Women's Technology Program
in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

WTP-EECS

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Our goal: to spark high school girls' interest in future study of engineering and computer science.

The MIT Women's Technology Program (WTP) in EECS is a four-week summer academic and residential experience where female high school students explore engineering and computere science through hands-on classes, labs, and team-based projects in the summer after 11th grade.

This introductory yet rigorous program is taught by female MIT EECS MS/PhD students and is designed for high school girls who love and excel at math and science, but who have little or no prior background in engineering or computer science.

For more details about the WTP-EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) Track visit our Curriculum and Staff pages. To learn more about the WTP-ME (Mechanical Engineering) Track or other aspects of the Women's Technology Program, click on the links to the left.

WTP was designed and created by MIT students in 2002 who were concerned about the fact that many young women do not consider engineering or computer science despite having strong math and science backgrounds and analytical abilities.

WTP hopes to address some of the reasons high school girls with math and science talent may not think about engineering or computer science as possible college majors:

• lack of pre-college computing or engineering experience
• negative stereotypes about what engineers do and how they work
• lack of confidence in their potential to pursue engineering
• lack of female role models

Forty students are admitted to WTP-EECS each year from a nationwide applicant pool of the top 11th-grade female math and science students. The primary criteria for acceptance are a strong curiosity about engineering or computer science and a demonstrated ability to excel in math and science. Students interested in the WTP-EECS curriculum track should be able to handle college-level material at a rapid pace, but should not have completed prior coursework or summer programs in engineering or computer science. Physics and calculus are not prerequisites.

Applicants are accepted based on the strength of their math and science grades, teacher recommendations, personal statements, and scores on the PSAT, SAT, or ACT. PSAT math scores of students accepted in 2008 ranged from 58-80 with median of 73. For more information about who should apply to WTP, see our Application web page.

We are looking for students who are not yet certain about their future college majors, and who would like to explore engineering and computer science to determine whether these fields might be of interest.

326 high school students have participated in WTP: 266 in WTP--EECS since 2002, and 60 in WTP-ME since 2006.

199 WTP alumnae are currently in college, and 67 more have completed their Bachelor's degrees.

The 60 students from summer 2008 are now seniors in high school.

For the WTP-EECS college graduates and college students old enough to have chosen majors, 60% are in a branch of engineering or computer science, and another 22% are majoring in a field of science or mathematics.

As we stay in touch with these students they continually tell us about the lasting impact of WTP on their current college pursuits and on their plans for the future. Many state that they would never have considered majoring in engineering or computer science, or even applhing to an engineering college like MIT, before attending WTP.