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Engineering or pharmacy?
February 6, 2008

Over the last several years, I've been hearing, reading, and writing about how the U.S. doesn't produce enough engineering graduates, especially women. There a push to get students interested in engineering an science, including Design Squad, a PBS TV show, and a web site from IEEE called tryengineering.org. In 2006, we published an article called "The future of engineering" where we included a sidebar, "Where are the women.""

A former college roomate wrote to say that his daughter has been accepted to two well-respected engineering colleges. She's also been accepted to a phamacology program at another school. The phamacology program runs 5+ years and she comes out with an MS degree. The pharmacology program accepted just 100 of 1700 applicants.

The father, who has a BSEE, wrote "Everybody I have talked to says stay out of engineering, go pharmacy!"

What should this high-school senior do? Can she have a rewarding career in engineering, where few women go, or should she stay away? Post a comment. You could make a difference in a young person's life.

Posted by Martin Rowe on February 6, 2008 | Comments (4)