<p>The evidence shows that in college many women who start off in STEM majors [dont complete them], said St. Rose. Clearly, if theyre in these majors there is a desire. Theyve shown some ability and talent in these areas earlier on. But many capable young women leave these majors.
Theyre not leaving because theyre unsuccessful, she added. The research we looked at and that we talk about in the report says the climate of some of these college departments dont facilitate womens participation and progress. They leave because they feel unwelcome or they just havent fit in.
The culture of a department the expectations, assumptions and values shapes how professors and staff behave, which impacts students directly. </p>
<p>How would you rank schools with regard to supportive culture for women in STEM (not premed) at the Ivys (including Stanford), LACs and some of the top Science/Technology Schools (MIT, CMU, Johns Hopkins, etc.).</p>
<p>In 2011, Grinnell College won a White House honor for its “Grinnell Science Project” program designed to increase participation by groups underrepresented in the sciences (which for women, apparently, is physics, math and computer science).</p>
<p>Most, if not all, of those schools should have women in science clubs. You might google them to see how active they are. (I say this as somebody who’s run away from science for the past couple years and so doesn’t have all that much content-based advice to give.) Our CS department has done a great job of recruiting women lately, though! That I do know.</p>
<p>Ranking these schools is hard because most people have experience with only one as an undergrad (at most two if they transferred) - and coming in as a grad student is different. Also different STEM majors seem to do a better or worse job of attracting and retaining women so I’m not sure how useful it is to lump all the STEM areas together. (Bio-medical engineering, for example, is totally different from electrical engineering in this respect.) I’ve also seen no statistics that compare the attrition rate for women in STEM (non-premed) at various schools - or even documenting the attrition publicly. I know it’s an issue - Stanford is doing some research on this topic right now, and I’m sure other schools are too. There are lots of hypotheses, but no clear answers.</p>
<p>Advice? I’d look for schools that have a critical mass of women in the specific STEM major you are interested in, and assume it’s a proxy for some level of effectiveness on the part of the school in attracting and keeping women who are interested in that major.</p>
<p>UCB - Yes but what is the point of all the GIRs? They are trained STEM by the time they finish GIRs irrespective of what they get a degree in. If you pass them at MIT, you know enough of physics, chemistry, biology and Math as an average major in any of those subjects at most other schools in this nation.</p>
<p>MIT’s GIRs only require introductory level courses in science and math, although they are rigorous ones suitable for majors, as opposed to the “physics for poets” type of courses commonly offered elsewhere. So (for example) an MIT humanities major would not know as much physics as a physics major elsewhere. The science part of the GIR is basically a breadth or core requirement that is more rigorous than science requirements at most other schools.</p>
<p>More details from: [url=<a href=“Welcome! < MIT”>Welcome! < MIT]MIT</a> Course Catalog: Undergraduate General Institute Requirements<a href=“note:%20MIT%20uses%20the%20word%20%22subject%22%20for%20what%20everyone%20else%20uses%20%22course%22%20for,%20and%20%22course%22%20for%20what%20everyone%20else%20uses%20%22subject%22%20or%20%22major%22%20for;%20I%20use%20the%20more%20usual%20terminology%20below”>/url</a></p>
<p>Biology: one course in introductory biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology
Chemistry: one course in introductory chemistry
Math: two courses, single variable calculus and multivariable calculus (note that this is accelerated, as most other schools cover this material in three courses; “with theory” courses are available)
Physics: two courses, mechanics and electricity/magnetism</p>
<p>One thing for sure, an MIT humanities major graduate likely has a much stronger knowledge of math and science than nearly all humanities major graduates at nearly every other school, except perhaps Caltech.</p>
<p>[MIT</a> Office of the Provost, Institutional Research](<a href=“MIT Institutional Research”>MIT Institutional Research) gives the following percentages of degrees in non-STEM majors (17% of the total):</p>
<p>2% architecture
1% communication / journalism
0% foreign language, literature, and linguistics
1% English
1% liberal arts / general studies
0% philosophy and religious studies
6% social sciences
1% visual and performing arts
5% business and marketing
0% history</p>
<p>and STEM majors (80% of the total):</p>
<p>13% computer and information sciences
41% engineering
8% biological sciences
8% mathematics and statistics
10% physical sciences</p>
<p>and the following which may be STEM or non-STEM:</p>
<p>3% interdisciplinary studies</p>
<p>However, there is no breakdown by gender in the common data set.</p>
<p>Not too long ago I read a paper about STEM completion rates at Duke broken down by race and gender. It was interesting, and pointed to fairly large, consistent, differences in completion rates among those groupings.</p>
<p>It stands to reason that women’s colleges such as Smith and Wellesley that have strong STEM programs would be particularly good at encouraging high completion rates.</p>
Exactly what I was going to post. In engineering, for example, depending on the particular branch between 1/2 and 2/3rds out of those starting nationwide end up leaving the major.</p>
<p>I think the reason for the concern by universities is that women who start out in STEM are more likely to drop STEM majors than men are. If they were dropping at the same rate, the concern would merely be how to attract more in the first place. That’s not the issue - at least not at Stanford.</p>
<p>However, the percentage leaving the engineering major likely has a lot to do with the selectivity of the university (or the engineering division). The students who are strong in math and science and who are genuinely interested in designing things using math and science are likely to be successful, while the students who are weaker in math and science and who do not have a strong interest in engineering itself (as opposed to the job and career prospects) are more likely to depart.</p>