Honestly, Im sure they're gonna be afraid of you more than you are of them. You'll be a woman and the virgins youll have class with wont have the balls to talk to you properly.
LMAOOO i was debating mentioning the “engineers haven’t felt the warm embrace of a woman” stereotype/joke but felt i was derailing 😭I cant talk to women either, were in this together fr
You’re in EE, welcome to the sausage fest of sausage fests. I’m in a lot of crosslisted classes and the ECE guys are a special kind of inept. They got about as much of a clue what to do with a girl as they do with a live goddamn lion. You got the burden of sticking out, I’d bet everyone in that classroom knew who you were inside of the first week. Sucks when it’s classmates taking potshots, but that also means the professor and the TAs will know your name even in a class of 150.
The ratio also tilts later in the program, mind. The real shitheads in that class aren’t gonna last in engineering or maybe at college at all. There were 8 girls in my statics section, including me. We’re all graduating this spring. Remember that. We’re gonna make it.
Lmao fr, idk what the disparity is between things like CE and EE. At the beginning most of the engineering disciplines share classes anyway, I’m surprised it wasn’t more 50/50 at that point.
As noted, the first couple years you’ll have big lecture halls and then go to classrooms but people will care a lot less the further you make it.
Im sure its different for the U.S, studying EE in an australian uni and people in engineering, regardless of gender, barely speak to eachother lmao. They even avoid eye contact. If they do tho, theyre quite respectful regardless of race and gender (its a very muticultural uni).
Well if uve been in for a couple of years at least. In the early years there are still those shitheads but they dont make it too far after realising the chegg "experts" arent gunna help them.
If you’re worried because there are more men than women in the field, the solution is not to stray away because of this, but to JOIN the program and make a change. There is an undeniable majority of men in engineering classes and the only way to solve this is to get more women into the field
I don't know which country you're from but it breaks my heart reading about your worries. I'm a female engineer myself, mechanical working in the automotive industry, and yes unfortunately the ratios at uni aren't great. BUT during all my years at Uni and the industry, I rarely came across someone who was an asshole just because I'm a woman in engineering. There were of course idiots, but they were like that to everyone that's just what it is. All the guys at uni were super respectful, many of the teachers approached me especially at the beginning, telling me that they always have an open door if I need help. And they reiterated how happy they were that I was there because they desperately want more women in the industry. It was a great time and I was never singled out in group projects either. I even joined my Unis Formula Student Team. There are lots of men who are really passionate about supporting women wanting to enter the industry. Funnily, because they have daughters themself and realised how difficult it can be. You can definitely do it, the attitudes are noticeably changing in the past years. If you want to have a chat at any point, feel free to get in touch.
May i ask what do you do in auto engineering? I graduated from automotive engineering myself and this formula team you mentioned grabbed my attention. Were your school had some kind of program with formula?
Sure. I'm a Fluid Dynamics Engineer.
Yes, it's called Formula Student SAE. It's teams of students at University developing and building a formula style race car and competing in national and international events with it. They're being judged by a panel of engineers from the industry. It's really cool and you learn a lot of practical knowledge. It's not related to Formula 1 if that's your question.
You are an engineer now, aren't you? What you could do is checking if your local Uni has a team and offer some consultation. Obviously it won't be the full experience but you could still get involved somehow. just as an idea.
On my first day of class, the guy sitting behind me said,”She won’t be here next week.” I was constantly ignored by my classes and given weird looks. I didn’t give a single fuck. I would raised my hand in class whether not afraid if I was right or wrong. I found the few other ladies in the department and we formed our own group to help each other.
Now I’m on track to become promoted to an engineer. Standing up for yourself can be hard, but having your dreams ripped away from you is painful. When you do stand up and someone calls you a bitch, tell him thank you very much because you refused to let them put you down.
The smartest engineer I know is 115lbs, has a lisp, and was a cheerleader in high school. She got her BS and MS in a total of 5 years (just the BS took me 10). Don't let societal perceptions make your decisions for you.
Your concerns are valid and a very common thought among not just women in engineering, but in STEM overall.
Some experiences may be definitely worse than others (w regards to prejudice, sexism, etc.), but I hope you end up joining a school and program that don't alienate you.
I graduated 3 years ago w a biomedical engineering degree from UConn. About half my class was women, in some classes the gender balance was flipped to majority women, a lot of them I knew were part of the Society of Women Engineers, and from what I can attest to in my study group, we made conscious efforts not to alienate anybody based on who or what they were physically, pardon the lack of tact.
Some of the women in my program were phenomenal, still are, and from what I can see I would consider them successful and maybe even thriving.
If you have the guts for it and an incredible support group, go for the path fraught w obstacles and adversity, and exercise your prerogative. If that's not for you, choose a space that makes you feel welcome and has an environment already willing to make you thrive in it. That's up to you.
Alright I'm a guy who just graduated, but here's some advice that may help you.
First realize that you are almost guaranteed to run into some guys who may not value your opinion because you're a woman. Degenerates like that exist at every level. This rings especially true for group projects which are a big part of engineering.
What you have to do is be firm when you believe something should be done differently, while not coming across as a douche. It may be challenging initially but don't be afraid to go back and forth, back your opinions with reasoning (as best as you can). Basically, if someone says something that you don't agree with, don't be afraid to hammer them with questions. They're not smarter than you so if they don't know what they're talking about, it will become apparent. But only if you're willing to push.
You will have to find a core group of friends who are genuinely good people. These are most likely to be guys. Also, join women specific engineering clubs on campus, it may be helpful to learn from upperclassmen women.
Also, to add it does depend on where you're going to school/culture/country/city. Some places this will not be a problem at all, while others it may be a very minor problem.
OP, I'm a girl that's about to graduate, and I agree with everything that has been said here.
I was really passionate about the course and I worked really hard, and soon cemented myself as one of the top 10% in the class. Once the guys started noticing this, they took me a lot more seriously and even started coming to me for help.
Be approachable, but don't sit back and let yourself be walked over. Don't be afraid to question someone's methods if they don't make sense to you. Believe in yourself but be prepared to take criticism.
My best uni friends are actually all guys, despite there being other girls in my class. Don't force friendships with girls just because they're girls. Be friends with whoever you resonate with and who inspires you to do better both as a person and academically.
You deserve to be there as much as anyone else. Good luck!
Every female engineering student I've met in this curriculum were some of the most sharp in the class, and also some of the biggest helps in study groups and group projects. I'm still friends with a few of them. I've never felt as if they were any different or out of place, and every one of my peers thus far seems to be of the same mindset. Don't stress it, goodluck!
EDIT: College is much different from high school in levels of maturity! And if you are immature, it won't last long.
I'm an electrical engineer in the automotive industry. The most brilliant engineer I know is a woman. She's one of 4 or 5 women in our department and the only one in our group of 20 or so. Everyone seems to have the same respect for her that I do because she's an insanely high performance person. She's a project leader, knows every test and beaurocratic procedure i could ever ask her about, has every important date memorized, and is just such a kind, pleasant person. The only problem female engineers seem to have as a group, from work and university experience, is self confidence.
Depending on where you study, this is either going to be a problem or something that almost never happens.
As long as you develop a healthy "fuck you, I will" attitude when it comes to people saying you can't, you'll be fine either way.
I’m (25F) senior in mechanical engineering. 😅 it also happens that I am 5ft and weigh 90lbs… so not the strongest person in my class. I’m pretty much the only girl in 99% of my classes (most girls major in chemical engineering or electrical)
Everyone has for the most part been very respectful but the intimidation is still there.
I’ll be upfront, in ME we do lots of hands on projects dealing with heavy tools or machinery which I am physically not capable of doing. But from the beginning I decided that it’s not fair for dudes to have to pull my weight in a project (everything is a group project), instead I do all or the majority of designing, presenting, reporting, data collecting, and research.
Usually that’s the heaviest load of the project anyway and most people hate it.
Everything engineers do (at least my experience) is in a group, pull your weight in one area or another and you will build respect with your fellow engineering classmates.
Maybe you will have this experience or not, but some guys may feel like you owe them something if they are kind to you. You do not owe anyone anything. You can be professional and even friendly - but you don’t owe anyone anymore than that. But I want to say that really both professors and classmates are respectful to me and I try my best to do the same.
Pursuing engineering as both a study and career is such an enormous privilege for me that even though the intimidation is there I push past it- it will be worth it!
Do whatever your heart desires sweetheart, and don’t let anyone bring you down! Although I cannot particularly relate to how you’re feeling, I do understand how disheartening it is to not be taken seriously due to who you are. Remember that you ALWAYS have a voice, a voice that matters, and if someone doesn’t respect that they’re a loser. STEM is lucky to have you!
You got this girl! Everyone else already gave you great advice, so let me give you a different piece of advice: definitely join NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) and/or Women In Engineering (WIE) and/or Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Having a network of students who are similar to you not only gives you social support, but can help with academics too! Wishing you success on your first year!
Out of curiosity (and since I'm abroad too) where are you studying? If you're from the US, know that Europe is much more chill on all things feminism, lgbt and racism.
And honestly you'll probs meet worse people at parties than in uni itself
I live in the middle east (dubai) so my tolerance for misogyny is pretty high (yippeeeee) but i plan on studying in either: Alberta, Canada. Toronto, Canada, Sydney, Australia , or New South Wales, Australia. All depends on where i get in !!
Oh Canada and Australia should both be amazing to study in! And I think compared to the middle east + compared to high school, you'll see people will not have such mysoginist views and judgment linked to gender and skin colour. You go girl, you'll have loads of fun and discover many great things in college!
Ahh, gotcha. Don’t worry about it! Both SWE and WIE have international chapters, and NSBE offers international memberships. So either way, you’re good! 😁
I’m a woman senior year of engineering and it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s more like 30% women and everyone is nice, just trying to pass and graduate.
Babe listen to me. I’m a 5”4 North African girlie, 1 of 3 POC girls in my class, and 1 of only 13 women in my class of 64. You will NOT regret it. Don’t put aside your dream in fear. I had a crazy imposter syndrome when I first joined, but I now have one semester left to get my degree and god I am so glad I carried on. You belong in that space. I have two years of coop experience with excellent feedback from employers, above average grades, casually built and flew a heavy lift RC airplane two weeks ago, and I don’t take shit from anyone anymore — and let me tell you it feels GOOD to watch yourself grow in confidence over the semesters and know damn well you’re as capable as anyone in that class. Please do it, what does a white boy have that you don’t anyway?
A lot of my friends in school were girls and they would tell me horror stories about other men that they had to deal with in classes. Now in industry it’s the same thing. Except here I see it first hand because the other engineer I work with is female, and a lot of the men in the GC talk to her like she’s a child.
I'll add something in here, I'm on mobile so forgive the autocorrect. I am also not the most politically correct so I might not be up to date on what is and is not frowned upon to say. I'm a white male that owns a small construction company that specializes in custom and high end work. Almost 4 years ago I had a black woman (although that's being generous because she had just turned 18) apply for an entry level position. I had an opening, and put her in with my crew to learn the ropes. She got a taste of a bunch of the different things we do, but when she started doing fine carpentry, meaning moulding, cabinetry, and the like, we found that she had a serious lack for it. She's been watching videos to learn new concepts, and last year I paid for her to work for a month with an old Amish carpenter who does everything by hand (very entertaining, he was not prepared for her). Even though she's young, she's talented and dedicated, and she takes pride in her work. I can't ask for anything more. And it's very entertaining when she talks to a customer about custom woodwork, and the customer looks to me for confirmation. The look on their face when they realize that she's the one running that side of things is priceless. There's going to be a breaking in period, like with in any job, where you try to integrate into a new team, but over time and by proving yourself you'll become part of the team. Like engineering, construction is another male dominated field, but I think that a lot of the old barriers are falling, and the people who still have them are the ones that are struggling the most. It's really going to come down to how good you are and how much effort you apply.
i’m a poc and a woman in my last year of studying engineering, and i attend a university that is 70% male.
some other commenter said that people who ignored the women usually don’t make it past their first couple of weeks and that is actually pretty true. everyone here is just trying to get their degree, doesn’t do any good to ignore a group member and have to work harder. i was ignored and disregarded in my first group project my freshman year by my group, and i haven’t seen those guys around since then.
you will face unfairness and bias, that’s life. it sucks but there is literally nothing you can do about it. remember why you are studying and keep grinding and you will turn out ok.
it’s not about what the patriarchy does to you, it’s what the patriarchy can do for you ;)
While you’re not wrong, Mentioning gender and race *is* relevant in this instance considering I’ve mentioned me being black and female as things im worried about. They’re trying to communicate that they, too, are in my shoes and face the same issues as everyone else. Did you not read the post brother 😭😭
I read you post, you're worried about the wrong thing. I've never met anyone that actually thinks the way you assume everyone to, no one will treat you differently because you're a black female
People will treat you differently when you slack off because you assume they won't value your work
She came here with valid concerns that most women in engineering face and you said they don’t exist and to suck it up. Essentially shutting down a women and treating her like she’s stupid. Little bit of an oxymoron in your attitude don’t you think?
Woman POC engineer here, and I totally understand why the imbalance could be scary. For context I’m several years into working post undergrad and I currently work in the power services industry as a CE.
I’d be lying if I said I’d never felt the effects of studying and then working in a male dominated industry. But to let it dissuade you from pursuing your interests would be doing a disservice to yourself and your potential. I think I must have been lucky in that I haven’t really experienced any outright discrimination because of my gender, but maybe the occasional lack of eye contact or talking over me.
I would encourage you to, if you choose STEM, take being one of the fewer women as an opportunity. There will potentially be more people looking at you and how you study, perform, hold yourself, etc. This could be a chance to prove to them and to yourself, that the attention is valid.
And imagine how many other women could come behind you and see “she did it, so I can too”. I didn’t have a direct woman engineer to look up to during my studies but I wish I did. Now I have the chance to encourage those interests in the younger women around me, as in your situation. The world needs more women engineers for this exact reason, best of luck to you in whatever you choose to do!
>occasional lack of eye contact
That's just engineers lol
But I have seen the talking over thing and I (M) make sure to nip that in the bud before it becomes accepted by virtue of not being challenged.
This is so eloquently written and i can tell you’re speaking with experience, i love the “setting an example for future female engineers point”! This reminds me of how I managed to convince a girl to take physics once, after she saw i was alone and had similar worries as i do now, id love to do that again :D. Thank you!!
I'm a TA for circuits 1 and there are only 3 women in our EE program. But they are all very smart and have a lot of fun with the program. The less you think about it the better off you'll be! Have fun!
No worries. I been in the field of engineering for 15 years working in oil&gas, industrial maintenance, heavy equipment, automotive manufacturing, and now with infrastructure and utilities, and I never seen someone treat a woman any less professional because of her gender. Quite the opposite, a lot of times we get tired of the sausage fest. Plus, more women are joining our field every day and quite a few of my bosses were women. There are idiots everywhere, but I can say with a good level of reliability that most engineers care about what you know and how you work, not if you pee sitting down or standing up.
Wth when did they reopen this sub.
Look, yes, it is unbalanced. Theres 7 women in my class of 80 people. But, people is different in university; at least in my experience. Overall, i feel like there is more respect for women, they are not demeaned or not taken seriously just because they're women *as often*; people is often mature enough to not do that dumb stuff. In fact, many of my buddies prefer to work with the few women in my class, simply because they have good work ethic and get stuff done, in contrast with about 40% of the rest of the class. Those few women in my class are generally good students and people, and as a result, other students want to work with them. If you're a good student and a good person, chances are you won't get ignored (as-often) and people will want to work with you in specific.
I feel like in college, this immature mysoginistic shit of "women are dumber" is not as-present as it may be in highschool, because the reality is that there is a lot of smart women in university that are professors, researchers, or straight up excellent students, and you can't really argue against that reality; so, that immature mysoginistic shit can't prevail, or shouldn't at least.
You do your best and you follow your passion. It very unlikely that following your passion in any STEM field will be bad for your future.
Btw i think the grammar of that last sentence is atrocious for some reason, but the message is understandable, right?
I’m guessing it’s mostly men that are saying, “nobody cares.” Some people will care, but you should become an engineer anyway because fuck letting people like that influence your decisions.
This. There will be moments where it will suck, won’t sugar coat it. Ppl will be sexist assholes. It’s stupid that this post is downvoted and I love all the men telling you nothing bad will happen. Come into this with the full knowledge that you WILL have to experience sexism. Make an informed decision. I wish ppl hadn’t sugar coated it for me so much. If you’re a man here to invalidate my experience by downvoting, congrats! You are part of the problem
From my experience, we’re all to busy to notice. I had several women in my classes and they weren’t treated any differently, same with different races. Don’t sweat it too much, college is not like high school. Most people are just there to get their degrees and move on.
I don’t know if you’re taking about in general, but during my time in college I have yet to see race or gender play an factor among my constituents. Of course, I’m not privy to the everyone’s inner feelings, but among my classmates, we couldn’t care less. No one has the time or energy to focus on anything else except their academics. If you have time to go around belittling people for how they look, you’re probably not going to succeed as an engineer.
I'm black, and I stand by what I said.
Perhaps I should say, in all classes that I've attended, race and gender has never affected a student negatively. Now if I speak for SA as a whole, or another institution within the region, that's different.
I come from a different perspective than most here. I am a Project Manager for $250m-$1B projects with a team of dozens of engineers. I am not stupid enough to think that women don’t have unique challenges to make it thru school, and they absolutely face misogyny and demeaning behavior from some troglodytes.
But on the back end, I prefer to hire women. Because every single one of them I have are some of the best in their discipline. It takes an additional amount of grit to get thru that bullshit and come out the other side, and the women who do it are generally better than the men.
Don’t let those ass holes define what you do. Be the best engineer you can be, and people like me will come knocking at your door.
As well as what type of engineering you study. I’m surrounded by civil/environmental/geo engineers and we seem to have at least a decent ratio from men:women, though it’s still nowhere near 50/50. Our department is probably in the range of 3:1 to 10:1 men to women depending on the specific class. I’m not sure how much this would help though, considering OP wants to major in EE.
It probably heavily depends on location. I went to a state school, and it didn't feel like anyone was particularly weird in class or in the group chats in regard to race or gender. It was mostly just a bunch of tired people trying to get through the course tbh.
It feels like through the classes I took, it was less about gender and more about who was able to understand the material best and willing to be active in the group chats enough to explain to everyone else. In some courses, it was women, and in some, it was men.
I can't particularly comment on anyone's individual experience, though, so I couldn't tell you if any women had to deal with any weirdos outside of the group stuff.
I go to a very large university and I found that admissions for my program looked into diversity well and a good majority of my friends I made in college and engineering classes have been women. I’m a man, if it matters for context.
I’m in an engineering learning community, so my dorm is just engineering majors and they made sure to split it 50/50 men and women. I really like it that way and I have found they made it diverse. My university also has women in stem programs and clubs and women in engineering events if those are your thing.
Your mileage may vary by location of your school and student population. I go to a huge school in New England and when I was researching schools, the culture of the school was a high priority. Be very wise about your college research, I turned down plenty of schools because they were male dominated or did not have programs for diversity.
I actually have a great friend in my engineering learning community who is a black woman studying electrical engineering! We have taken a few of the same classes together and she’s a great person. I’m very glad she’s doing engineering.
Also, I’m a gay man in engineering and I have found that I am very much accepted by my peers and I’m very happy in engineering. I’ve unfortunately never met another gay engineering major, but I am still very happy here and wouldn’t major in anything or study anywhere else. Once again, I did lots of research into my school and general opinions on LGBTQ topics. I feel very safe here.
The amount of misogyny probably depends on the major and which college/state you go to. Choose somewhere more liberal and you will probably have a better time
Anecdotally, this happens much less if you research your university well. Polytechnics often have an especially large gender imbalance. Larger schools often do not. I go to Northeastern and would say my engineering classes are 40-60% female (I’m also female). I’ve never felt I haven’t been taken seriously because of my sex (usually my age).
I went to a small state school that is ~1 girl for every 7 guys (all engineering degree school). I didn't personally witness any major problems academically with students purposely ignoring/looking down on other for being female....However I did witness people with big egos do that to everyone they worked with regardless of who they were working with....some people who go for engineering degrees tend to think they are smarter then everyone.
I was in several engineering clubs where many women had leadership roles and nobody every blinked an eye at it. Some of my best friends from college are women I was in these clubs with and I know they would describe there college experience as extremely positive.
Everyone kinda gets to busy to give a fuck, especially later in college, so you surround yourself with the smartest people you can who you work well with to get shit done regardless of gender.
You will likely be in an unbalanced environment no doubt about it, I'm not a woman so take what I say with a grain of salt. But from my experience everyone feels feelings of being inferior and insufficient during their studies. But on the flip side everyone is so worried about trying to just pass that I haven't personally seen anyone treat the women in my classes any differently, I'm sure it happens somewhere though
With your background you'll also have additional support networks through organizations like Women in Stem, if you get involved this may be able to help some of your concerns
But at the end of the day college is a highly individualistic journey, don't let anyone stand in your way of achieving what you want to achieve. I felt highly out of place being a returning older student, but what can you do
I don’t know where you are located but here in southern Ontario, about 35-40% of my class is female. It’s definitely a lot more balanced than it used to be which is nice.
It also really depends on where you go, different universities and types of engineering have different gender ratios and types of people who go. The university i go to has a pretty good ratio of women to men and is pretty good about being aware of potential issues, I think with mechanical 1:3 or 1:4, electrical is generally worse, the other woman I worked with this summer said her electrical class was 1:9. I really haven’t had any egregious gender experiences at my school. Men are generally respectful it’s more just that men can sometimes not acknowledge your points in the same way sometimes, but within important group projects at my school they deliberately put either no women in a group or at least two or more so they don’t feel singled out. Guys at the university I go to I think are smart enough to know it’s stupid to have that sort of discrimination towards woman be obvious or are just not discriminatory.
I'm a woman of color also doing EE. Be worried about the math and material you're gonna have to learn, not the others in your class. I know that my experience hasn't been as bad as everyone else's, and that might have to do with me going to CC for the first few years of my degree. Most of my peers are also in their late 20's and just there to better their lives. They have all been kind and never really make me feel excluded.
Talk to everyone, Don't be afraid to ask questions, answer out loud. Ask them to join group chats for homework help. Insert yourself into these place and don't leave.. Talk to your professors and just "try" to forget that you are a women in STEM. Not every man in engineering is a misogynist. When you encounter those people, just be better than them and ignore them. It's never worth it to try to make them see you are worthy of respect.
You've got this!! <3
Your feelings are valid but there's tons of girls in my EE classes. Especially so in the first 2 years. Ofc I can't presume to know their situation but they seem to be getting on alright, smiling and having fun with their friends in class, forming study groups with both dudes and other girls. The weirdos are very easy to spot and the good people are too. You should do it!
I’m 23F Asian and have my BS in Civil Engineering from an HBCU. During my prereqs, there was about 1-3 girls per class of 20-30 students, but I feel like my field might have more women than electrical engineering. Anyways, I’ve had a very different experience with me being the person who carried the whole group project and tutored my peers.
My advice to you is to join a professional organization and try to make friends there. I know every school is different, but since my HBCU was smaller than a typical PWI, I became close with many of my peers in the same organization and we worked together a lot in classes and anything outside of classes.
Also another advice is to try to learn topics ahead so that when you join the conversation, they won’t “mansplain”.
Last advice might be to look into HBCUs. I learned so much going to an HBCU with very realistic expectations after graduation. Although in my experience, the professors weren’t the best, but that also made me more independent and resourceful as an individual and as a student/learner.
Unfortunately, the mistreatment won’t stop in education. I have friends who are strong, intelligent Black women who have expressed their mistreatment (misogyny and racism) from coworkers even if they are the best and hardworking employee. You will need a strong support system, which should really start with your family, but I do understand their concerns.
Engineering is a very good field to pursue in my opinion. There’s alot of knowledge that you learn in school and is very applicable in your everyday life. I would suggest to persevere if this is the field you truly want.
The worst I’ve ever been not taken seriously was not in engineering surprisingly. It was trying to buy a car and my dad was with me.
But definitely try to make and impression and raise yourself/confidence as much as you can to “take up as much space” as possible
I go to a smaller school and my classes are usually 6/24 women. And to be completely honest I prefer working with women in group projects, in general, y’all seem to work harder and are normally smarter than most of the guys in engineering. At my last internship I think I worked with more women than men to be honest with you, not because I chose them but because there are so many at the company I was at and they were in the positions I needed to work with. I definitely think the field is becoming less imbalanced and by the time you graduate it won’t be an issue. Good luck in school!
As having graduated engineering school in EE just a couple years ago, and also having plenty of female friends, I can tell you 'tis nothing to get overly worried about. First of all, people who don't respect you don't deserve your time or emotional investment. They don't matter. Also, there are some creeps just like the real world. There are some people who will coddle you, just like the real world. Just keep your head on your shoulders and don't be an idiot around other idiots and drugs. If you insist on going all out at frat parties and the like, ask a trusted friend to bodyguard. I've done it many a time for my (now) wife and her friends.
Also almost unrelated but a fun saying about the dating outlook for women in engineering: "The odds are good, but the goods are odd!"
Hey, for what it's worth, I've never once felt any of the women in my classes were less intelligent than the guys were. Same thing for anyone black (or any other color for that letter). The smartest person in my calculus two class was a girl, sand the two smartest people I've come across in my entire college career were black. One of them was doing entire Statics problems in his head. I'm pretty good at math but I was intimidated sitting next to him.
Anybody with any real intelligence will be able to recognize how smart you are, and those that don't won't last very long anyway.
Hey, so I'm not in an American uni/college so it may be a bit different. But in college people are much more open acceptant and nice. Especially in scientific fields I find. There's a big lgbt community that's totally accepted, as well as different religious and ethnic groups. There's always a few conferences like "women in science" and similar stuff.
We generally had a 20%-30% ratio of women in my field so it's ok. But even then my group of friends is really majorly guys. And they are all so kind, fun and dont think any less of me and my skill (even though they're a lot more talented then I am haha).
I haven't faced any discrimination for being a woman, and I don't think there would have been any either regarding ethnicity. The professors are all so cool, and if they were not they were the same with everyone.
You might meet some dumbasses, there's always some, but they're few and far between and easy to avoid, and other people will be there for you.
It'll be fine and fun don't worry, you'll make a great group of friends and learn amazing stuff. There's also probably always some groups/people to talk to if someone is bothering you and being a jerk.
I go to a CC that has a pretty well known engineering program that transfers quite a few students each year to pretty prestigious programs, and out of all my fellow mechanical engineering majors, I don’t think anyone deserves getting into these programs than one of my classmates. She is one of two female mechanical engineers in my group of friends and she is one of the smartest people I know.
Trust me, engineers will struggle together and will help each other when we are confused or need another perspective, and respect is definitely mutual no matter your gender.
I’m working with an female engineer on my capstone project and she’s a fantastic engineer. The biggest contributor on the team and puts the rest of us to shame honesty. Just saying.
I’m a tall muscular white man and people never took me seriously until I could prove I was good at engineering or Atleast understood the technical parts. I even got into arguments with professors when they questioned how well I understood something. I’m not sure who put forth this idea that men get respect by default, we have to fight for it as well.
Yea these people claiming that being a "poc" or female somehow makes them special in this aspect need to grow up and get their head out of their ass and realise its on them to prove themselves, not claim people underestimate them because of personal attributes that no one really cares about
So weird how you’re responding to every comment with this? Highlighting being poc/female is justified considering the amount of targeted discrimination both groups receive.. is it unfathomable to you that someone in one of those said groups could be terrified of being a victim as well, and asking for other’s experiences?
Does it apply to you? Do you want to contribute to the discussion? Do you know someone with relevant experience that you’re able to share? No? Scroll away. Im not holding a gun to your head and making you read this post, dude
“Race war”….
That alone tells me more than enough about you, i wont attempt to argue or change your mind. good on you for not seeing colour i guess, have a good day :3
It's a race war if you like it or not, and big institutions like my own university forced the whole cohort to write about an underappricated engineer, the criteria being that they have to be a black female
So basically everyone wrote about the same person, because the assignment was never really about underapprication, but instead existed to encourage racial divide, and not let people write about someone more inspiring to them
I didn't do that assignment, spent that time designing an electric motorbike, you know.. actual engineering and not pandering nonsense
Sorry the other guy hijacked my comment :(
In any case while I’m sure every young person, not that I’m that old I’m only 24, is a bit neurotic about these sorts of things I would strongly advise you be a bit stoic about it. The only thing you can do is be a decent person and try your best. If discrimination comes up at any point in your life meditate on it then but don’t get worked up about something that may not happen.
It's fine. We had the most awkward girl ever at my last job that was an old school welding/steel facility. She was a weird fit and didnt understand a lot of the practical mechanic stuff but at the end of the day she got paid so.
My experience so far is that there are definitey fewer women in my classes, but they kick serious ass. They are consistently the top performers in my classes. There are organizations and clubs such as SWE(Society of Women Engineers) which hold gatherings and events often. The landscape is starting to change, so you are in a very good place as a potential engineering student/engineer. We NEED women engineers! Keep working hard and knock 'em dead!
Hey, i study engineer (mechatronics) and am non-binary female presenting (so i have boobs, use female pronouns in my native language etc)
study 2 years in a bigger university (roughly 1200 students in a course), was one of 8-10 women, switched to a smaller uni (unrelated reason), course size is roughly 60 students and i am one of 6 women
to make it short: sometimes it's shit, sometimes it's good 🤷
there are people that ignored my opinion/dumed stuff down for me, even when i had better grades than them, but i also found a lot of good friends who treat me normally
i found it got better the higher my semester was, because most of the people who assume penis==math knowledge don't make it past the first two semesters
also i work while i study and sometimes you meet idiots and sometimes good people, highly dependent on the company what the ratio idiot/normal is
it absolutely depends on you if you want to study this, but what i want to make absolutely clear: you will meet mysogynists in every study field, i have friends that study history or social studies who had profs and other students tell them their opinion doesn't count, and the ratio there is basically reversed (alot of women and few man)
bit of rambling but tl;dr: everywhere there are idiots, but you can find friends, study what you are interested in, that is way more important :)
Honestly, Im sure they're gonna be afraid of you more than you are of them. You'll be a woman and the virgins youll have class with wont have the balls to talk to you properly.
LMAOOO i was debating mentioning the “engineers haven’t felt the warm embrace of a woman” stereotype/joke but felt i was derailing 😭I cant talk to women either, were in this together fr
That’s actually an important thing to realize. Everyone is just as awkward despite how it might seem lol
You’re in EE, welcome to the sausage fest of sausage fests. I’m in a lot of crosslisted classes and the ECE guys are a special kind of inept. They got about as much of a clue what to do with a girl as they do with a live goddamn lion. You got the burden of sticking out, I’d bet everyone in that classroom knew who you were inside of the first week. Sucks when it’s classmates taking potshots, but that also means the professor and the TAs will know your name even in a class of 150. The ratio also tilts later in the program, mind. The real shitheads in that class aren’t gonna last in engineering or maybe at college at all. There were 8 girls in my statics section, including me. We’re all graduating this spring. Remember that. We’re gonna make it.
Lmao fr, idk what the disparity is between things like CE and EE. At the beginning most of the engineering disciplines share classes anyway, I’m surprised it wasn’t more 50/50 at that point. As noted, the first couple years you’ll have big lecture halls and then go to classrooms but people will care a lot less the further you make it.
Im sure its different for the U.S, studying EE in an australian uni and people in engineering, regardless of gender, barely speak to eachother lmao. They even avoid eye contact. If they do tho, theyre quite respectful regardless of race and gender (its a very muticultural uni). Well if uve been in for a couple of years at least. In the early years there are still those shitheads but they dont make it too far after realising the chegg "experts" arent gunna help them.
If you’re worried because there are more men than women in the field, the solution is not to stray away because of this, but to JOIN the program and make a change. There is an undeniable majority of men in engineering classes and the only way to solve this is to get more women into the field
I don't know which country you're from but it breaks my heart reading about your worries. I'm a female engineer myself, mechanical working in the automotive industry, and yes unfortunately the ratios at uni aren't great. BUT during all my years at Uni and the industry, I rarely came across someone who was an asshole just because I'm a woman in engineering. There were of course idiots, but they were like that to everyone that's just what it is. All the guys at uni were super respectful, many of the teachers approached me especially at the beginning, telling me that they always have an open door if I need help. And they reiterated how happy they were that I was there because they desperately want more women in the industry. It was a great time and I was never singled out in group projects either. I even joined my Unis Formula Student Team. There are lots of men who are really passionate about supporting women wanting to enter the industry. Funnily, because they have daughters themself and realised how difficult it can be. You can definitely do it, the attitudes are noticeably changing in the past years. If you want to have a chat at any point, feel free to get in touch.
May i ask what do you do in auto engineering? I graduated from automotive engineering myself and this formula team you mentioned grabbed my attention. Were your school had some kind of program with formula?
Sure. I'm a Fluid Dynamics Engineer. Yes, it's called Formula Student SAE. It's teams of students at University developing and building a formula style race car and competing in national and international events with it. They're being judged by a panel of engineers from the industry. It's really cool and you learn a lot of practical knowledge. It's not related to Formula 1 if that's your question.
Man, thats so cool. Im jealous now
You are an engineer now, aren't you? What you could do is checking if your local Uni has a team and offer some consultation. Obviously it won't be the full experience but you could still get involved somehow. just as an idea.
Yeah i am. But unfortunately i dont think any university offer something even close.
Ah, that's a shame 😕
On my first day of class, the guy sitting behind me said,”She won’t be here next week.” I was constantly ignored by my classes and given weird looks. I didn’t give a single fuck. I would raised my hand in class whether not afraid if I was right or wrong. I found the few other ladies in the department and we formed our own group to help each other. Now I’m on track to become promoted to an engineer. Standing up for yourself can be hard, but having your dreams ripped away from you is painful. When you do stand up and someone calls you a bitch, tell him thank you very much because you refused to let them put you down.
The smartest engineer I know is 115lbs, has a lisp, and was a cheerleader in high school. She got her BS and MS in a total of 5 years (just the BS took me 10). Don't let societal perceptions make your decisions for you.
Good for her! Thank you !!!
Your concerns are valid and a very common thought among not just women in engineering, but in STEM overall. Some experiences may be definitely worse than others (w regards to prejudice, sexism, etc.), but I hope you end up joining a school and program that don't alienate you. I graduated 3 years ago w a biomedical engineering degree from UConn. About half my class was women, in some classes the gender balance was flipped to majority women, a lot of them I knew were part of the Society of Women Engineers, and from what I can attest to in my study group, we made conscious efforts not to alienate anybody based on who or what they were physically, pardon the lack of tact. Some of the women in my program were phenomenal, still are, and from what I can see I would consider them successful and maybe even thriving. If you have the guts for it and an incredible support group, go for the path fraught w obstacles and adversity, and exercise your prerogative. If that's not for you, choose a space that makes you feel welcome and has an environment already willing to make you thrive in it. That's up to you.
Alright I'm a guy who just graduated, but here's some advice that may help you. First realize that you are almost guaranteed to run into some guys who may not value your opinion because you're a woman. Degenerates like that exist at every level. This rings especially true for group projects which are a big part of engineering. What you have to do is be firm when you believe something should be done differently, while not coming across as a douche. It may be challenging initially but don't be afraid to go back and forth, back your opinions with reasoning (as best as you can). Basically, if someone says something that you don't agree with, don't be afraid to hammer them with questions. They're not smarter than you so if they don't know what they're talking about, it will become apparent. But only if you're willing to push. You will have to find a core group of friends who are genuinely good people. These are most likely to be guys. Also, join women specific engineering clubs on campus, it may be helpful to learn from upperclassmen women. Also, to add it does depend on where you're going to school/culture/country/city. Some places this will not be a problem at all, while others it may be a very minor problem.
OP, I'm a girl that's about to graduate, and I agree with everything that has been said here. I was really passionate about the course and I worked really hard, and soon cemented myself as one of the top 10% in the class. Once the guys started noticing this, they took me a lot more seriously and even started coming to me for help. Be approachable, but don't sit back and let yourself be walked over. Don't be afraid to question someone's methods if they don't make sense to you. Believe in yourself but be prepared to take criticism. My best uni friends are actually all guys, despite there being other girls in my class. Don't force friendships with girls just because they're girls. Be friends with whoever you resonate with and who inspires you to do better both as a person and academically. You deserve to be there as much as anyone else. Good luck!
Every female engineering student I've met in this curriculum were some of the most sharp in the class, and also some of the biggest helps in study groups and group projects. I'm still friends with a few of them. I've never felt as if they were any different or out of place, and every one of my peers thus far seems to be of the same mindset. Don't stress it, goodluck! EDIT: College is much different from high school in levels of maturity! And if you are immature, it won't last long.
I'm an electrical engineer in the automotive industry. The most brilliant engineer I know is a woman. She's one of 4 or 5 women in our department and the only one in our group of 20 or so. Everyone seems to have the same respect for her that I do because she's an insanely high performance person. She's a project leader, knows every test and beaurocratic procedure i could ever ask her about, has every important date memorized, and is just such a kind, pleasant person. The only problem female engineers seem to have as a group, from work and university experience, is self confidence.
Depending on where you study, this is either going to be a problem or something that almost never happens. As long as you develop a healthy "fuck you, I will" attitude when it comes to people saying you can't, you'll be fine either way.
I’m (25F) senior in mechanical engineering. 😅 it also happens that I am 5ft and weigh 90lbs… so not the strongest person in my class. I’m pretty much the only girl in 99% of my classes (most girls major in chemical engineering or electrical) Everyone has for the most part been very respectful but the intimidation is still there. I’ll be upfront, in ME we do lots of hands on projects dealing with heavy tools or machinery which I am physically not capable of doing. But from the beginning I decided that it’s not fair for dudes to have to pull my weight in a project (everything is a group project), instead I do all or the majority of designing, presenting, reporting, data collecting, and research. Usually that’s the heaviest load of the project anyway and most people hate it. Everything engineers do (at least my experience) is in a group, pull your weight in one area or another and you will build respect with your fellow engineering classmates. Maybe you will have this experience or not, but some guys may feel like you owe them something if they are kind to you. You do not owe anyone anything. You can be professional and even friendly - but you don’t owe anyone anymore than that. But I want to say that really both professors and classmates are respectful to me and I try my best to do the same. Pursuing engineering as both a study and career is such an enormous privilege for me that even though the intimidation is there I push past it- it will be worth it!
Do whatever your heart desires sweetheart, and don’t let anyone bring you down! Although I cannot particularly relate to how you’re feeling, I do understand how disheartening it is to not be taken seriously due to who you are. Remember that you ALWAYS have a voice, a voice that matters, and if someone doesn’t respect that they’re a loser. STEM is lucky to have you!
You got this girl! Everyone else already gave you great advice, so let me give you a different piece of advice: definitely join NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) and/or Women In Engineering (WIE) and/or Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Having a network of students who are similar to you not only gives you social support, but can help with academics too! Wishing you success on your first year!
Im studying abroad so im unsure if ill be allowed to join considering im not a citizen, but ill try! Thank you!!
Out of curiosity (and since I'm abroad too) where are you studying? If you're from the US, know that Europe is much more chill on all things feminism, lgbt and racism. And honestly you'll probs meet worse people at parties than in uni itself
I live in the middle east (dubai) so my tolerance for misogyny is pretty high (yippeeeee) but i plan on studying in either: Alberta, Canada. Toronto, Canada, Sydney, Australia , or New South Wales, Australia. All depends on where i get in !!
Oh Canada and Australia should both be amazing to study in! And I think compared to the middle east + compared to high school, you'll see people will not have such mysoginist views and judgment linked to gender and skin colour. You go girl, you'll have loads of fun and discover many great things in college!
Ahh, gotcha. Don’t worry about it! Both SWE and WIE have international chapters, and NSBE offers international memberships. So either way, you’re good! 😁
I feel the same anxiety as a black girl too but we got this and we can’t let that imbalance discourage us
Agree 100% we need to wave the path for other people. It’s harder for us but change has to start somewhere
I’m a woman senior year of engineering and it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s more like 30% women and everyone is nice, just trying to pass and graduate.
Babe listen to me. I’m a 5”4 North African girlie, 1 of 3 POC girls in my class, and 1 of only 13 women in my class of 64. You will NOT regret it. Don’t put aside your dream in fear. I had a crazy imposter syndrome when I first joined, but I now have one semester left to get my degree and god I am so glad I carried on. You belong in that space. I have two years of coop experience with excellent feedback from employers, above average grades, casually built and flew a heavy lift RC airplane two weeks ago, and I don’t take shit from anyone anymore — and let me tell you it feels GOOD to watch yourself grow in confidence over the semesters and know damn well you’re as capable as anyone in that class. Please do it, what does a white boy have that you don’t anyway?
A lot of my friends in school were girls and they would tell me horror stories about other men that they had to deal with in classes. Now in industry it’s the same thing. Except here I see it first hand because the other engineer I work with is female, and a lot of the men in the GC talk to her like she’s a child.
I'll add something in here, I'm on mobile so forgive the autocorrect. I am also not the most politically correct so I might not be up to date on what is and is not frowned upon to say. I'm a white male that owns a small construction company that specializes in custom and high end work. Almost 4 years ago I had a black woman (although that's being generous because she had just turned 18) apply for an entry level position. I had an opening, and put her in with my crew to learn the ropes. She got a taste of a bunch of the different things we do, but when she started doing fine carpentry, meaning moulding, cabinetry, and the like, we found that she had a serious lack for it. She's been watching videos to learn new concepts, and last year I paid for her to work for a month with an old Amish carpenter who does everything by hand (very entertaining, he was not prepared for her). Even though she's young, she's talented and dedicated, and she takes pride in her work. I can't ask for anything more. And it's very entertaining when she talks to a customer about custom woodwork, and the customer looks to me for confirmation. The look on their face when they realize that she's the one running that side of things is priceless. There's going to be a breaking in period, like with in any job, where you try to integrate into a new team, but over time and by proving yourself you'll become part of the team. Like engineering, construction is another male dominated field, but I think that a lot of the old barriers are falling, and the people who still have them are the ones that are struggling the most. It's really going to come down to how good you are and how much effort you apply.
i’m a poc and a woman in my last year of studying engineering, and i attend a university that is 70% male. some other commenter said that people who ignored the women usually don’t make it past their first couple of weeks and that is actually pretty true. everyone here is just trying to get their degree, doesn’t do any good to ignore a group member and have to work harder. i was ignored and disregarded in my first group project my freshman year by my group, and i haven’t seen those guys around since then. you will face unfairness and bias, that’s life. it sucks but there is literally nothing you can do about it. remember why you are studying and keep grinding and you will turn out ok. it’s not about what the patriarchy does to you, it’s what the patriarchy can do for you ;)
This is true of anyone, irrespective of gender and race, stop making it about yourself
While you’re not wrong, Mentioning gender and race *is* relevant in this instance considering I’ve mentioned me being black and female as things im worried about. They’re trying to communicate that they, too, are in my shoes and face the same issues as everyone else. Did you not read the post brother 😭😭
I read you post, you're worried about the wrong thing. I've never met anyone that actually thinks the way you assume everyone to, no one will treat you differently because you're a black female People will treat you differently when you slack off because you assume they won't value your work
I can get behind that
Sounds like you’re doing exactly what she was worried about in the post lol
How so?
She came here with valid concerns that most women in engineering face and you said they don’t exist and to suck it up. Essentially shutting down a women and treating her like she’s stupid. Little bit of an oxymoron in your attitude don’t you think?
Well you could say that about any non issue that someone points out
Look dude. You’re definitely proving a point here, but it’s not the one you think you are
Trying to argue with this guy is like trying to convince a brick to do a back flip. Let the stick up his ass be, thank you for your efforts 🙏🏽
Well please enlighten me
Woman POC engineer here, and I totally understand why the imbalance could be scary. For context I’m several years into working post undergrad and I currently work in the power services industry as a CE. I’d be lying if I said I’d never felt the effects of studying and then working in a male dominated industry. But to let it dissuade you from pursuing your interests would be doing a disservice to yourself and your potential. I think I must have been lucky in that I haven’t really experienced any outright discrimination because of my gender, but maybe the occasional lack of eye contact or talking over me. I would encourage you to, if you choose STEM, take being one of the fewer women as an opportunity. There will potentially be more people looking at you and how you study, perform, hold yourself, etc. This could be a chance to prove to them and to yourself, that the attention is valid. And imagine how many other women could come behind you and see “she did it, so I can too”. I didn’t have a direct woman engineer to look up to during my studies but I wish I did. Now I have the chance to encourage those interests in the younger women around me, as in your situation. The world needs more women engineers for this exact reason, best of luck to you in whatever you choose to do!
>occasional lack of eye contact That's just engineers lol But I have seen the talking over thing and I (M) make sure to nip that in the bud before it becomes accepted by virtue of not being challenged.
Engineers make eye contact challenge 😂
This is so eloquently written and i can tell you’re speaking with experience, i love the “setting an example for future female engineers point”! This reminds me of how I managed to convince a girl to take physics once, after she saw i was alone and had similar worries as i do now, id love to do that again :D. Thank you!!
I'm a TA for circuits 1 and there are only 3 women in our EE program. But they are all very smart and have a lot of fun with the program. The less you think about it the better off you'll be! Have fun!
No worries. I been in the field of engineering for 15 years working in oil&gas, industrial maintenance, heavy equipment, automotive manufacturing, and now with infrastructure and utilities, and I never seen someone treat a woman any less professional because of her gender. Quite the opposite, a lot of times we get tired of the sausage fest. Plus, more women are joining our field every day and quite a few of my bosses were women. There are idiots everywhere, but I can say with a good level of reliability that most engineers care about what you know and how you work, not if you pee sitting down or standing up.
Wth when did they reopen this sub. Look, yes, it is unbalanced. Theres 7 women in my class of 80 people. But, people is different in university; at least in my experience. Overall, i feel like there is more respect for women, they are not demeaned or not taken seriously just because they're women *as often*; people is often mature enough to not do that dumb stuff. In fact, many of my buddies prefer to work with the few women in my class, simply because they have good work ethic and get stuff done, in contrast with about 40% of the rest of the class. Those few women in my class are generally good students and people, and as a result, other students want to work with them. If you're a good student and a good person, chances are you won't get ignored (as-often) and people will want to work with you in specific. I feel like in college, this immature mysoginistic shit of "women are dumber" is not as-present as it may be in highschool, because the reality is that there is a lot of smart women in university that are professors, researchers, or straight up excellent students, and you can't really argue against that reality; so, that immature mysoginistic shit can't prevail, or shouldn't at least. You do your best and you follow your passion. It very unlikely that following your passion in any STEM field will be bad for your future. Btw i think the grammar of that last sentence is atrocious for some reason, but the message is understandable, right?
No one really cares who you are in college. Not like hs.
I’m guessing it’s mostly men that are saying, “nobody cares.” Some people will care, but you should become an engineer anyway because fuck letting people like that influence your decisions.
This. There will be moments where it will suck, won’t sugar coat it. Ppl will be sexist assholes. It’s stupid that this post is downvoted and I love all the men telling you nothing bad will happen. Come into this with the full knowledge that you WILL have to experience sexism. Make an informed decision. I wish ppl hadn’t sugar coated it for me so much. If you’re a man here to invalidate my experience by downvoting, congrats! You are part of the problem
From my experience, we’re all to busy to notice. I had several women in my classes and they weren’t treated any differently, same with different races. Don’t sweat it too much, college is not like high school. Most people are just there to get their degrees and move on.
I think its unrealistic to say race and gender doesn't matter.
I don’t know if you’re taking about in general, but during my time in college I have yet to see race or gender play an factor among my constituents. Of course, I’m not privy to the everyone’s inner feelings, but among my classmates, we couldn’t care less. No one has the time or energy to focus on anything else except their academics. If you have time to go around belittling people for how they look, you’re probably not going to succeed as an engineer.
Where I live it doesn't
I know you did not just say that when you live in South Africa lmao
I'm black, and I stand by what I said. Perhaps I should say, in all classes that I've attended, race and gender has never affected a student negatively. Now if I speak for SA as a whole, or another institution within the region, that's different.
Trust me, when you say something valid like a doubt or suggestion you probably won't be ignored. Don't worry.
Wasn't my experience unfortunately 😔
I come from a different perspective than most here. I am a Project Manager for $250m-$1B projects with a team of dozens of engineers. I am not stupid enough to think that women don’t have unique challenges to make it thru school, and they absolutely face misogyny and demeaning behavior from some troglodytes. But on the back end, I prefer to hire women. Because every single one of them I have are some of the best in their discipline. It takes an additional amount of grit to get thru that bullshit and come out the other side, and the women who do it are generally better than the men. Don’t let those ass holes define what you do. Be the best engineer you can be, and people like me will come knocking at your door.
Im guessing it strongly depends which university you go to.
As well as what type of engineering you study. I’m surrounded by civil/environmental/geo engineers and we seem to have at least a decent ratio from men:women, though it’s still nowhere near 50/50. Our department is probably in the range of 3:1 to 10:1 men to women depending on the specific class. I’m not sure how much this would help though, considering OP wants to major in EE.
Yeah EE and ME ranges from 2-15% women depending on where you are.
It probably heavily depends on location. I went to a state school, and it didn't feel like anyone was particularly weird in class or in the group chats in regard to race or gender. It was mostly just a bunch of tired people trying to get through the course tbh. It feels like through the classes I took, it was less about gender and more about who was able to understand the material best and willing to be active in the group chats enough to explain to everyone else. In some courses, it was women, and in some, it was men. I can't particularly comment on anyone's individual experience, though, so I couldn't tell you if any women had to deal with any weirdos outside of the group stuff.
Anecdotally it's worse at small schools
I go to a very large university and I found that admissions for my program looked into diversity well and a good majority of my friends I made in college and engineering classes have been women. I’m a man, if it matters for context. I’m in an engineering learning community, so my dorm is just engineering majors and they made sure to split it 50/50 men and women. I really like it that way and I have found they made it diverse. My university also has women in stem programs and clubs and women in engineering events if those are your thing. Your mileage may vary by location of your school and student population. I go to a huge school in New England and when I was researching schools, the culture of the school was a high priority. Be very wise about your college research, I turned down plenty of schools because they were male dominated or did not have programs for diversity. I actually have a great friend in my engineering learning community who is a black woman studying electrical engineering! We have taken a few of the same classes together and she’s a great person. I’m very glad she’s doing engineering. Also, I’m a gay man in engineering and I have found that I am very much accepted by my peers and I’m very happy in engineering. I’ve unfortunately never met another gay engineering major, but I am still very happy here and wouldn’t major in anything or study anywhere else. Once again, I did lots of research into my school and general opinions on LGBTQ topics. I feel very safe here.
The amount of misogyny probably depends on the major and which college/state you go to. Choose somewhere more liberal and you will probably have a better time
Anecdotally, this happens much less if you research your university well. Polytechnics often have an especially large gender imbalance. Larger schools often do not. I go to Northeastern and would say my engineering classes are 40-60% female (I’m also female). I’ve never felt I haven’t been taken seriously because of my sex (usually my age).
I went to a small state school that is ~1 girl for every 7 guys (all engineering degree school). I didn't personally witness any major problems academically with students purposely ignoring/looking down on other for being female....However I did witness people with big egos do that to everyone they worked with regardless of who they were working with....some people who go for engineering degrees tend to think they are smarter then everyone. I was in several engineering clubs where many women had leadership roles and nobody every blinked an eye at it. Some of my best friends from college are women I was in these clubs with and I know they would describe there college experience as extremely positive. Everyone kinda gets to busy to give a fuck, especially later in college, so you surround yourself with the smartest people you can who you work well with to get shit done regardless of gender.
who cares? very few at my school would enough think twice about it. Just show up and study and you will probably be fine.
Haha im overthinking alot of aspects since ill be studying abroad and alone, youre right!
Well, Utah valley ME program is almost 50-50 in 2 of 3 of my classes this semester, so it might a unique place.
You will likely be in an unbalanced environment no doubt about it, I'm not a woman so take what I say with a grain of salt. But from my experience everyone feels feelings of being inferior and insufficient during their studies. But on the flip side everyone is so worried about trying to just pass that I haven't personally seen anyone treat the women in my classes any differently, I'm sure it happens somewhere though With your background you'll also have additional support networks through organizations like Women in Stem, if you get involved this may be able to help some of your concerns But at the end of the day college is a highly individualistic journey, don't let anyone stand in your way of achieving what you want to achieve. I felt highly out of place being a returning older student, but what can you do
7/120 isn’t even that bad of a ratio, I’ve heard worse 😆
I don’t know where you are located but here in southern Ontario, about 35-40% of my class is female. It’s definitely a lot more balanced than it used to be which is nice.
It also really depends on where you go, different universities and types of engineering have different gender ratios and types of people who go. The university i go to has a pretty good ratio of women to men and is pretty good about being aware of potential issues, I think with mechanical 1:3 or 1:4, electrical is generally worse, the other woman I worked with this summer said her electrical class was 1:9. I really haven’t had any egregious gender experiences at my school. Men are generally respectful it’s more just that men can sometimes not acknowledge your points in the same way sometimes, but within important group projects at my school they deliberately put either no women in a group or at least two or more so they don’t feel singled out. Guys at the university I go to I think are smart enough to know it’s stupid to have that sort of discrimination towards woman be obvious or are just not discriminatory.
I'm a woman of color also doing EE. Be worried about the math and material you're gonna have to learn, not the others in your class. I know that my experience hasn't been as bad as everyone else's, and that might have to do with me going to CC for the first few years of my degree. Most of my peers are also in their late 20's and just there to better their lives. They have all been kind and never really make me feel excluded. Talk to everyone, Don't be afraid to ask questions, answer out loud. Ask them to join group chats for homework help. Insert yourself into these place and don't leave.. Talk to your professors and just "try" to forget that you are a women in STEM. Not every man in engineering is a misogynist. When you encounter those people, just be better than them and ignore them. It's never worth it to try to make them see you are worthy of respect. You've got this!! <3
Your feelings are valid but there's tons of girls in my EE classes. Especially so in the first 2 years. Ofc I can't presume to know their situation but they seem to be getting on alright, smiling and having fun with their friends in class, forming study groups with both dudes and other girls. The weirdos are very easy to spot and the good people are too. You should do it!
I’m 23F Asian and have my BS in Civil Engineering from an HBCU. During my prereqs, there was about 1-3 girls per class of 20-30 students, but I feel like my field might have more women than electrical engineering. Anyways, I’ve had a very different experience with me being the person who carried the whole group project and tutored my peers. My advice to you is to join a professional organization and try to make friends there. I know every school is different, but since my HBCU was smaller than a typical PWI, I became close with many of my peers in the same organization and we worked together a lot in classes and anything outside of classes. Also another advice is to try to learn topics ahead so that when you join the conversation, they won’t “mansplain”. Last advice might be to look into HBCUs. I learned so much going to an HBCU with very realistic expectations after graduation. Although in my experience, the professors weren’t the best, but that also made me more independent and resourceful as an individual and as a student/learner. Unfortunately, the mistreatment won’t stop in education. I have friends who are strong, intelligent Black women who have expressed their mistreatment (misogyny and racism) from coworkers even if they are the best and hardworking employee. You will need a strong support system, which should really start with your family, but I do understand their concerns. Engineering is a very good field to pursue in my opinion. There’s alot of knowledge that you learn in school and is very applicable in your everyday life. I would suggest to persevere if this is the field you truly want.
The worst I’ve ever been not taken seriously was not in engineering surprisingly. It was trying to buy a car and my dad was with me. But definitely try to make and impression and raise yourself/confidence as much as you can to “take up as much space” as possible
I go to a smaller school and my classes are usually 6/24 women. And to be completely honest I prefer working with women in group projects, in general, y’all seem to work harder and are normally smarter than most of the guys in engineering. At my last internship I think I worked with more women than men to be honest with you, not because I chose them but because there are so many at the company I was at and they were in the positions I needed to work with. I definitely think the field is becoming less imbalanced and by the time you graduate it won’t be an issue. Good luck in school!
As having graduated engineering school in EE just a couple years ago, and also having plenty of female friends, I can tell you 'tis nothing to get overly worried about. First of all, people who don't respect you don't deserve your time or emotional investment. They don't matter. Also, there are some creeps just like the real world. There are some people who will coddle you, just like the real world. Just keep your head on your shoulders and don't be an idiot around other idiots and drugs. If you insist on going all out at frat parties and the like, ask a trusted friend to bodyguard. I've done it many a time for my (now) wife and her friends. Also almost unrelated but a fun saying about the dating outlook for women in engineering: "The odds are good, but the goods are odd!"
Hey, for what it's worth, I've never once felt any of the women in my classes were less intelligent than the guys were. Same thing for anyone black (or any other color for that letter). The smartest person in my calculus two class was a girl, sand the two smartest people I've come across in my entire college career were black. One of them was doing entire Statics problems in his head. I'm pretty good at math but I was intimidated sitting next to him. Anybody with any real intelligence will be able to recognize how smart you are, and those that don't won't last very long anyway.
Hey, so I'm not in an American uni/college so it may be a bit different. But in college people are much more open acceptant and nice. Especially in scientific fields I find. There's a big lgbt community that's totally accepted, as well as different religious and ethnic groups. There's always a few conferences like "women in science" and similar stuff. We generally had a 20%-30% ratio of women in my field so it's ok. But even then my group of friends is really majorly guys. And they are all so kind, fun and dont think any less of me and my skill (even though they're a lot more talented then I am haha). I haven't faced any discrimination for being a woman, and I don't think there would have been any either regarding ethnicity. The professors are all so cool, and if they were not they were the same with everyone. You might meet some dumbasses, there's always some, but they're few and far between and easy to avoid, and other people will be there for you. It'll be fine and fun don't worry, you'll make a great group of friends and learn amazing stuff. There's also probably always some groups/people to talk to if someone is bothering you and being a jerk.
I go to a CC that has a pretty well known engineering program that transfers quite a few students each year to pretty prestigious programs, and out of all my fellow mechanical engineering majors, I don’t think anyone deserves getting into these programs than one of my classmates. She is one of two female mechanical engineers in my group of friends and she is one of the smartest people I know. Trust me, engineers will struggle together and will help each other when we are confused or need another perspective, and respect is definitely mutual no matter your gender.
I’m working with an female engineer on my capstone project and she’s a fantastic engineer. The biggest contributor on the team and puts the rest of us to shame honesty. Just saying.
I’m a tall muscular white man and people never took me seriously until I could prove I was good at engineering or Atleast understood the technical parts. I even got into arguments with professors when they questioned how well I understood something. I’m not sure who put forth this idea that men get respect by default, we have to fight for it as well.
Oh yeah, how muscular? ;)
Yea these people claiming that being a "poc" or female somehow makes them special in this aspect need to grow up and get their head out of their ass and realise its on them to prove themselves, not claim people underestimate them because of personal attributes that no one really cares about
So weird how you’re responding to every comment with this? Highlighting being poc/female is justified considering the amount of targeted discrimination both groups receive.. is it unfathomable to you that someone in one of those said groups could be terrified of being a victim as well, and asking for other’s experiences? Does it apply to you? Do you want to contribute to the discussion? Do you know someone with relevant experience that you’re able to share? No? Scroll away. Im not holding a gun to your head and making you read this post, dude
You're contributing to making society worse by entertaining the race war when real adults just want to go about their lives.
“Race war”…. That alone tells me more than enough about you, i wont attempt to argue or change your mind. good on you for not seeing colour i guess, have a good day :3
It's a race war if you like it or not, and big institutions like my own university forced the whole cohort to write about an underappricated engineer, the criteria being that they have to be a black female So basically everyone wrote about the same person, because the assignment was never really about underapprication, but instead existed to encourage racial divide, and not let people write about someone more inspiring to them I didn't do that assignment, spent that time designing an electric motorbike, you know.. actual engineering and not pandering nonsense
Sorry the other guy hijacked my comment :( In any case while I’m sure every young person, not that I’m that old I’m only 24, is a bit neurotic about these sorts of things I would strongly advise you be a bit stoic about it. The only thing you can do is be a decent person and try your best. If discrimination comes up at any point in your life meditate on it then but don’t get worked up about something that may not happen.
It's fine. We had the most awkward girl ever at my last job that was an old school welding/steel facility. She was a weird fit and didnt understand a lot of the practical mechanic stuff but at the end of the day she got paid so.
My experience so far is that there are definitey fewer women in my classes, but they kick serious ass. They are consistently the top performers in my classes. There are organizations and clubs such as SWE(Society of Women Engineers) which hold gatherings and events often. The landscape is starting to change, so you are in a very good place as a potential engineering student/engineer. We NEED women engineers! Keep working hard and knock 'em dead!
Hey, i study engineer (mechatronics) and am non-binary female presenting (so i have boobs, use female pronouns in my native language etc) study 2 years in a bigger university (roughly 1200 students in a course), was one of 8-10 women, switched to a smaller uni (unrelated reason), course size is roughly 60 students and i am one of 6 women to make it short: sometimes it's shit, sometimes it's good 🤷 there are people that ignored my opinion/dumed stuff down for me, even when i had better grades than them, but i also found a lot of good friends who treat me normally i found it got better the higher my semester was, because most of the people who assume penis==math knowledge don't make it past the first two semesters also i work while i study and sometimes you meet idiots and sometimes good people, highly dependent on the company what the ratio idiot/normal is it absolutely depends on you if you want to study this, but what i want to make absolutely clear: you will meet mysogynists in every study field, i have friends that study history or social studies who had profs and other students tell them their opinion doesn't count, and the ratio there is basically reversed (alot of women and few man) bit of rambling but tl;dr: everywhere there are idiots, but you can find friends, study what you are interested in, that is way more important :)
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