<p>Longhaul, take a look at this site–gives a good overview of different engineering fields (as well as science, math, computer, health…)</p>
<p>[Sloan</a> Career Cornerstone Center: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math & Healthcare](<a href=“http://www.careercornerstone.org/]Sloan”>http://www.careercornerstone.org/)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes. And I have really noticed that engineering is strongly pushed to girls who are strong in math.</p>
<p>“Look to your left…now look to your right”</p>
<p>The likelihood that the people on either side of you will still be here at the end of the year is x%, and that they will be with you at graduation z%…</p>
<p>(said every year by professors to incoming freshman in engineering programs across the nation)</p>
<p>Thanks scansmom!</p>
<p>"Yes. And I have really noticed that engineering is strongly pushed to girls who are strong in math. "</p>
<p>hmm.</p>
<p>At TJ all the kids do a senior year tech/research lab. DD was considering CAD lab, so first semester junior year took CAD. The CAD teacher, female and new to teaching from industry, took an interest in DD, told her she excelled in CAD (which she did, and it was the first thing she found where she was really better than other TJ kids, not a low bar) and that she should consider engineering (or maybe arch, but especially engineering) First time DD had a real mentor. DD then took architecture with that teacher, and hoped to have her for senior Tech lab. But she was budget cuts meant she left the school (though she was picked up at another FCPS HS) DD has chosen Arch as her path, and we support her in that, but DW wonders why a school like TJ didn’t see the value in a female engineering mentor/role model.</p>
<p>I majored in architectural engineering (meaning I studied the structural design of buildings; I have zero talent in architecture). I got my master’s degree in 1986. I am usually one of only two or three women at the local structural engineering association meetings. I think I have met only one woman whose father was NOT an engineer! I thought I’d see more women in the field by now. I have heard that there are more in other disciplines.</p>
<p>It’s been a great career for me - DH and I met in grad school, worked for other companies for 13 years, then started our own firm 11 years ago, that we run out of our house. We hope we never have to work for anybody else again!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmm, interesting, considering that there are still very, very few girls in engineering. I will be starting next year as a freshman at Carnegie Mellon for engineering, and I believe they still have about a 70/30 ratio, which is considered good. I remember attending a college fair, and I had a number of reps tell me about the great gender ration at their schools, great mostly being 70/30, with a few who actually were pretty good at 60/40.
In terms of my school, I constantly felt as though I had to fight my col
lege counselor to let me apply to any engineering programs. I think part of it was the fact that our college counseling department doesn’t like the idea of anyone committing him or herself to a specific program - we have sent comparatively few people to CMU, in part, I think, because of the way it is so split up into a school for business, one for engineering, one for science, one for humanities and social science, one for computer science, and so on. They much prefer to direct people towards well-rounded liberal arts programs. At least at my school (a very competitive, well-known private school), I barely saw anyone interested in engineering. It seems like everyone wants to be a doctor. My college counselor also didn’t like the idea of me making a commitment so early on in part because I didn’t do horribly in the humanities - I did well in my English classes, excelled in foreign language, had an 800 on CR, etc. Never mind the fact that I took two years of physics, elected to take AP Calc, AP Computer Science, and so on, received slightly better grades in math/science classes, or that I chose to attend a science/engineering summer program. However, I had a friend who was great at math/science, but showed an obvious deficiency in the humanities - our college counselors had no problem letting her commit to math/science oriented programs. Perhaps my school is unique, but I certainly felt a lot of resistance, which was hard to understand, given what I perceive as a great need to produce more scientists and engineers in this country. And not just more scientists and engineers, but well-rounded scientists and engineers with decent writing skills and so on. </p>
<p>Both my parents are doctors, though, so maybe that’s why I didn’t entertain the idea of going to med school like so many other people I know ;)</p>
<p>I see that others experiences are different, but several people tried to interest D in engineering. She is very strong in math, but has NO interest in engineering. Same story with several other girls I know. The were numerous scholarship opportunities available at her HS for women in engineering also.</p>
<p>BBD- that surprises me with TJ.</p>
<p>Brooklynborndad: was she fairly new to the school? I am thinking there is not a whole lot of turnover at the school so she could have been the low person on the totem pole. </p>
<p>The teacher with the least amount of time is the first one out when budget cut hits. I know in our county, the principal has some discretion but not when it comes to who to save or to axe when the word comes down from the central office. They line up everyone according to length of service per dept. and start with the person with the least amount of time. There is no choice for the teacher – they have to accept the reassignment or lose their job.</p>
<p>I don’t know about in general, but engineering is sure a popular topic on this website.</p>
<p>"
No one says they intend to major in “science” in college."</p>
<p>My D does. She wants to be a chemistry major. Not a chemical engineer.</p>
<p>^^that’s my point. She says she wants to major in “chemistry”, not some undefined discipline called “science”. When someone says they want to major in “engineering” but do not further define it as chemical engineering or computer engineering or industrial engineering, I assume they just can’t define what they want or have no idea what they’ll be doing as an engineer.</p>
<p>My S is a rising freshman in a chemical engineering program. He’s a bright kid who really, really took to his chem classes in high school, and both chem teachers were strong mentors to him. His AP chem teacher in particular pushed Chem E; his first chem teacher thought he’d be better suited toward research rather than engineering - I kind of agree with him.</p>
<p>S is stressing some now because he had been a bit of a slacker in high school but is really determined to do well in college. He has the aptitude; he will have to stay on top of his time management. I hope he sticks with it, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up switching out into a regular chemistry track.</p>
<p>“No one says they intend to major in “science” in college.”</p>
<p>I’ve heard that several times. Sure, probably less than those who say they want to major in “Engineering,” but I imagine that is because there are far more engineering majors than science non-premed majors.</p>
<p>There are types of engineering majors at colleges, but isn’t “mechanical” engineering the basic one? The first year or so pretty much has the same courses, anyways. I was a math major and took the same courses other than one that was specific to engineering majors for the first two years. I could have changed to an engineering major after that and still graduated on time. There is a much higher drop out rate for engineering that those changing to that major. I know I had my head handed to me taking the math and sciences that were slated for the engineering majors. The courses were definitely faster paced and at a higher level than those taking the same courses as natural science or other majors. The regular calc was far less difficult, for example, and the Physic was two semester for most kids whereas engineering majors took it over three terms and for more credits each term.</p>
<p>No, mechanical is not the basic one. They are all individual disciplines. I would not have done well in mechanical, but I loved structural.</p>
<p>
Most future science students will take biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics courses in high school. While it is true that these courses may not provide an accurate view of a college major in these fields, the fact is that such students probably think they know enough about these different subjects to pick one. Very few students will take electrical engineering and mechanical engineering courses in high school, and as such they have limited ability to pick one right off the bat. They may just know that they like math and science and are interested in engineering design.</p>
<p>Older s is a Mech E (and is just accepting a new job offer) and younger s is majoring in Chem E. In this economy, these are good skils to have.</p>
<p>The reason why many potential Engineering students don’t know what they want to major in is because there aren’t many as many Engineering courses in high school in the first place. It might be just my high school, but they do split the sciences into Bio, Chem, and Physics, but there’s only one Engineering course. And I’ve never seen an Engineering course as a pre-requisite for admissions into any program, whereas Science courses are common pre-requisites. The pre-requisites for Engineering programs (at the schools I’m interested in) are Calculus, Physics, and Chemistry. Now, how is anyone supposed to decide which specific Engineering stream he/she is interested in based on taking Science courses in high school? Most high school students don’t even know the difference between the different streams until Junior year. </p>
<p>Just take a look at the ETS tests. AP exams are offered for Bio, Chem, Physics, and Environmental Science. Obviously, any Science major would know well the difference between the different streams. But with Engineering, just because you like Biology and Engineering, it doesn’t mean you’d like Biological Engineering.</p>
<p>^ I agree. I also think that’s why students who like math (both male and female) are pushed towards engineering, even if a love of math isn’t going to be enough to make them successful engineers. You get such little exposure to engineering at most high schools that it’s hard to know if you’ve really got an aptitude for it in advance. And since you need strong math skills to be an engineer (you need more than that, but without beign good at quant stuff you won’t succed), that’s the indicator that most people focus on, because that’s the only one that most high school students display.</p>