<p>I was told by a college counselor that the fact that I'm female will help me get into a university as a Computer Science and Engineering major, even though my 10-12 GPA is 3.42 unweighted and 3.74 weighted. I'm a high school junior currently looking at most UCs and a couple CSUs (Long Beach and Cal Poly SLO), as well as USC (although I'm not crazy about it). Will my gender help me get into these colleges? I was also told that the fact that I've been doing ballet, jazz, and tap for 14 years is a big plus ("Admissions officers will be thinking, 'A GIRL who DANCES and also wants to be an ENGINEER?'" - Counselor).</p>
<p>Being female is an advantage when it comes to engineering schools, so yes, you may be able to get acceptances at places where a guy with an equivalent gpa would get a rejection. Engineering schools are some of the few places where girls have an advantage. Due to the fact that more females than males apply to college, in general, it’s an advantage to be a male of any race.</p>
<p>I dont think the admissions people will think that, at least not in a negative way. They will just see that you are interested in a variety of activites/interests.</p>
<p>I think gender should help you. Im glad it does :]</p>
<p>Many colleges consider females for engineering to be under-represented minorities and thus they get a plus factor. Thus, they can often be admitted with somewhat lower stats. However, you should not look at it as a big advantage. Also, it is doubtful that URM status is applied in California’s public universities because its Proposition 209 which banned colleges from considering race as a factor in admission in that state also banned the use of one’s sex for doing so.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m also a female who is a serious ballet dancer and wants to be an engineer! I think it may help some, but don’t count on it to get into top schools, is all…I’m slowly finding out that there are a lot more people like me out there than I thought…</p>
<p>The school where I think it has the biggest impact is MIT. If you look at their class data, about half the class is female, and the admissions office tries hard to keep it that way. Places like Caltech, and engineering schools within larger universities, generally have female populations hovering around 30%. This disparity is not created by a difference in quality of guys and girls in the MIT applicant pool vs. other schools, it is created by an active admissions policy. Do you still need to be qualified to get into MIT as a female? Yes, but you do not have to be doing some of the amazing things that the admitted guys do (if you want to see proof of my claims, just go to the MIT decisions thread and a trend should appear). At other “math and science” places, ones that don’t try and make the class 50/50, being female still helps, but not to the same degree.</p>
<p>And for guys applying to MIT, the policy is bad when applying but great if you are admitted and attending.</p>
<p>Senior, I think you mean 20% or high teens, I know that USC has low 20s for females in engineering, and it says it’s the highest percentage on the west.</p>
<p>Wow I thought I was the only dancing engineer! Lol. I’ve been doing ballet and jazz consistently since I was 3, I did tap for a few years (age 8 to 11?), and more recently I’ve been doing modern.</p>
<p>Do you dancers have any input on how I can get across on my application that although I have never competed or won any sort of award, I am still a serious dancers?</p>
<p>My D will be applying to engineering programs in the fall and there is no question that your gender will be an advantage in the admissions process. This is based on our research of the detailed stats that are available and the sudden spike in interest level we have experienced among admissions officers once they learned of her interest in engineering.</p>
<p>That said, engineering is a very tough curriculum. Beyond the leg up in the admissions process, you should think carefully about whether your skills and interests align with these programs. I am quite certain that, once admitted, girls get no advantage in work assignments and grading, and changing majors can be quite tough in many schools.</p>
<p>Mikey, I appreciate your post. I realize it sounds like I’m unqualified for engineering, but I feel that this is the right path for me. I am currently part of a computer science paid research internship and am hoping to get my current software project published before it comes time to apply for colleges. By the end of summer, I will have started the computer engineering portion of the internship. I know this doesn’t compare with a lot of other more competitive applicants but I’m hoping that this combined with my gender may help at some universities.</p>
<p>In terms of getting the dance stuff across, I plan I sending in a video for an arts supplement; I’ll probably use the Common App arts supplement unless some schools I’m applying to want something else. I’ve never done any competitions either, since it’s not as big a thing in the ballet world, though I have attended a competitive summer intensive, etc. But I would think a video/resume/letter of rec should suffice.</p>
<p>That sounds great for schools using the Common App, great idea, California Dancer! But what about for UCs and CSUs, which do not allow you to send letters of rec and things like that?</p>