Why do some students transfer out of Computer Science in college?
I’ve been approached by teachers at middle and high school and professors at universities about holding on to the young women in their computer courses and programs. They want to know why young women tend to drop out of the computer curriculums much more readily than young men. Even though a lot has changed over the last 5-10 years, I think some of the reasons still include a lack of positive female role models – women who are very successful computer scientists, programmers, even technology entrepreneurs. Open any technology publication, read any book about computers, even look at the newspaper in the technology and business sections. You rarely see a female face or hear a female voice. When a young woman enters a computer program, chances are she is a minority. If she doesn’t have a strong network supporting her, she may begin to feel isolated. Without peers who can relate to all the issues she is facing – including the issue of gender differences – she may feel that dropping out is
