<p>I don't have any hooks right now, just strong test scores and grades. I'm wary about getting into some of these top schools (Ivies and top non-ivies) without anything that really makes me special. My test scores and classes put me right in the mix with many of the people who get accepted to top schools. Does it even help that I'm a girl going into the engineering field?</p>
<p>It helps but it’s not a hook.</p>
<p>Definitely. My friend did an engineering internship in her junior year summer, and because of her expressed interest in engineering, and the fact that she is a girl (she won some kind of national award for women in engineering) got her into MIT, Brown, Stanford, and a couple other REALLY good schools. She’s at MIT this year.</p>
<p>Many colleges treat women as under-represented minorities for engineering, e.g., MIT has mentioned that it is like giving you an extra 20 points on the SAT. Others are likely more generous than that.</p>
<p>My dd went in 4 1/2 yrs ago as engineering. She was one of 3 girls in the major. It’s really not a hook because since then, a lot more girls are getting into the major. The hook is for getting jobs, she’s had two engineering internships and they’re all but ready to hire her now.</p>
<p>How much it helps depends on where you are applying. At an Ivy league school where they get a gazillion applications, not really. At an engineering/science school such as RPI, WPI, - it is a hook for admissions and often results in good merit scholarships for the best female applicants.</p>
<p>^ it would help considerably at Cornell for the college of engineering. Same with Columbia, female is a plus for the engineering school.</p>
<p>Depends too on the type of engineering. Biomedical engineering is nearly 50/50 male/female. Electrical engineering is less than 20% female. (My numbers may not be current here, but you get the drift…)</p>
<p>It gets attention. After that, you have to show you have the right stuff. Ie, besides the academics, you have math-sci activities in hs (and maybe outside,) an ability to articulate your interest- more than just liking physics class. It helps if you have experiences that show you understand the tasks, have the thinking and problem-solving skills.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech…I think they have special recruiting events for women, definitely trying to build female numbers</p>
<p>It depends on what you mean by “hook”. Certainly many Engineering Schools are doing everything they can to have a more balanced M/F ratio. I believe, for example that Cornell’s data show that the acceptance rate for Female Eng. Applicants is about twice as high as that for Male Applicants.</p>
<p>Now – does this mean that the female applicants have lower test/grades? Perhaps. Though I suspect it’s more of a case that Cornell can only accept 1/3 -1/4 of the QUALIFIED male engineering students, and accepts a higher % of QUALIFIED female engineering students.</p>
<p>Anyway to answer the question – is it a hook? Maybe, or maybe it’s just an ‘eyelet’. Certainly with competitive numbers it’s easier for females in this field.</p>
<p>I made a faux pas recently on the MIT discussion board. I had noticed that MIT’s acceptance rate for females (15.7%) was more than twice their acceptance rate for males (7.6%) on their Common Data Set. I then questioned whether this meant that acceptance criteria was lower for females than for males.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/1370030-astonished-common-data-set.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/1370030-astonished-common-data-set.html</a></p>
<p>The responses were sharply critical of my implication. Posters pointed to a significantly higher rate of self-selection among females - i.e. far more unqualified applicants were male than female. The posters were adamant that admissions criteria were identical for males and females.</p>
<p>Apparently this topic surfaces periodically on both the MIT and CalTech boards to the great consternation of their regulars.</p>
<p>Based on the responses I received, apparently females do not receive any benefit in admission criteria when applying to engineering programs.</p>
<p>The schools beantowngirl mentioned where the proportion of boys vs girls is out of whack (70:30) helps a lot with an admission. So RPI and WPI are good places to apply for an admission.</p>
<p>Columbia engineering might give some brownie points for a girl applicant because the school wants to be gender balanced and they are closer to 60:40. So if you are doubtful about getting into columbia college, then apply to SEAS.</p>
<p>MIT and Caltech - if you have almost perfect scores, achievements (olympiad, science fair awards, research, etc) then you have a better chance of acceptance than a boy of similar attributes since a lot more boys apply. Fewer girls apply than boys but those who apply are self selective and end up having a higher rate of admission (there is a goal to gender balance too but most who apply are qualified to start with). I was one of the contributors to the thread rmldad started and published the stats of several girls i know who were admitted including mine and people were PMing me credebtials of their daughters who got in. It is extremely hard to get in unless you are super qualified but it just looks easier because the girls admit rate is higher. Reason - they don’t apply and fewer show up (this is changing and thats why MIT and Caltech closed out the waitlist this year because so many many many more showed up).</p>
<p>Erin’s dad is correct (See Post #2).</p>
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<p>Only if you’re set on pursuing Engineering, math or science. It is extremely difficult to transfer internally once you’re a student at Columbia.</p>