<p>AutumnMathTutor, Thing is all the engineering courses I know still have to take the required math and physics courses, so it’s not like girls drop CompE and purse other course because of them. I mean that could be one reason but certainly not my reason, my reason was coding and honestly I didn’t mind sitting in front of the computer all day but if it’s something worthy (worth is in the eyes of the beholder, so it’s just my opinion).</p>
<p>aibarr, thanks for sharing. Actually, a CompE major student freaked out and I think that’s partially the reason I’m switching my major. I know I shouldn’t give into peer pressure but I give up. He puts me down for wanting to work at Google because that’s impossible even for people with PhDs. That’s my dream company, ok? Is it bad to dream? Sometimes he threatens me to hack my account and etc… Then, I know this is SOOO wrong but he basically gave me a wrong image of a CompE student. So, I gave up and decided to go into something more practical and something that can help people medically using engineering :D</p>
<p>“I think the reality is that some of that does happen… less qualified women taking men’s places in college or jobs…”</p>
<p>I actually think the opposite when it comes to tech jobs - I think that more average ability guys aspire to those careers than average girls.</p>
<p>OP, tell your daughter to hang in there. No matter what she says, I’ll bet it’s a little unnerving to be the only female in the class. It was for me, anyway, even if I would have died before admitting it.</p>
<p>Well, I’m looking at a list of engineering scholarships from my University right now. I count 4 “women in engineering” scholarships, 3 “african american scholarship funds”, and a “hispanic scholar award” in a pear tree.</p>
<p>“Endowment for the furthering of Pasty WASP Men in STEM fields” scholarships are apparently not as popular.</p>
<p>AMT, thank you. Little gestures of solidarity are surprisingly…I guess the opposite of “demoralizing” would be “moralizing”, but that just seems like the wrong word. Morale-boosting, perhaps.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It can happen - I have never cared for that blunt-instrument version of affirmative action, but I won’t deny that it exists. However, it can work the other way too, just in a less formalized fashion, with an adcom or hiring manager giving preference to a man or a white person possibly without even realizing what they are doing.</p>
<p>In any case, it is bad to <em>assume</em> that someone is unqualified because of demographic status, especially without knowing anything about their qualifications.</p>
<p>Another thing, to AMT: Many, many women that I’ve talked to in male-dominated fields say that they’re unwilling to admit when they are struggling because they think that since they are one of the few examples that their peers see of women in the field, it will cause people to say “See, women aren’t any good at this.” You mentioned that the men say that they are leaving the field because of the difficulty, but the women come up with some other reason. Do you think it’s possible that some of them are afraid to admit that they were having a hard time?</p>
<p>At any rate, I don’t actually mean to portray things too bleakly. I really enjoy what I do, and get a lot of pride from it. I enjoy the geek subculture. I feel that I’m respected and treated fairly at my job - not all of my friends have been so lucky, by a long shot, but things are not <em>always</em> bad. I don’t want to scare any young women (or their parents) reading this out of pursuing science and engineering by making it sound like I’m miserable. HOWEVER, I think it’s also important to realize that sexism, discrimination, etc, happen and are a problem. For one thing, recognizing them is the only way to get them to stop, and for another, as the target of it, it’s easier to deal with things that you can identify.</p>
<p>all that stuff definitely does happen, but i think they are just little obstacles along the way.I mean I am used to it, and I am a hispanic woman</p>
<p>Have any of you guys had experience with double majoring in computer science plus a humanity - like history or English? Is it possible?
Also - I only started thinking about computer science this year, so would that put me at a serious disadvantage in a class full of people who had been programming since they were in middle school? I’m a strong math and physics student, and my dad works for Cisco so I’ve picked up a little HTML, Java, C++ along the way, but I guess I’m scared that I’ll have too much catching up to do.
PS: i’m a girl :)</p>
<p>Most computer science programs say that programming experience isn’t required but I think that the experience does help quite a bit. The first Computing course can be a ton of work with a lot of programming assignments, readings and papers to write. Many of the programming assignments may be simple and easy but you still need to knock them down efficiently. The typical first Computing course is usually much more than just programming. If you want a taste, check out the Introduction to CS 1 at Harvard at:</p>
<p>It’s possible but it will take you an extra year at least. There’s not a whole lot of reason to double major unless you are really interested in history or English. A minor would be better.</p>
<p>If your school says you don’t need programming experience then you won’t. The fact that you have exposure to Java and C++ should be enough. Otherwise just find out what langauge you intro class is taught in and do a little studying on your own.</p>
<p>I doubt it would take an extra year, if you take the full course load every semester. It depends on your school’s rules and how many credit hours are in both programs.</p>
<p>I’m speaking for the average person it is going to take an extra year to double major in engineering and anything else. Especially a humanities major like history where we as engineers take very little of. </p>
<p>Are there some schools where you could do it if you go a full credit load every semester and never fail or retake a class? Yes. Is that the case very often? No.</p>
Morale-boosting, perhaps.</p>