Women-friendly engineering program

[Jolt]

It hasn't been mentioned yet, so I have to put in a plug for Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, MA. Of course I'm biased, because I went there (for biology/pre-med, not engineering) but I loved it and they have made a lot of efforts toward recruiting women--the ratio is still pretty skewed toward guys, but getting better. They have just about any kind of engineering program one could want, including fire protection as was mentioned in a previous post. It's private but fairly generous with scholarships. Another unique thing about the school is the projects program--there are three projects students do during their time there (one in the humanities, one dealing with the relationship between science/technology and society, not necessarily within one's major, and the final one usually done in the senior year being a project within the student's major, and students have a lot of freedom to decide what they want it to be). She could most likely design a project that has to do with disaster relief, which would help her get into that field when she graduates.

[Crankin]

I second WPI. Few people outside of this area know about it. It's a cool place.
My DH runs a division of a large software company; he is the "business" person, who is in charge of 250+ engineers all over the world. He has a difficult time recruiting women, as the people in his division have to travel frequently. He has hired few couples, though, as a "package."
Several of these engineers went to Michigan Tech, a school I never heard of before. Also, VA Tech, and Carnegie Mellon. But really, they went to all kinds of schools, including many overseas.

[Titania]

I graduated with a degree in Biomedical Engineering (heavy emphasis on electrical engineering) in 1996. When I graduated, there were 5 women in the entire engineering school. I was treated fantastically by faculty. I think a big part of that was the fact that I was a good student. As a matter of fact, all of the girls were tops in their various classes...I think we all felt the burden of needing to prove ourselves. I think academic aptitude has much more to do with how you're treated than gender. That was certainly my experience.

No matter where your daughter chooses to go, she's going to be a minority. It's just the way it is...women don't enter the engineering fields at the same rate as men. As has already been mentioned, some engineering disciplines are more likely to attract women than others.

SWE (Society of Women Engineers) is a fantastic resource. I was a member all through my college years.

I know many women engineers who have graduated from WPI. It's both a great school, and has a great atmosphere. The school I graduated from (Western New England College) has a fantastic (if relatively unknown) engineering school. I loved my time there...mostly because the faculty were really awesome. My husband graduated from Renneslaer Polytechnic Institute with a degeree in Electrical Engineering. He loved it, and there were many girls there. I've met several of his female college engineer friends, and they're all bright women.

No matter what schoool she goes to, college is still just a microcosm, and not terribly reflective of the working world. I haven't personally experienced discrimination, but I know how hard it was to be confident when you're a young woman, just out of school, trying to change the ways of male engineers who are 20+ years your senior. It gets better, as most things do, with age and experience. But, those first few years will be a bit scary for her. She's got to find her inner strength and know her stuff 2x better than the guys.

[jahnin24f]

I graduated with engineering major but in Industrial Engineering women dominated men by numbers and also in other majors(EE, CE, etc). However, in Mechanical Engineering only 2% of the class is women in 5 years. And it still the same figure nowadays.
One of the professor in that major told us that the course requires more physical skills and strength but the dealings of male students and other program are fine. I'd witnessed both of our female batch mate in that course graduated on time with us.