<p>Haha. This one is pretty clever, too: <a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd1105.gif%5B/url%5D">http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd1105.gif</a></p>
<p>There is only one undergraduate engineering program in the nation that, with a 3.5 GPA, guarantees graduate school admission at Dartmouth, JHU, Tufts, University of Michigan, Notre Dame, and Princeton.</p>
<p>And that is Smith. They know the difficulty female engineers have, and have specifically designed their program with these in mind: female mentors, female recruiters, women responsible for the program, female deans. It is ABET accredited. There are also sizeable liberal arts course requirements - they not only want to produce female engineers, but future engineering project managers.</p>
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There is only one undergraduate engineering program in the nation that, with a 3.5 GPA, guarantees graduate school admission at Dartmouth, JHU, Tufts, University of Michigan, Notre Dame, and Princeton.
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<p>While it isn't a formal guarantee, in MIT EECS, if you have a 4.0/5 (equivalent to a 3.0 on a 4 scale), you are almost always qualified for the MIT EECS MEng program. The qualification figure is no absolute, but if you have a 4.5/5 (equivalent to a 3.5 out of 4), then there is only an infinitesimal chance that you will not be admitted to the MEng program. </p>
<p>I think close to 50% of the biomed eng majors at UVa are female. That and chemE have many interested and successful women.</p>
<p>salem, much of what I (male engineer) have an informed perspective about does not so much apply to biomedical engineering as it does to engineering as a whole. Given that there are substantially more engineers than engineering students, even a 50/50 split of male/female students would not drastically change the low percentage of women for many years. While a student I had many female counterparts, but after working for one large company and two small companies, I have worked with only one female engineer. Biomedical engineering appears to be an entirely different animal in that there is a high student to engineer ratio and many of those students are female. My point is, some fields are and will remain mostly male for the near future. This should be seriously considered if, as you say, female role models/mentors will be important to her.</p>
<p>Though some will argue to the contrary, I believe that women and men in engineering get along very well. This is partly because engineering attracts good people and partly because engineers develop a familial bond. To be honest, engineering school is a traumatic experience for most people. That shared experience breads mutual respect, trust, and reliance on ones peers. There are issues, however: men (and women) cant seem to forgive women for getting pregnant and striving to maintain a balance between children and work when there are deadlines and workloads to carry; a handful of construction workers will always go slack-jawed at the arrival of a young woman; for years to come, older men will entrust women with an engineers duties for the first time; young men will wonder about the promotions of their female counterparts.</p>
<p>I, like a lot of men, prefer having women in the mix. Among other things, they have the ability to shift priority to positive relationships and an amiable work environment. Many male engineers lack these skills. There is a cautionary note in the previous statement. </p>
<p>I would not discourage her based on these things. As with any career decision, I would encourage her to get out in the workforce ASAP, even at the expense of getting through school ASAP, in order to see what it is all about. For better or worse, school and work may differ. Remind her that she will be competing with a capable and driven global workforce. I expect this will eventually be true of all people who are paid to produce things and ideas.</p>