Are female students who apply for computer science majors more appreciated by any chance?
Yes – they’re low in numbers so when they apply, they stand out – in a good way. College programs value them. Employers value them. My kiddo was pre-admitted into her school’s Computer Engineering program – she’s the lone freshman female. Hopefully some others will join her next year when others apply to the engineering school.
Yes. Some universities are trying hard to increase the number and percentage of female computer science majors. There can be special scholarships, organizations and other opportunities offered to female computer science majors.
If you look at the admissions rates for male and female applicants to technical universities, you will find that many of them will have higher admission rates for females, apparently in an attempt to balance out the genders on campus and in majors like computer science.
The working world reflects this push for more females in computer science, and qualified females can get more interviews and potential offers down the road for internships and jobs.
The Stanford Daily, October 12, 2015;
[Computer Science Now Most Popular Major for Women](Computer science now most popular major for women)
“Stanford reportedly has 214 female students enrolled in its Computer Science major – that’s 30 percent of the major’s total enrollment – making it the most popular major with women at the university for the first time.”
Yes, this is a field that is still actively trying to recruit women. The tech companies have special recruitment activities for female undergrads at top schools to recruit them (along with URMs). They are not necessarily succeeding though.
Just one example: A famous Silicon Valley Co invited my comp sci D and a group of male comp sci URMs to a multi-day recruitment event. Red carpet all the way. But the recruiter repeatedly ignored her comments during the day and complimented the guys when they later made the same contributions or observations. She was pretty fed up by the time she left. And this was a recruiter who was presumably hand-picked to attract ‘non-traditional candidates.’ (Mind you, it’s this way in many industries, just to give some perspective.)
Then there is entry level problem: There are studies out there about why women who start in comp sci end up leaving. One of the factors seems to be that women often get introduced later to coding. Lots of guys in the entry level classes have been coding since infancy whereas many women identify comp sci as a possible field of interest later on. As a result, they are less adept and the homework for entry level classes and find it much more time-consuming. They feel inadequate compared to male class-mates who are zipping through the homework, and getting a B is taken as proof that this isn’t the right field for them. Of course, if you can blast through the basics, other factors become more important and the guys have no advantage there. But that first year is discouraging. Not saying that’s your issue at all - you may be one of the infant coder kids. But too many women give up early on when they discover that they are behind from day one.
So yes, female comp sci majors are sought after, but they also generally have a harder row to hoe all along the way.
Not my experience, so please check out the numbers at the schools you are applying to. Comp sci tends to be more gender balanced than other science majors.
Stanford trends very geeky, compared to most Ivies, so I’m not surprised about the balance at their school.
My best friend is a software engineer, and the department is 50-50 men and women, and both genders get flexibility to take time to help with their kids.
@N’s_Mom: I wish your daughter could have spoken with the recruitment manager and told him/her blankly what how she was treated by the “hand picked” recruiter.
I’ve read similar advice you’ve given here – about how some women who face initial challenges – don’t push through like their male counterparts. I’m hoping to impart that to my kiddo. Fortunately for her, she’s doing fine in her coding coursework and other pre-engineering classes. She went to a heavy guy-laden math-sci high school however. She’s been swimming in that shark tank for four years already, thickening up her skin. Hopefully she maintains that, even with the inevitable falter or stumble.
@T26E4, I used to work as a technical director for network television. The majority of our crews were men. In those situations, it’s important to be very good at what you do. And if you run into a company that doesn’t value women, find one that does. My colleagues and I (male and female) spenta lot of time networking and did our best to help each other find better positions. The key to being successful in a male dominated field is to not give up. Our generation was probably not as successful as the young women of this generation will be, but we had more opportunities than previous generations.
Colleges that have a gender imbalance and are trying to increase the percentage of women (Engineering schools for example) might provide a slight advantage. Although the data sometimes shows a higher acceptance rate for women than men at these schools, one would need the test scores/GPA data to evaluate whether it is actually easier to get in. I believe the advantage is really in the merit aid. In order to attract more women, schools might be more generous in their scholarships.
My daughter is at such a school (though was at the higher end of their stats, so I wouldn’t say she was given an “advantage”). She said her computer science class has very few women in it - fewer than the freshman math/physics/chem classes.
The fraction of women working in computer science is now lower than the engineering field. There might be pockets where there is a 50/50 ratio. But, overall, I believe I have read 12% of computer scientists are women, whereas something like 20% of engineers are women. If someone has other data, feel free to correct me.
@N’s Mom I completely agree with you. Carnegie Mellon did a very thorough study of why they were losing women in CS along the way. It was a fascinating read.
CS is still significantly more male than female. In contrast, chemistry undergraduate enrollment is more balanced these days, while biology undergraduate enrollment is more female than male these days. Indeed, it appears that most sciences other than perhaps physics have a higher female percentage than CS.
http://www.aps.org/programs/education/statistics/womenmajors.cfm
Interesting article from the los Angeles times on women in tech http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-women-tech-20150222-story.html