Do girls have an easier time getting accepted into engineering??

<p>At my high school, there are a lot of bummed out guys that were denied from engineering, yet a girl with virtually identical stats would get accepted. Do you believe that girls have an easier time getting accepted into engineering programs?? Some say no, some say yes. I believe it's because a higher percentage of highly qualified girls (matches) apply. and I just want your opinion. Thanks!</p>

<p>Sorry, but for the most part in engineering, if a girl and guy have identical (or really similar) stats, the school will take the girl in order to better balance the gender ratio, because engineering programs are majority male. On the plus side for guys, in just about every other situation they get the bump, as most colleges without engineering schools have a majority female population and are trying to get more guys. It’s all about being part of an under-represented population. Some schools look for geographic diversity, so if you have two students with identical stats, but one is from an under-represented state (say North Dakota applying to a school on the East Coast), they’ll get the bump for that. Schools often have LOTS of students that look similar, and that’s when they look for the “tipping factor” to decide who to admit.</p>

<p>Well, I’m female, and I got into NYU Poly with a 3.75 GPA, but my SAT score was well below average. (1810 overall, 560 Math, 590 Reading, 660 Writing.) Ditto for my SAT subject scores (510 Chem, 580 Biology, 590 Math 1, 530 Math 2). So… I guess it does matter to some extent. Although I am also half-Hispanic so that may have something to do with it. I think NYU Poly is much more competitive now that the merger took place, so I probably got lucky. </p>

<p>Currently going to CCNY because NYU sucks with their financial aid. </p>

<p>Interesting…</p>

<p>It depends on whether the school has a gender imbalance they are trying to improve, and how competitive the applicant pool is. For example, I don’t think it would help you at Cornell or Columbia (because engineering is a small part of the university), yet it would help at RPI, WPI, RIT, Clarkson etc.</p>

<p>In a fields that are male dominated girls/women have a better chance to get accepted. </p>

<p>All colleges with engineering that consider an applicant’s being an under-represented minority as a factor in admission, including Cornell and Columbia mentioned above, have that plus factor for women applicants to engineering, driven principally by the fact that less than 20% of engineers are women. How significant a factor it is varies but you should not assume you necessarily have a chance if you are much below a school’s usual averages. An MIT admission official once described it as like having an extra 20 points on your SAT, which for MIT would mean something like you might get in with a 2200.</p>

<p>As opposed to 2220? Do they consider an extra 20 points significant?</p>

<p>

You cannot say that two people have “identical stats.” Admissions isn’t just about numbers. It involves essays, recommendations, and ECs (which some people show off better than others on their app). </p>

<p>While it does seem likely to me that there is a slight bias towards girls in engineering, you can never say that people have “equal applications.” You haven’t read them.</p>

<p>No, 20 point difference is meaningless, that is some kind of typo.</p>