a better fit, but she feels like she could do big or small. She has spent time at our state flagship, so isn’t worried about size. Some days she wants urban, other days she likes the idea of a quiet campus in nature. Honestly it all depends on her mood, and I think she could be happy in a variety of places.
She has some neurodiversity issues, so I feel like a supportive environment is important, but she is less concerned (and I trust her judgment on what she can handle). She likes the idea of school spirit, but it doesn’t have to be football. Doesn’t care about weather (I have concerns about a long, grey winter which she has never experienced). I would like her to be somewhere I can get to fairly easily (a flight plus a short drive is fine. Two flights plus a long drive I would be concerned about, for example)
Academically - doing well at a competitive high school (lots of APs, one B+, all As other than that so far). Waiting on PSAT scores. Good ECs (but not national level anything). No hooks. Full pay.
ETA: Going back and reading the first post in your thread about what your daughter was looking for, I would say a lot of those criteria fit. A supportive school with intellectually curious kids, a place where she would be comfortable playing D&D as well as playing her sport (club or IM level). I don’t see her joining a Greek organization, but I don’t know that it’s presence would bother her, as long as it doesn’t dominate the social scene.
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