Female friendly STEM programs & schools

<p>Engineering do a vast variety of jobs. Some are very hand-on in the field or on the mfg line. Many are not. The general theme is that engineers are problem solvers. Often they do not use all the intense higher level math/academics from college.</p>

<p>Problem solving? DD has become pretty resourceful over the years. I wonder how much of that is innate ability and how much is opportunity? We live on a farmette with animals and both kids are active in 4-H. Lots and lots of opportunity to problem solve :)</p>

<p>4-H is probably a good background for many things - that’s great. The Engineering problem solving I mentioned may have some overlap. It involves breaking down problems and solving them. In academics it’s usually via “problem sets” (homework - sometimes taking all night for one subject). But it also involves doing projects and teamwork approach.</p>

<p>I thought females had it easier to get into Tufts and Cornell if they wanted to attend these schools for STEM…</p>

<p>Another article from The Chronicle of Higher Education several years ago looked at STEM education for women and what contributed to success. The feature - “A Hothouse for Female Scientists - At Carleton, Working Closely With Professors Leads Women To Careers in Science” - focuses on Carleton’s success at recruiting and graduating women in STEM fields. Some of this success is attributed to the strong support for hiring and nurturing female professors (almost 1/2 of their STEM faculty are female).</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/voice/2006summer/feature5.php]Voice”&gt;http://apps.carleton.edu/voice/2006summer/feature5.php]Voice</a> - Carleton College’s Alumni Magazine<a href=“reprint%20in%20Alumni%20magazine,%20The%20Voice”>/url</a></p>

<p>apps.carleton.edu/news/assets/10242_Web.pdf (Chronicle of Higher Education pdf)</p>

<p>I don’t think females applying to Tufts or Cornell engineering have any advantage over males because there are plenty of highly qualified female applicants to those schools. The advantage comes at schools like RPI, RIT, WPI etc. where there is a large gender imbalance and the schools are trying hard to attract female students.</p>

<p>“she won’t be applying to an all girls school.”
OP, that’s good, because Smith, Mt. Holyoke, etc are WOMEN’S colleges, not “girls schools”! And I would encourage your D to check into just one, and spend quality time, even an overnight, before completely ruling such schools out. Filled with very bright women discussing classes more than boys, and incredible network of alumni including some very well known women of distinction in this country and others, your D may find her ideas about women’s colleges is very different from the reality! She should also research leading women in the fields she is interested in, and see where they went to school…that could really help.</p>

<p>The best women’s colleges offer so much more than topflight academics. They aren’t liberal arts colleges that happen to be all women. They are women’s colleges that teach the liberal arts (and engineering). It is not simply that they are “welcoming” to women in the sciences. They offer perspective on women and women’s careers and support for them that none of the top colleges, or engineering schools, get even close to offering.</p>

<p>How many undergraduate engineering colleges offer, as a regular part of what they do, one-to-one assistance for female students in thinking how to dress for an interview, or how to best answer the inevitable question about career interruptions to raise a family?</p>

<p>My engineering college (early 1980s) offered assistance to male and female students regarding how to dress for an interview. At the time we all wore suits. Things may be different now. Still it doesn’t seem like something that would require one-on-one assistance. </p>

<p>I attended numerous panels regarding women in engineering in college… through SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and the career center. These days I suspect family/work balance discussions are targeted to both males and females, as they should be. </p>

<p>“very bright women discussing classes more than boys,” - That’s par for the course at engineering colleges too. Engineering is HARD - the students that sign up for it place high priority on their education.</p>

<p>“How many undergraduate engineering colleges offer, as a regular part of what they do, one-to-one assistance for female students in thinking how to dress for an interview, or how to best answer the inevitable question about career interruptions to raise a family?”</p>

<p>To answer your question, mini, UMBC does.</p>

<p>“They offer perspective on women and women’s careers and support for them that none of the top colleges, or engineering schools, get even close to offering.”</p>

<p>It’s unfair to make a broad statement like this. I would beg to differ.</p>

<p>As noted in my posts, I’ve had positive female view of engineering schools in 1980s myself and during college research for my own daughter and son. </p>

<p>However, I do recognize there may still be some schools where females face more hurdles. Perhaps those with experience (not speculation) could post hints to watch for this. For example, DH mentioned that he looked at the engineering faculty bios at one engineering school and noted that there were mostly men of older age (more likely to be “old school”). Obviously this is not a hard fast rule since I had positive experiences despite a staff of mostly male profs. But it does seem that a relatively high percentage of young (some female) profs would be a good sign.</p>

<p>Other ideas?</p>

<p>“How many undergraduate engineering colleges offer, as a regular part of what they do, one-to-one assistance for female students in thinking how to dress for an interview, or how to best answer the inevitable question about career interruptions to raise a family?”</p>

<p>It’s great that your daughter had such a great experience at Smith, but you are misleading folks when you make generalizations about women’s colleges based on those experiences. There was/is nothing like this at Bryn Mawr, and others know about similar programs at coed schools. What are your data points besides Smith?</p>

<p>Questions from an employer about interrupting a career to raise a family are illegal, and I’m very pleased to say that they are far from “inevitable,” even in my male-dominated field. I’m not sure why a college ought to be teaching young women to expect illegal behavior from employers as “inevitable.” It exists, but it is far from universal.</p>

<p>colorado_mom – look for an active chapter of organizations like WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) or SWE (Society of Women Engineers).</p>

<p>“What are your data points besides Smith?”</p>

<p>Wellesley. </p>

<p>And there is more: there is an entire center for “Women and Financial Independence” (given that studies show that women are less likely to have acquired education on this subject.)</p>

<p>Wellesley doesn’t offer engineering, so it’s hard to see how that’s a data point about undergraduate engineering colleges. You also have zero coed engineering colleges in your sample. So it sounds like your question about how many of them offer X or Y was rhetorical – you don’t know the answer yourself. While we’re on the topic, though, the UIUC College of Engineering offers a dedicated, faculty-run center for women in the college, including a special orientation, WISE residence life program, mentoring, and research-opportunity programs for female students. <a href=“https://wiki.engr.illinois.edu/display/wie/About+Us[/url]”>https://wiki.engr.illinois.edu/display/wie/About+Us&lt;/a&gt; Their blog lists recent career-related programming: [Women</a> in Engineering Announcements](<a href=“http://wie411.blogspot.com/]Women”>http://wie411.blogspot.com/)</p>

<p>“there is an entire center for “Women and Financial Independence””</p>

<p>At Smith. Nowhere else. Not much of a basis for generalizing about women’s colleges in general or what they offer relative to coed colleges. (Nor is it clear to me why a financial independence/literacy program is better if it is gendered – many schools have them.)</p>

<p>mihcal1 - WISE is a good suggestion - [WISE:</a> UIC Women in Science and Engineering](<a href=“http://www.uicwise.org/]WISE:”>http://www.uicwise.org/) </p>

<p>I know about SWE from my college days and also from joining a “Work / Life Balance” panel at CU Boulder. But WISE is new to me. On google I found some college specific links and also the above helpful general link.</p>

<p>I know a few schools also offer a group called Women in Computer Science (WICS). It’s a little more specific than SWE, but my girlfriend was involved in her college years even though she was an EE.</p>

<p>I think she also found her first job through a local SWE job fair.</p>

<p>Franklin Olin College of Engineering has approx 50/50 gender split. They do a lot to encourage and support female students. Here’s a recent link for a recent press release, “Eight Olin Students Named First Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholars” - [Olin</a> College : About Olin : Press Release](<a href=“http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/olin_news/olin_press_release.aspx?id=500]Olin”>http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/olin_news/olin_press_release.aspx?id=500)</p>

<p>Olin admission is highly competitive. But it could be a great fit for a student (female or male) interested in a small school with rigorous academics and and project-based learning.</p>