Gender trends in engineering retention

We know that fewer women than men choose to begin college in an engineering major, but is there a difference in the graduation rates of male and female engineering students? Is the average GPA of female students leaving engineering higher or lower than that of the male students? Are the critical semesters different for each group? Likewise, do the same relationships hold for minority vs. nonminority students? In this paper, we report on analysis of graduation data for four cohorts and retention data for six cohorts of engineering students. Statistical analyses were performed to determine significant differences between groups of students and which characteristics are most strongly correlated to retention in engineering. Gender and minority status were included in the analyses. The purpose of this study was to identify trends in female engineering student retention to guide future program development. Overall, the graduation/retention rates and GPAs of female students were found to be higher than those of the male students. Brief examples of how these findings can be applied are also offered.