One of the heaviest influences is how much/long a person played sports growing up. Most STEM people didn't play sports, or at least not very long growing up. A

One of the heaviest influences is how much/long a person played sports growing up. Most STEM people didn't play sports, or at least not very long growing up. A lot of people who grew up playing sports don't end up in STEM areas. Then there are some people who grew up playing sports and did end up in STEM (like myself). This is obviously at a general level, it doesn't apply exactly to every individual but overall it's pretty accurate from my experience.