Do lots of girls study Medical Engineering?

[Femme_physics]

I currently study mechatronics (mechanical engineering) and am the only girl in class. I've lately considered transferring to medical engineering because it's more interesting to me. Yet, I wonder, is it the same way in terms of guys-girls ratio in medical engineering or is it different?

 

[Vanadium 50]

That seems an odd reason to decide or not to decide, but in any event, your university would have the statistics. We can only guess.

 

[Femme_physics]

That seems an odd reason to decide or not to decide

I know, I agree, but I just seem to study better when there are more guys around. I'm not looking to explain it, but so far it's just the way it is.

, but in any event, your university would have the statistics. We can only guess.

Fair enough, I'm kinda embarrassed to ask since I'm up for an admission interview and I'm afraid they'd think it's a stupid, irrelevant question... but I will. :P

 

[elabed haidar]

hey i don't think you should worry about that kind of problem
im a guy and i am the only person who takes intensive english 6 hrs per week and i don't see it as a disadvantage but as an advantage

 

[nlsherrill]

I currently study mechatronics (mechanical engineering) and am the only girl in class. I've lately considered transferring to medical engineering because it's more interesting to me. Yet, I wonder, is it the same way in terms of guys-girls ratio in medical engineering or is it different?

Hmm my guess would be there would be more girls in medical than mechanical engineering. Why? I do not know, but that kind of seems to be a trend at my school. Almost every girl I have talked to that's doing engineering is either biomedical or chemical. Likewise, there are far more girls in biology and chemistry than physics.

 

[mathwonk]

on this page at Ga Tech of faculty in biomedical engineering and related areas, there are about 19-20 women out of maybe 95 faculty.

http://www.bme.gatech.edu/facultystaff/faculty.php

 

[Femme_physics]

Just as I suspected... I'll see what my chances are of getting in. You know, one of the reasons this might be important is that I actually got a discount for signing up for mechatronics because there are so few if any girls there. This might be different in medical engineering.

 

[gravenewworld]

Yes. At least it seems to be the case. I just got back from a grad school interview visit at Hopkins for their biomedical engineering program. There seemed to be a 50/50 mix of M to F, and I was actually the only male interested in one of the specific subsections in BME department.

 

[lurky]

Anything bio or medical related has more women in it, however in engineering, the ratio can still be pretty bad (I consider a class with only one woman in it to be pretty bad). edit: Some schools approach 50/50 but at mine, they're nowhere near that.

 

[Mororvia]

Career-wise, there could be benefits to being in a field where the amount of females is low. Have you seen the job postings that say "females are especially encouraged to apply" ? Of course if you don't have interest in that field then who cares? Go with what interests you.

 

[Femme_physics]

Well, mechatronics gives me a good engineering basis so far, so no complaints. Monday I'll be able to tell what's the ratio at the college I'm looking into. Thanks for the replies.

 

[WatermelonPig]

As others have stated, chem and bio engineering don't have the problem of "The Ratio" as much as other engineering fields, so I would probably assume the same of medical engineering.

 

[jhae2.718]

There seems to be a reasonable amount of girls in aerospace at my university; I'd estimate maybe 65:35 M:F.

In my general engineering class, the girls in my group are Mech Es.

But there does seem to be a larger portion of girls in biomed and chem e.

 

[flyingpig]

Wait, does that mean not all female science majors are Chemists...

 

[Shaun_W]

This is odd. If there was a class with one male and the rest females, then I doubt that the male student would be wanting to change classes.

If you are the only female in your class then you should be exploiting this to get help with your assignments.

 

[Femme_physics]

This is odd. If there was a class with one male and the rest females, then I doubt that the male student would be wanting to change classes.

Yea, that's actually what I'm saying. I personally love being the only girl in class. I want to move not due to the ratio, but due to the subject I'm studying. I just hope it won't be brimming with girls...they suck...guys rule :)

But seriously, I was just wondering out loud-- and I guess I will find out tomorrow morning. This stuff will clearly affect my class dynamics, so saying it's not important is a very innocent thing to say.

If you are the only female in your class then you should be exploiting this to get help with your assignments.

Heh, I'm actually on top of the material so I'm not worried, it's actually them that's "exploiting" me but I'm happy to help those who struggle.

 

[mathwonk]

you go girl.

 

[feuxfollets]

why don't girls study physics/engineer as much?

 

[Femme_physics]

Good question. No easy answer. Probably has to do with a multitude of psychological reasoning all coming down to the point that it's more of a guy/masculine field. But, go figure, can't speak for them since I'm mechanical engineering/physics. And no, I'm no a butch or anything like that. :tongue: