<p>I just read an intereting article in the Harvard Crimson about the very low percentage of women in computer science at H. Some of the women felt a lack of confidence sometimes fueled by the impression that the men in CS were not too welcoming of women and preferred to work on project with other men. Is it at all the same for women in physics and math?</p>
<p>@JMMom - I read the same article, and didn’t really come away with the same conclusion. It seemed to me that the “nerd culture” (i.e. video gaming, reading digg/reddit/etc) that seems to predominate the CS concentration just didn’t appeal to a lot of girls. Those who did like that culture (i.e. Neena, Bartool) also found CS welcoming.</p>
<p>Here’s a post about females in Math 55 (the most difficult intro math class at Harvard, and likely the most difficult class in the US). [Sidebar:</a> Success in the World of ?Macho-boy Math? | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/12/6/sidebar-success-in-the-world-of/]Sidebar:”>The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>I don’t have numbers, but I feel like Physics probably has the highest % of female concentrators. It’s an intense but very friendly concentration.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman physics concentrator and she has not felt out of place at all in her physics (16A/15B) or math (21A/21B) classes. She has a study group for physics that includes both men and women and has found the environment to be very collaborative. Unlike the woman in the Math 55 article, my daughter did not enter H with a history of math and science competitions to prepare her for the culture (she was too busy with her performing arts). The physics department has worked diligently over the past 10-15 years on their pedagogy to address the issue that relatively few women pursue physics and while I don’t have the data, I would guess that just<em>forget</em>me is correct that they now have a relatively high % of women (relative to other physics or math programs). My daughter also had an easy time getting into a lab to do research as freshman. My take of the Crimson article is the same as just<em>forget</em>me’s. I would not be concerned.</p>