Counselors: Partners in the Recruitment/Retention of Female Mechanical Engineering Students

The overall number of females entering engineering programs remains relatively low. This is particularly true when discussing the percentage of female mechanical engineering students currently enrolled in university programs. If this percentage of female mechanical engineering graduates is to increase, school, college, and career counselors must assess existing differences between male and female students and systematically target female characteristics related to program recruitment and retention while partnering to change the engineering environment. This study compared male and female mechanical engineering students’ self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, professor and peer influence, perceptions regarding the applicability of engineering projects for each gender, perceptions of the correlation between engineering projects and current skill levels, and need for social connectedness/empathy. Stratified random selection was used to select comparative male and female groups from within two Texas universities’ mechanical engineering programs. Significance was found in the areas of depression, anxiety, professor and peer influence, and social connectedness. Correlations between anxiety, depression, and professor and peer influence were noted. Implications for assisting female engineering students in school, college, and career counseling settings as well as overcoming gender inequity in recruitment and retention are discussed.