Tufts and Affirmative Action

ariesathena
Mon, 15 May 2006 03:43:13 +0000

Former engineer here…

First of all, if you think that being a woman will get you in the door, honey, you’re in for a rude awakening. That may be the stereotype, but I’ll disabuse you of that one right now. Women engineers actually have higher stats than male engineers; generally, they don’t even apply unless they are very qualified, while men will apply anyway. SATs also under-predict women’s performance in college and over-predict men’s performance. So the whole “women are admitted at higher rates into engineering” thing is a myth made up by men who got rejection letters. I got into Tufts engineering because of my straight As and perfect SAT score, not because of my double-x chromosome.

Second, there is no affirmative action on your diploma. People do drop engineering; there is no shortage of weed-out courses. Tufts does not accept people who are not qualified. Affirmative action matters a LOT less for engineering; if you can’t do the work, then you won’t be an engineer.

Third, overall, Tufts practices affirmative action for men. It tries to retain a gender balance with the university as a whole; as more women than men apply and they tend to be more qualified, men have an easier chance of getting in.

Fourth, what makes you think that Tufts has a high percentage of women in engineering because it takes unqualified or underqualified women? The reason that I loved Tufts and wanted to apply there is because it’s notoriously friendly towards women, in a way that its neighbour in Cambridge is not. I know more women in my high school who applied to Tufts engin. than men who applied. They work hard to recruit top women.

Fifth - please realize that every time you say that “affirmative action” will help you get through the door, you insult every single person like you who got in on their own merit but can be dismissed with “affirmative action.” I was as or more qualified than every man who gave me the “they only took you because you’re a woman” line. As I said, given the number of weed-out courses, people’s attitudes change afterwards: if you make it through engin., it’s because you’re smart, tough, and worked your butt off. Rude awakening is in store for you, because your gender isn’t going to make it the cake walk you expected. There’s a reason why women engineers are highly respected in the working world.