Relationships between grades and gender in student program preferences in engineering

Engineering programs overall have underrepresentation of women, but variations exist between programs. We were interested in how grades influence students’ decisions related to program selection and if there were differences by gender. Using data from one large institution, we examine whether women students placed in their top-choice program tend to have higher averages than men, whether women are more successful at getting into their top-choice program, and if there is a relationship between gender, first-year grades, and program ranking patterns, which could impact gender imbalances between engineering disciplines. We found that women had higher rates of acceptance to first-choice programs and differences in patterns of program preference, with high-average men almost exclusively choosing competitive programs while high-average women choose a range of programs. Our findings suggest student decision-making for competitive program placement differs by gender and may be influenced by grades, both for an individual’s and historical program information.