<p>Gender can be an advantage in such contexts where you would be underrepresented (such as engineering), and can be a disadvantage in such contexts where you would be overrepresented (such as nursing or education).</p>
<p>Robotics competition, by itself, is unlikely to distinguish you among most applications to an engineering school, for example. Even though women are underrepresented, those applicants (men and women) who do have the interest and aptitude are likely to have enjoyed similar activities as teens.</p>
<p>Now, if you’re not going right into engineering - say, for example, you’re interested in Physics as an undergrad, and are considering doing your grad work in engineering - that becomes a much more unusual activity among Arts & Sciences majors, which is where Physics departments usually are.</p>
<p>If the university only breaks down their applicant pool by college and simply considers all A&S applicants together, all Eng applicants together, etc., then being a woman is probably a disadvantage in A&S - women are generally both overrepresented in the total applications and more so in A&S. If, however, they look at your first choice of majors and try to put together their class on that basis, it could be an advantage if your particular major interest is underrepresented. </p>
<p>How do you get to be captain? Are you selected by the coach, the best on your team at the subject, selected by your peers for your leadership, selected by your peers for your organizational abilities, elected after declaring your intent? What do you do differently as team captain from all the other teammates do? How much more work was it, and what results did you achieve? How did your personal growth and understanding expand as a direct consequence of becoming, and executing the duties of, team captain? Was it (probably) different for you than it was or would have been for a male team captain?</p>