Attrition Rates for Engineering Schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the boys in robotics seem to have much poorer social skills (and make inappropriate sexist jokes around girls-including my dd) than my dd athlete male friends...so maybe this is what females mean by not being accepted around male engineering students?

Absolutely this is the reality in high school and maybe in younger grades too. Some engineering (and physics let me not start there) classes are difficult for females to survive socially. Academically the women kick ass! This is the current reality.

There have been some really socially inappropriate things said and my dd reported it but apparently this kid has an iep for emotional issues so he has the right to make sexist derogatory comments per the school...tbh most of the girls are also on the spectrum as well in this group and a minority of the girls are social-so they will sink or swim[/

What? Do you know engineers in real life? Most are not on the spectrum, they are nerdy yes but that is not the same thing

[Anonymous]

no matter what your gender good social skills in engineering will get you farther than good social skills in business or mgmt or law--where most people already have them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the boys in robotics seem to have much poorer social skills (and make inappropriate sexist jokes around girls-including my dd) than my dd athlete male friends...so maybe this is what females mean by not being accepted around male engineering students?

Nope, the robotics kids don’t make those comments and they are around girls in robotics. My athletic kids friends do.

Sports are gender segregated (this is OK for some reason) but engineering classes are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the boys in robotics seem to have much poorer social skills (and make inappropriate sexist jokes around girls-including my dd) than my dd athlete male friends...so maybe this is what females mean by not being accepted around male engineering students?

Absolutely this is the reality in high school and maybe in younger grades too. Some engineering (and physics let me not start there) classes are difficult for females to survive socially. Academically the women kick ass! This is the current reality.

There have been some really socially inappropriate things said and my dd reported it but apparently this kid has an iep for emotional issues so he has the right to make sexist derogatory comments per the school...tbh most of the girls are also on the spectrum as well in this group and a minority of the girls are social-so they will sink or swim[/

What? Do you know engineers in real life? Most are not on the spectrum, they are nerdy yes but that is not the same thing

of course its a minority--but a bigger minority than in medicine law or business-im sorry but thats the truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a source to find this info.? Getting in to an engineering school is one thing. Staying in is another. Trying to get a sense of which programs are "weed out" designed.

The top private universities with Engineering schools publish this data on their websites. Most of the elite /T15 unis have >95% persistence in Engineering from freshman to sophomore year in college. These schools have extremely bright kids however: 75% of kids who are above 760 math and higher likelihood to in the top percent or two of intelligence . That is a much easier group to get through the first year with calculus, physics, chemistry etc. More than half seem to have had at least one year of post-calculus math in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just speaking to a female engineering major who transferred out of VT after Freshman year and went on a mini tirade about her poor treatment as a female there. I was really surprised.

Most colleges are accepting more females than males (60/40) in recent years. It stands to reason that there are more females than males admitted to engineering programs. STEM admits for females have been steadily preferred and rising Consequently, it should not be surprising that certain treatment still exists, however unfortunate.

I can tell you almost certainly that Engineering programs are still admitting more males then females. They would love to reach equilibrium but its just not possible right now.

+100 can confirm from top ranked engineering, they cannot get above 30-40% females because so few apply

really? is it apply or are admitted?, my dd wants to do engineering, she s not an urm, will she have a hook just purely on her gender?

No it’s not a hook anymore. The ivy engineering program mine is in said the Engineering applicant ratio was “about the same” as admitted ratio. This school admits less than 5% of Engineering applicants, regular and early decision combined. À different ivy admits less than 3.5% for 2026 and 2027 according to reddit posts quoting that dean. Even if these programs have a 6% admit rate for females—so double—it is still much tougher admit rate than the arts&sciences programs at the same schools because the stats of the engineering applicant pool are always higher than the overall stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just speaking to a female engineering major who transferred out of VT after Freshman year and went on a mini tirade about her poor treatment as a female there. I was really surprised.

Our neighbor attends VT as an engineering major and she has had nothing but glowing reviews of the program.

[Anonymous]

We were told on our tour of engineering at University of Denver that 70 percent of people who start drop out of the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were told on our tour of engineering at University of Denver that 70 percent of people who start drop out of the program.

Run. That is a sign of a bad program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were told on our tour of engineering at University of Denver that 70 percent of people who start drop out of the program.

It is more common than people believe it to be or want to believe. Programs should offer more to the women students to keep them in the program, we do need them out there in the field working eventually to replace us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think life can be very tough for women in STEM fields. And the smartest person I know is a woman scientist. She is the top 1 in her field globally. I do Not mean top woman, but instead mean the top human.

DD is a mechanical engineering major and takes a bunch of CS courses. She’s run into some weird things like a male faculty member who would never look at her when she was speaking. He would turn and avert his eyes looking directly at the male student next to him. Her schedule was flexible enough to change to a different section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the boys in robotics seem to have much poorer social skills (and make inappropriate sexist jokes around girls-including my dd) than my dd athlete male friends...so maybe this is what females mean by not being accepted around male engineering students?

Nope, the robotics kids don’t make those comments and they are around girls in robotics. My athletic kids friends do.

On my kid's robotics team, the most outstanding student (Dean's List) is a girl boss who already invented a real app. Overall the team seems pretty accepting, in keeping with FRC norms. My son's best friends are girls now. Including one that's three grades ahead of him in math. That girl takes math with his senior brother. Girls also have taken over running most of the clubs and student council. We even had a female quarterback for a year. (Although honestly our school does not have much football talent, so it was easy to compete for the spot.) It's amazing what girls can and will do when the environment is supportive. If women are leaving, it may not be because they really lack what it takes...they just know when they are not welcome, don't want to put up with b.s., or don't want to be in a sink or swim culture that glorifies some students drowning so others can feel better about how genius they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the boys in robotics seem to have much poorer social skills (and make inappropriate sexist jokes around girls-including my dd) than my dd athlete male friends...so maybe this is what females mean by not being accepted around male engineering students?

Nope, the robotics kids don’t make those comments and they are around girls in robotics. My athletic kids friends do.

this has not been our experience

Well, that has been our experience.

DP. Yeah, we all got that, but you can't assume your experience is universal. Your previous statement suggested an absolute. PP debunked that with her experience. No need to restate yours.

My kid in engineering HS program has also experienced some juvenile male behavior. A type of cyber bullying during covid. Mutual friends called the boys out, and it stopped thankfully. Seemed more related to immaturity than malice. She also knows some pretty nice guys, (but also not super mature). The girls in the program tend to be more mature, and they get together to study or in stem club and help each other out. Hoping mine will find some similar at college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just speaking to a female engineering major who transferred out of VT after Freshman year and went on a mini tirade about her poor treatment as a female there. I was really surprised.

Most colleges are accepting more females than males (60/40) in recent years. It stands to reason that there are more females than males admitted to engineering programs. STEM admits for females have been steadily preferred and rising Consequently, it should not be surprising that certain treatment still exists, however unfortunate.

I can tell you almost certainly that Engineering programs are still admitting more males then females. They would love to reach equilibrium but its just not possible right now.

+100 can confirm from top ranked engineering, they cannot get above 30-40% females because so few apply

really? is it apply or are admitted?, my dd wants to do engineering, she s not an urm, will she have a hook just purely on her gender?

No it’s not a hook anymore. The ivy engineering program mine is in said the Engineering applicant ratio was “about the same” as admitted ratio. This school admits less than 5% of Engineering applicants, regular and early decision combined. À different ivy admits less than 3.5% for 2026 and 2027 according to reddit posts quoting that dean. Even if these programs have a 6% admit rate for females—so double—it is still much tougher admit rate than the arts&sciences programs at the same schools because the stats of the engineering applicant pool are always higher than the overall stats.

DP. I really think at this tier, it's about what the student brings to the college as well as statistical aspects. Mine (female) had engr awards but also had awards/portfolio in the arts, and this school particularly likes cross-disciplinary, multi-spike kids. And, dept strives for 50/50 male/female which is also helpful. It's the coming together of many facets, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just speaking to a female engineering major who transferred out of VT after Freshman year and went on a mini tirade about her poor treatment as a female there. I was really surprised.

Most colleges are accepting more females than males (60/40) in recent years. It stands to reason that there are more females than males admitted to engineering programs. STEM admits for females have been steadily preferred and rising Consequently, it should not be surprising that certain treatment still exists, however unfortunate.

I can tell you almost certainly that Engineering programs are still admitting more males then females. They would love to reach equilibrium but its just not possible right now.

+100 can confirm from top ranked engineering, they cannot get above 30-40% females because so few apply

Some are over 40. We combed through department stats because it can be misleading otherwise. Definitely found a few. (Thought Cooper Union looked balanced until we saw department breakdown). Olin is actually 50/50, pretty sure. It's tiny, though.