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

267 high school students have participated in WTP: 227 in WTP--EECS since 2002, and 40 in WTP-ME since 2006.

Forty students are admitted to WTP-EECS each year from a nationwide applicant pool of the top 11th-grade female math and science students. No prior experience in physics, calculus, computer programming, or engineering is required, but we do expect students to have taken the most advanced classes in science and math appropriate for their grade level at their schools, have standardized Math test scores (PSAT, SAT, or ACT) in the 80% percentile or higher, and be able to handle college-level material at a rapid pace.

186 are currently in college--the 60 from summer 2007 are now seniors in high school, and 21 students from the first group in 2002 completed their Bachelor's degrees in 2007. As we track these students many tell us they were not interested in engineering or computer science before WTP, but attending the program had a lasting positive impact on their current college pursuits and on their plans for the future. Among those college students old enough to have chosen their majors, 52% are in a branch of engineering or computer science, and 17% are majoring in a field of science or theoretical mathematics.