According to federal government statistics, women hold less than 25 percent of all professional jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. At many colleges and universities across the United States, women are vastly underrepresented in STEM disciplines. But this is not the case at some educational institutions.
Online College Database has published a list of the 50 colleges and universities with the largest number of women students in STEM fields. The rankings use Department of Education data on women enrolled in these fields in all degree programs. The University of California at Davis had 2,503 women enrolled in STEM degree programs. This was 600 more women in STEM programs than the second place institution, the University of California at Irvine. Women were a majority of the students in STEM fields at each institution. Other universities with more than 1,500 women enrolled in STEM degrees programs were the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, Michigan State University, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Other universities with more than 1,000 women students in STEM fields were the University of Georgia, Florida State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills. Also enrolling more than 1,000 women in STEM fields were Indiana University, the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of North Texas, the University of Virginia, Florida International University and New York University.
Women made up more than 60 percent of the students in STEM fields at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Emory University, Loyola University of Chicago, and New York University.
Note: The rankings use National Science Foundation guidelines for STEM disciplines which includes such fields as psychology and anthropology.