As a young woman who is trying to decide where to spend the next four years of my life, I've been traveling around the country and participating in the information days. I am a prospective engineering student and recently attended a college of engineering informational tour. One thing has stuck out to me among these engineering specific days or even the letters I receive. All these universities want me, according to their form letters, but do they actually want me, or do they want the statistical advantage I bring to them. "We pride ourselves in being one of leading engineering programs for women. Our numbers recently increased to 26%!"
Now, as a future female engineer, 26% seems low to me, but I get it. Engineering is typically a man's major. Guess what? I don't want to be a statistic. The world is changing and women are being offered the same opportunities as men and I am proud of the world for that very reason, but don't try to convince me to choose your program because your numbers are increasing. I am worth more than statistic as are all the other prospective female engineers.
There's a reason professional engineering is considered one of the most prestigious degrees. It is hard. Plain and simple as that. Many young men and women alike work tirelessly throughout high school in the hope to attend the best engineering school. So, when colleges make it a big deal that their female student numbers are climbing, it has to make you wonder, did I get in over him simply because I'm a woman?
Now, the college admissions process is a mystery and we've all been told over and over again that there is no rhyme or reason as to why that kid got in and this one didn't; however, maybe there is something behind my womanhood helping me in that process. I'm the first to take it, I mean, like I said, engineering is hard. It isn't every person who can say they were admitted to the number three chemical engineering program in the country, but I also know right and wrong; and if the guy standing next to me, crying over his rejection letter, had better credentials than me, why is it fair that I have this opportunity and he doesn't? Did all of his hard work mean nothing just because he was born majority rather than minority? College admissions offices pride themselves in being needs-blind. Why don't we have gender- and race-blind admissions? This may cause some uproar and societal clashes, but if you're good enough, you'll get in anyway.
In the end, we all graduate with our degrees and are shoved into the world as shrimp looking for our place in the vast ocean called the real world. If the real world has not caught up and women still are not getting hired as the engineers they were educated to be, why waste all that time, effort, and money? I'd like to think jobs are given to the most qualified person, woman or man. So, if the man is more qualified than me, a woman, give him the job. He deserves it. I wouldn't want my brakes not to work, resulting in a fatal accident, just because you gave the job to a woman to meet some quota.
Bottom line, I don't care if your classes have finally reached a 50/50 ratio of women and men. I don't care if I'm in a class comprised entirely of men. I would be proud to be the woman who is different, who is able to be in that class because I worked my butt off to be just as good as the men. I think the women who have gone before us, making waves, earning rights for us would be disappointed in our world today. Women are standing around waiting for hand outs. What happened to working to the best of our abilities to be better than the men, to showing them that we can compete with them on equal levels.
I don't want to be admitted to the college of engineering because I was close enough, but I'm a woman so that makes me good enough. I want to be admitted to the college of engineering because I am good enough, because I worked hard to be the best, to be on the same level as the men around me. I want to challenge myself even more by competing with the very men that were admitted with the same credentials. I don't want to struggle through engineering because I was given the false hope that I was good enough for the sole reason of my womanhood, but I also don't want to be carried through just so my college can say they have the best female engineer graduation rate.
In the end, I don't want to cause controversy. I just want to open eyes to university officials when they speak about their statistics. If you care so much about your students as you claim, don't make us statistics. Make us real people. If diversity happens because those are the kids that were the best, then it happens. Don't force something that just doesn't work. You don't want to be the school with the highest drop out rate among female engineers because you were going for diversity and it just didn't work. There's a reason the process is competitive. Keep it that way; it makes things interesting. It adds variety. Every class does not need five girls for every twenty guys. Having grown up in a small school, I know what it's like to be the only girl in a class of thirty. It only adds to the natural competitive nature? It makes us want to be the best, because we have to be better than the guys, right? Let it be. Don't mess with nature. Don't make us women into statistics.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Prospective Female Engineer
