Maths as a female student?

2

Hi! I'm in yr 12 looking to do maths at uni and am predicted top grades in my a levels - maths, fm, physics and art. I've been looking at courses at Warwick (probably my first choice atm) and a couple other unis. Does anyone know anything about what its like being a girl doing these courses - i.e. whats the ratio like, are girls well respected by their peers, tutors etc. I'm just slightly nervous because in my fm class there are only 2 other girls and I know STEM subjects are quite male dominated, and I need my girls! Obviously I don't think it would be horrific otherwise I wouldn't be considering it, but just looking for honest opinions and any experiences people have had. (Also advice on any other maths courses at different unis would be greatly appreciated!)
Thank you!

Reply 1

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

17

Original post

by student_cool

Hi! I'm in yr 12 looking to do maths at uni and am predicted top grades in my a levels - maths, fm, physics and art. I've been looking at courses at Warwick (probably my first choice atm) and a couple other unis. Does anyone know anything about what its like being a girl doing these courses - i.e. whats the ratio like, are girls well respected by their peers, tutors etc. I'm just slightly nervous because in my fm class there are only 2 other girls and I know STEM subjects are quite male dominated, and I need my girls! Obviously I don't think it would be horrific otherwise I wouldn't be considering it, but just looking for honest opinions and any experiences people have had. (Also advice on any other maths courses at different unis would be greatly appreciated!)
Thank you!

Hey!

Speaking from experience, I think STEM courses being male-dominated is becoming less and less common!

I did sport science for my undergrad, where you would definitely expect more males, but this was not the case. It was actually pretty female-dominant.

I'm currently doing a Masters in Sport Nutrition, and find again that there are more females than there are males in my course

So I think you definitely won't be alone in your Maths course that you wish to undertake 🙂

Best of luck with it all!

Gemma
Official LJMU Student Rep

Reply 2

Plopke

1

Original post

by LJMUStudentReps

Hey!
Speaking from experience, I think STEM courses being male-dominated is becoming less and less common!
I did sport science for my undergrad, where you would definitely expect more males, but this was not the case. It was actually pretty female-dominant.
I'm currently doing a Masters in Sport Nutrition, and find again that there are more females than there are males in my course
So I think you definitely won't be alone in your Maths course that you wish to undertake 🙂
Best of luck with it all!
Gemma
Official LJMU Student Rep

Math is still highly male dominated and this hasn’t been changing.

You should be able to get gender stats on their courses via WhatDoTheyKnow.

In terms of being treated with respect - that is very hard to predict and will depend on the cohort. It’s unlikely there will be no sexism though.

Reply 3

Rufus The Red

21

Original post

by student_cool

Hi! I'm in yr 12 looking to do maths at uni and am predicted top grades in my a levels - maths, fm, physics and art. I've been looking at courses at Warwick (probably my first choice atm) and a couple other unis. Does anyone know anything about what its like being a girl doing these courses - i.e. whats the ratio like, are girls well respected by their peers, tutors etc. I'm just slightly nervous because in my fm class there are only 2 other girls and I know STEM subjects are quite male dominated, and I need my girls! Obviously I don't think it would be horrific otherwise I wouldn't be considering it, but just looking for honest opinions and any experiences people have had. (Also advice on any other maths courses at different unis would be greatly appreciated!)
Thank you!

My cohort for Warwick maths is defo swung male (vague estimate, I'd say the proportion of women is between a fifth and a third), but that's out of almost 500 students (mmath and bsc) so there must be >100 women - more than the total cohort for some degrees.
In my lectures, the questions are almost exclusively asked by (a small subset of) men, but that's probably more a curiosity than a problem (and the lecturers care about the question, not the questioner. They'll only take object if your question is wildly daft e.g., 'how to rigorously define brackets').
The Maths Society (which I don't really engage with) exec have a more even gender split than the course as a whole and there are specific women's events they run.
Per respect, I think you should be fine, your tutor almost definitely and your peers as a whole should be too (and it's so many people you won't register to most of them). In another department someone in my friend's tutor group was being a misogynistic creep, they reported it, and I think he's been removed from the group and is on a final warning from the university so the pastoral support will take you seriously if there is a problem.

TLDR; there are more men, but there are also lots of women and I shouldn't think you'll really face problems based on your gender (certainly not so different to the average uni course).
Your mileage may vary, I'm not a woman, just queer, so not the ideal person to answer your question, but hopefully this is still accurate/useful.

Maths as a female student?

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