Research Reveals the Best and Worst Colleges and Universities for Women Studying STEM

Utilizing data regarding the gender distribution in 10 different STEM fields of study at over 1,000 United States colleges and universities, Washington Monthly has documented the best and worst schools for women studying electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, computer and information systems, civil engineering, chemical engineering, mathematics, chemistry, natural resources, and biology.

In the United States, women represent some 60 percent of all undergraduate students. However, they remain severely underrepresented in many STEM fields of study. Despite the STEM gender gap, many of the country’s top universities have made significant strides in achieving gender equity among STEM students. For example, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, topped the list for best schools for women studying computer science and civil engineering and cracked the top 15 in chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Cornell University was consistently the highest ranked Ivy League school, ranking first in electrical engineering and landing in the top ten in five other STEM disciplines.

Many institutions are lagging far behind in their representation of women in STEM. As an example, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is well-known for its research capabilities, yet only 4.5 percent of their electrical engineering undergraduate students are women – the worst rating in this discipline among all studied schools. Several large institutions, such as Brigham Young University in Utah and the University of Arizona, were frequently listed among the 20 worst schools for women in several of the analyzed disciplines.

The full ranking lists can be found here.