I went to Harvey Mudd. However, I have a bit of a problem with Mudd being held up as an example or model for this sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, I think tha

I went to Harvey Mudd. However, I have a bit of a problem with Mudd being held up as an example or model for this sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, I think that what Mudd is doing is great for the school, it makes it a better environment, I just do not think that it is exportable elsewhere. Harvey Mudd is tiny. People always cite the percentages it has regarding gender balance, but the fact of the matter is that Mudd's incoming classes are smaller than 200 people and every single person applying has self-selected to go to an exclusively STEM college. This makes it very, very easy (relative to other colleges) for Mudd to basically pull a disproportionate number of already CS-inclined women from the pool of applicants with a bit of heavy marketing and effort. Mudd spends a large amount of resources trying to convince girls to attend, especially ones interested in CS, a personal interest of the president. Additionally, about 6 years ago they did something to revamp the admissions process which took the incoming classes from about a 2:1 male:female ratio to an even ratio (literally the incoming class for 2013 and every previous year was >60% male, and 2014 was magically ~50/50). This is remarkable for a school catering only to high-performing STEM students. But it doesn't apply in a general sense. This model works for a tiny niche school in a big, big market. It will not work for every (or even many) schools in the market. And when you are pulling in classes where there are nearly as many CS-inclined women as men, it makes it a lot easier to have an environment that doesn't drive them away. But not every school can do this, it is literally impossible.