It’s the end of summer, which means back to school! If you’re a senior in high school, senior in college, switching grad schools, or thinking about going back to school, it’s time to apply to colleges and grad programs. As mentioned in a previous post, the gender balance of a program is an important factor on the overall experience for both men and women, and should be considered when picking programs.

Engineering programs face a particular challenge in this area, but some programs are definitely more balanced than others. The representation of women in engineering programs has been slowly increasing over the years. No, seriously, REALLY slowly. Check out the NSF Women participation in CS and Engineering data from the last 20 years:

In 2008, the national average for women’s enrollment in engineering programs was 18.5% for undergraduate and 21.6% Masters/23% PhD for graduate students. I’m guessing it has not change significantly over the last 3 years. With these numbers in mind, let’s see how the top engineering universities and smaller undergrad-focused schools measure up. The percentages listed below are the most up-to-date numbers that I could fine online. Note that colleges vary in exactly what major they include within Engineering, so check out the sources if you want more info on a particular school.

Percentage Women in the Engineering College of Universities

MIT: 40.6% undergrad/16.8% grad (source)

Caltech: 37% undergrad/23% grad (source)

Cornell: 30.2% undergrad, 25.4% grad (source)

Stanford: 29.9% undergrad/23.2% grad (source)

UC Berkeley: 23% (source)

Georgia Tech: 23% (source)

University of Michigan: 22% undergrad/20.5% grad (source)

Purdue: 19.8% undergrad, 20% grad (source)

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 17-20% (source)

Percentage Women in Small Undergraduate-focused Colleges

Olin College of Engineering: 44% (source)

Harvey Mudd: 35% (source)

Cooper Union: 35% (source)

Rose-Hulman: 20% (source)

All Women’s Colleges with Specialized Engineering Programs

Smith College: 100% women! (link)

I also wanted to include Smith College, which as far as I know is the only all-women, 4-year US institution with a specialized engineering program (specific engineering majors, not just a single general engineering degree). So, if you’re looking at colleges for undergraduate or graduate engineering programs, at least check out the gender ratio in the programs you are considering. Faculty gender ratio is another important number to look at. A clear presence of women makes a world of difference in the academic and social environment of the college. It can also say a lot about the administration’s attitude towards the value of more women in the field. It’s the next 4 years of your life (or more for grad school), so choose wisely.