Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikell Taylor
...one thing we saw in admission at my college was that the women who applied, while fewer, were far more self-selective than the men; they had, on average, higher test scores and GPAs and had often had a good deal of extracurricular involvement in science and engineering-related activities...
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I've often heard suggestions that admissions staff (of various colleges/universities) accepts "less qualified" women and minorities in hopes of achieving diversity, and I usually say almost exactly the same thing about self-selection. Again, also remember that the college admissions process takes a lot of things into account beyond test scores, GPAs, and extracurriculars.
Also, this may not be fully related to the topic of the thread, but I'd like to share one of my experiences that has gotten me thinking a lot about various types of diversity recently. I'm currently doing research in the "Computer, Electronics, and Mechanics" department at a French university. I'm a young, American female in a department full of older French men. Sometimes, it seems like we're very different; our different workstyles and approaches to problem solving stem from a variety of factors. We understand each other's languages to varying degrees, and speak in a bizarre mixture of French and English. I thought math was the universal language, but it turns out that while I've learned the multi-variable calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra that I need to use in my project, the French implement it completely differently. Sometimes, their approach shines a new light on a problem for me. Other times, the way I learned is more convenient. Similarly, my view on how to express or solve a particular problem may be something that never dawned on my supervisors, or vice-versa. By working together and combining our different approaches to problem-solving, we've been able to create amazing results that we never would have seen individually. It's a good reminder that we're not that different; ultimately, we're united under the common goal of progress, by our desires to discover, to create, to innovate and to improve lives.
I've had similar experiences, though to a lesser degree, in the very diverse environment at MIT during my studies thus far. Regardless of whether my peers and I "only got in because we are _____", embracing our differences has resulted in amazing things that may not have ever come to be in a homogeneous environment, and I am grateful for that. Just some food for thought.
