engineering for females

Hayleygirl99
Sat, 20 Apr 2019 15:26:32 +0000

Hi!
I’m currently an female Electrical Engineering student who is also really good at English, so I kind of know where you’re coming from.
First of all, if you’re looking at engineering because of the money (I’m not assuming you are, just putting it out there), I’d stick with English if that’s what you really love. It will make your time in college a lot more enjoyable and you’ll have a lot of marketable skills like communication and writing. Also, I know a local CEO with an English degree, so there are definitely career opportunities, even if it’s a bit harder to get started.
That said, if you are really interested in engineering, welcome to the club! It really is a fascinating field. Don’t worry too much about your ec’s. I did debate through my school and loads of leadership through girl scouts (in addition to being on a robotics team, but that was just because I enjoyed it). Maybe see if you can work STEM issues into your ec’s? Like, I did a ton of STEM advocacy in my leadership roles. No matter what, do what you enjoy. If you can talk/write passionately about whatever you did in high school, it will be more impressive than being ambivalent about a bunch of STEM ec’s. Also, if you’re considering CS, it’s pretty easy to teach yourself programming online these days so you don’t necessarily have to join a club to try it out.
Now, I don’t know the answer to your main question, if its easier to get into engineering programs as a female. I think it depends on the program and the college. Biomedical has a high percentage of women, my degree and Mechanical engineering have low percentages of women, so that may affect it as well. But I do agree with the other posters on here and would highly suggest that you enter engineering directly. It’s really hard to switch into engineering without lengthening your time at college because there are so many math and science prereqs to take before you even start the engineering classes. If you’re even on the edge about engineering, I’d enter the major and then if it doesn’t work you can change into English relatively easily. Speaking of prereqs though, if you’re considering engineering I would try to be ready to enter Calculus 1 at the time you enter college. Not the end of the world if you’re not, but it may hold you back a bit.
I’m from the West coast, so I’m not familiar with the SAT scale, but I wouldn’t worry too much about the difference in your math/verbal scores. I got perfect scores on the Reading/English portions of the ACT and 3-4 points lower than perfect on the Math/Science (to give you some reference, 36 is a perfect score on the ACT while 21 is the national average). All my scores were really good, but my English scores were better while my math/science scores were still too low to get me into elite STEM schools (namely, Georgia Tech). But you don’t need to get into elite scores to study engineering. It’s in a lot of demand, so even a state school will get you a good job. And if you enjoy engineering, you’ll be able to get through the math and science classes (no shame in hiring a tutor if you have too) and keep in mind that nobody expects a 4.0 GPA out of engineering students. To put it shortly, just because you’re better at english on paper, and may even really enjoy english (I know I do), that doesn’t mean that English is the only career for you or that you shouldn’t study engineering.
One last thing. Some schools have Honors programs. These usually focus on liberal arts education but are open to all majors. They may be a little more difficult (not really at my school, but maybe at others) but they will give you the excuse to take some humanities courses while studying engineering. Or don’t worry about filling certain requirements and just take random English courses for the fun of it. I’m thinking of dropping Honors to do a Spanish minor, but you could also do any humanities related minor, just for fun. And if you do take an English minor, it will probably help you in your career because STEM companies are looking for more STEM majors with strong communication skills.
Ultimately, just go with what feels right to you, and don’t worry if it changes down the road. It’s great to have a plan, but when I was your age I wanted to be a mechanical engineer only to find out my brain just doesn’t work that way. Then I wanted to be a biomedical engineer all the way up to starting college last fall, but when I got into the major I realized again that it just didn’t fit me. Thinking about my time in robotics led me to choose electrical engineering, which is a good fit for me. A lot of times it just takes some trial and error. Perhaps more similarly to you, my younger sister wanted to study animation at your age but is now thinking about being a math teacher or geologist instead. I’d recommend trying out some STEM ec’s or at least messing around with that kind of stuff on your own time to see if you’re really interested in doing it for a career, but don’t worry too much if you change your mind. And I wouldn’t choose a major based on how easy/hard it is to get into. Choose what you love!