<p>I'm currently a female junior in HS thinking about applying to Stanford because of the computer science program, but I've just found out that only ~8% of the computer science students are female (8% of the undergrad compsci degrees were given to female students).</p>
<p>Can anyone at Stanford confirm this ratio or give a better description of the department? </p>
<p>Also, does Stanford even attempt to increase women in compsci (if they saw my intent to major in computer science and my various compsci EC's, would I have a higher chance of getting in)? I know some other top computer science departments have succeeded in increasing the female populations in their respective compsci programs (CMU, for one).</p>
<p>Yes, Stanford does make an attempt to get females in computer science. It’s actually a big effort of theirs. I think if you showed a passion for CS in your application, it might give you a boost. Here’s a video from Eric Roberts, professor who’s important in running the CS curriculum, talking about women in CS:</p>
<p>The table you link to is on degrees conferred in 2010. Recently though there’s been a huge number of people declaring CS, and many of them are female. You’d need to look at the # of female students currently in CS.</p>
<p>Finally, remember that Stanford emphasizes interdisciplinary endeavors, so many students choose similar disciplines that overlap with CS. You might look into the representation of females in Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Symbolic Systems (which definitely has a lot of females), Electrical Engineering, Computer Systems Engineering, and others that draw on CS. There you’ll find a lot more females, whose representation in CS classes is much higher than the current figure of degrees conferred indicates.</p>
<p>^ ha, that single link says more than I could. :p</p>
<p>Fun fact: the first ‘computer programmer’ was a woman, Ada Lovelace.</p>
<p>Another fun fact: the recipient of the 2008 Turing Award, Barbara Liskov, graduated from Stanford CS (one of the first women to get a PhD in CS)</p>
<p>Yes, not just the female enrollment the overall enrollment into CS is declining. Looks like Stanford is making CS major easier (less number of required courses) to lure in more, especially females. May be it is Stanford specific problem since it admits students without any emphasis on major. In any case, if your heart is on CS go for it even if you are going to be the only female in the class.</p>
<p>moshot, that link didn’t work for me, but I’m not sure how current or relevant it is anyway. Here’s an excerpt from the Chairman of Stanford’s CS department’s Summer 2010 newsletter:</p>
<p>"Skyrocketing CS Majors</p>
<p>No, I don’t mean that our CS majors are literally taking off in rockets, although I wouldn’t be surprised—the variety of things these students are up to never ceases to amaze me. (In fact some of them have been involved in a course in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department in spacecraft design.) I’m referring to the skyrocketing number of CS majors. In 2009-10 we saw an increase of about 30% in the number of students declaring CS as their major, compounding a 41% growth the preceding year. If you do the arithmetic, that’s an 83% increase over a two-year period. At this time, roughly 9% of Stanford undergraduates are declaring computer science as their major! Stanford has a policy of not limiting the number of students in any major, so who knows what next year will bring. Stay tuned." (excerpted from [2010</a> Department Newsletter | Stanford Computer Science](<a href=“http://www-cs.stanford.edu/newsletter/2010]2010”>http://www-cs.stanford.edu/newsletter/2010))</p>
<p>^ exactly–CS majors at Stanford have been increasingly dominating. 9% of 6,900 students = over 600 undergrads majoring in CS. That’s not even counting CSE and symbolic systems (among others), which are similar and require lots of CS.</p>
<p>It is a Stanford Power Point presentation from March 18, 2008 (you need MS Power Point). I also remember reading another Stanford report and I’ll try to find out in case you don’t have PP. But based on this ppt, 2007 was the lowest point and the enrollment was inching up in 2008 even though female enrollment was still declining in 2008. It is very much possible that the situation has turned around since 2008. </p>
<p>“The course is designed to encourage all students rather
than to select the best. At all too many institutions, the
introductory computer science course is run as a filter
course designed to weed out all but the best students. At
Stanford, our goal in the introductory course is to get as
many people as possible through it”</p>
<p>It looks like Stanford has been constantly working on this matter. Still trying to find the other report I mentioned before.</p>
<p>I am giving here the headings from the ppt (2008) for those who don’t have pp so that they can get some idea. </p>
<p>Expanding the Pipeline of Students in Computer Science
by Eric Roberts and Mehran Sahami</p>
<p>Crisis in the Computer Science Pipeline
The Pipeline Problem in Computer Science
The Problem start early
CS is losing ground
CS is tiny compared with other sciences
Degree Productions vs Job openings
The data from Stanford
Obvious correlation (with Nasdaq)
What happened in 2003
Image of computing remains a problem
Myth of a Jobs crisis persist
A thought experiment about off shoring
Truth on off shoring
Curriculum cannot be a problem
Students like our courses but go elsewhere
How students choose their major
The real image problem
The reality is also a problem
Dilbert’s Boss has more appeal than Dilbert
Rediscovering the passion, beauty, joy, and Awe
Vilification of programming
Dangerous trends
Industry is not amused
programming remains central
Revising the Undergraduate CS curriculum
Increasing the Footprint of CS
Footprint of CS Students see today.
Track allows more depth
Revised Curricular structure:core/tracks
why tracks
Revised Curricular Structure: Electives
track and Elective Structure ( Capstone)
Structure aligns with Broader Contact
Broadening the Initiative
Positive initiatives
Some encouraging signs
What wee need to do
The End</p>
<p>Glad to know that the revised curriculum is in fact attracting more students based on what Zenkoan and Phanta (current students?) say.</p>
<p>^ I’m a CS undergrad at Stanford. The situation has definitely turned around since 2008; CS is the 4th most popular major, behind HumBio, econ, and IR, based on degrees granted in 2010. It might even be #2 or 3 now, or getting there soon if this trend keeps up.</p>
<p>Thanks Phanta. Good to know.<br>
Going back to OP’s question, does anyone know how many females would be CS major in 2011 and 2012? (Official number of declared majors would be more useful than estimates). 2013 and 2014 may not have declared their majors yet. Based on 2010/2011 CDS, CS is 4.94% when compared to 21% in SS; Inter Dis 15%; Bio 7; Sci 5.5. But I would prefer quality than quantity. </p>
<p>OP, if your mind is set on it go for it. Be the special one and shine on your own merits! (rather than depending on the tinkering done by many institutions )</p>
)</p>