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"He once told me that even though the females are fairly quiet, and the boys in the class showed off a lot, when it came down to projects and exams, the female

"He once told me that even though the females are fairly quiet, and the boys in the class showed off a lot, when it came down to projects and exams, the female average was often higher." I think that this is actually one of the reasons that so few girls are in Computer Science. My girlfriend is a CS major and she very often feels inadequate compared to all of the other super exceptional girls in the program. It isn't because she's inadequate either. Her grades are fine. The issue comes when every one of the other girls is at the top of the class. She's not being judged against the whole class like the guys are, but she's being judged against just the super exceptional girls. I can only imagine that lots of girls feel this way in their first intro class and give up.

JoeAltmaier 16y ago
The article mentioned the HS experience, where other girls gave up on the CS course. That was telling to me - how many people drop Anything in HS? I never knew anyone who dropped a course - unless for severe illness etc. Is it a female thing, to drop a course if it gets hard? That may be the largest factor in the statistics by far.
- dagw 16y ago
  I dropped a few courses (I'm a guy) in my GCSE's and later an A-level once I came to the realization that there was no value in taking more than the necessary number of courses. Why get 7 A's and B's plus 3 C's and D's when you can simply get 7 A's and B's? More free time, fewer exams, less homework, no downsides...pure win all around.
mitcheme 16y ago
One of my issues is that, although my grades on projects, exams, assignments, etc., are well above average, I tend to zoom in on the mistakes that I make and beat myself up for them. Weird kludges, or silly bugs, etc. So I don't brag about projects that have flaws, which is all of the nontrivial/interesting ones, because I feel like I'll get judged just based on those, and anything I did right won't count. I think this is partly a gender thing and partly a parenting thing. (HS Me: Look, I got 98% in Japanese! Dad: Where's the other 2%!? Me: sadface.) Guys brag about their projects a lot, and what they say sounds really good, so I often assume their projects are better than mine and that they're better programmers. (Even though I probably got a better grade, and when I actually get a chance to dip down and see their source code it's usually not so hot either, at least by the standards I measure myself by.) End result, even though I might be 'exceptional' grades-wise, I have this mentality that I'm just good at school, not good at programming (compared to peers). Extremely stupid, but if you really really don't want to believe in yourself you can always rationalize it somehow. Your GF is above-average just for being there, since most female students (or potential female students) get scared off, and she's still getting it done. "Victory belongs to the most persevering." - Napoleon Bonaparte

JoeAltmaier 16y ago

The article mentioned the HS experience, where other girls gave up on the CS course. That was telling to me - how many people drop Anything in HS? I never knew anyone who dropped a course - unless for severe illness etc. Is it a female thing, to drop a course if it gets hard? That may be the largest factor in the statistics by far.

dagw 16y ago
I dropped a few courses (I'm a guy) in my GCSE's and later an A-level once I came to the realization that there was no value in taking more than the necessary number of courses. Why get 7 A's and B's plus 3 C's and D's when you can simply get 7 A's and B's? More free time, fewer exams, less homework, no downsides...pure win all around.

mitcheme 16y ago

One of my issues is that, although my grades on projects, exams, assignments, etc., are well above average, I tend to zoom in on the mistakes that I make and beat myself up for them. Weird kludges, or silly bugs, etc. So I don't brag about projects that have flaws, which is all of the nontrivial/interesting ones, because I feel like I'll get judged just based on those, and anything I did right won't count. I think this is partly a gender thing and partly a parenting thing. (HS Me: Look, I got 98% in Japanese! Dad: Where's the other 2%!? Me: sadface.) Guys brag about their projects a lot, and what they say sounds really good, so I often assume their projects are better than mine and that they're better programmers. (Even though I probably got a better grade, and when I actually get a chance to dip down and see their source code it's usually not so hot either, at least by the standards I measure myself by.) End result, even though I might be 'exceptional' grades-wise, I have this mentality that I'm just good at school, not good at programming (compared to peers). Extremely stupid, but if you really really don't want to believe in yourself you can always rationalize it somehow. Your GF is above-average just for being there, since most female students (or potential female students) get scared off, and she's still getting it done. "Victory belongs to the most persevering." - Napoleon Bonaparte