The Secret History of Women in Coding: Computer programming once had much better gender balance than it does today. What went wrong?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/magazine/women-coding-computer-programming.html
@SkepticalOfMost thank you for that article! I am the single mom of a D19 waiting for admissions results to come in. She has always excelled in and LOVES math having perfect scores in PSAT, two SAT, Math 2, and 5 in CalcBC. I tried to get her in coding in middle school but there were only very nerdy guys, very few girls and she wasn’t mature enough not to care. She is a very social active girl popular cheerleader/school leader so VERY against type, even for girls who code. She found some pockets of similar girls that loved math in an organization that runs girls math tournaments. Then this past summer she attended the MIT Womens Technology Program where she fell in love with Computer Science. So that is what she wants to do and now that she has matured and doesn’t care that she will be studying with lots of nerdy guys. But she is nervous because she has no acceptances yet. I wonder if her lack of EC’s in computer activities will hurt her. After we know where she will be next year, I will pass the article along to her to prepare her from what she might encounter, and motivate her to look at the past history of all the pioneering women that started this field.
@19parent – good luck to your daughter, she seems to fit the profile of the kind of student CMU is looking for (strong in math and with good social skills)!
If you haven’t come across it you might be interested in “Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University” by Carol Frieze and Jeria Quesenberry. It’s only a little over 100 pages and provides more detail about the CMU efforts to bring gender balance to computer science.
When considering CMU my daughter was initially turned off by the overall seeming geekiness of the males but her attitude changed during her accepted student visit after she went to a lunch with Junior/Senior women and got a feel for how they networked and supported each other.
There is definitely an “old girls network” with both students and alums that she’s been active in and proud of.
@SkepticalOfMost thank you so much! I will definitely pick up that book for her!
@SkepticalOfMost I saw on other forum that your kid was in CMU IS class of 2021…how is she liking it…I ask because my D got into IS this year and I am looking for guidance from some seniors at CMU…especially in the IS program…
@19parent …My daughter applied to the WTP too but unfortunately did not get it. She ended up going to CMU for the APEA summer program…hope your daughter got in to CMU…
@SkepticalOfMost…would it be possible to talk to you about your experience so far as my daughter is confused about IS at CMU and the courses…she is accepted to the class of 2023 and needs to decide whether to accept…
@flodad she recently graduated. Message me