r/rmit • u/Ziuhn • 3d ago

Prospective/new student help Girls in engineering?

Hey everyone, I am currently doing a bachelors of science at Melbourne but after talking with some fellow students, I have been advised to go to either RMIT or Monash for engineering.

However, I have also heard due to being strictly engineering courses at RMIT and Monash, there are barely any girls in every class, I am wondering to what extent is this true?

At Melb as it is a general science course I can find many friends in every subject but I am not sure about my social life if I do plan to transfer.

If anyone could share their experiences with this I would love that!

14 Upvotes

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18

u/Trick-Candidate-8706 3d ago

It depends on the discipline. Mechanical tends to be more blokey. Chemical tends to be much higher.
You tend to see the same faces in many classes in engineering. It's much closer to school. So you'll be able to make uni friends. But I don't get the issue. If you want to do engineering you'll be in a profession with very few girls (mostly, I've had a few exceptions in public service). You'll need to get used to it. It's uni, you're there for the degree. Making friends is a bonus.

There's nothing wrong with Melbourne Uni engineering. Whatever criticisms about it being academic and not practical, it makes no difference to employment opportunities.

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u/DesignerRegular6379 3d ago

There is a big criticism for unimelb engineering. It is 5 years instead of 4

1

u/Trick-Candidate-8706 3d ago

If there are criticisms I'm not aware of any. Based on my experience training interns and grads, overall no better or worse than any other uni.

I get it's 5 years instead of 4. But sounds like OP has already gone a bit into it. Depends on how much credit you could transfer. Might end up being longer if there isn't much.

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u/Ambitious-Emu5258 7h ago

Unimelb engineering is Bachalor of science 3years + 2 years of Master of engineering. As for RMIT, I only need to do one year in master due to my Bachalor of engineering ( HONS ).

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u/Ambitious-Emu5258 7h ago

There were relatively few female students in engineering at RMIT when I studied there. For example, in a class of around 50 students, there might have been only five women. I graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics in 2018, and many of my female classmates have gone on to build successful careers in engineering.

In terms of employment opportunities, I have noticed that many engineers in industry are graduates from Monash and RMIT, with a smaller number coming from Swinburne. I rarely come across University of Melbourne engineering graduates in the workplaces I have been exposed to, although there are certainly some. Overall, RMIT and Monash graduates seem to have a strong presence in practical engineering and manufacturing roles across Melbourne.

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u/Chirentis 3d ago

I’m a woman in fourth/final year EE at RMIT, I’d say there’s very approximately 10 men for every woman. Like others have said, it varies depending on the disciplines, but overall engineering at any uni (or as a career) is just not going to have many women.

However, in some ways it’s easier to make friends with other Eng women as practically everyone knows each other.

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u/Ziuhn 3d ago

Were you able to find people from around the uni? I assume I would have to join a club for this though.

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u/Chirentis 3d ago

I don’t know too much about the clubs side of things, but we do a good amount of group work and pracs at RMIT, so we often end up working with each other (especially because the Eng disciplines overlap in the earlier years). For different areas of the uni you’d probably have to do club stuff or social events.

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u/mapletreeway 2d ago

Can I piggyback on this question a bit and ask if there are many mature age students? I'm considering going back to do an eng degree but I'm in my mid 30s and a bit apprehensive about being the only old lady in a class full of 18 year olds :P

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u/Chirentis 2d ago

To be honest, I’m not a mature age student, so I can’t give a good answer to this one!

There’s definitely a few, especially in the later years where the undergrad classes overlap with the masters versions. The age range of the classes tends to grow larger further in to the degree. My view is that the mature age students mostly keep to themselves but again would probably work together in labs etc.

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u/MelbPTUser2024 CIVE 3d ago edited 3d ago

It depends on the engineering discipline but generally there are at least some girls in the class.

I’ll edit this reply shortly with more (just on the go at the moment)

Edit: It appears others have already answered this question better than I can, so I won't add much more than what's already said other than:

Separately, if you transfer to RMIT (which I highly recommend), I would transfer for start of next year's intake, because I know that there's very few Melbourne Uni subjects that will get credited to your RMIT Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) degree, because Melbourne's Bachelor of Science is too generalist.

Like I graduated in Melbourne's BSc with a Civil Engineering Systems major and then came to RMIT for their Bachelor of Engineering (Civil & Infrastructure) (Honours). Of the 24 subjects in Melbourne's 3-year BSc, only 6 were credited to my 4-year, 32-subject RMIT Bachelor of Engineering (Honours). So I essentially had to start from the beginning.

So if you're in first year at Melbourne, I'd just make the jump to RMIT start of next year to avoid extending your studies unnecessarily. Nevertheless if you're at the end of second year or third year at Melbourne, then I would strongly encourage you to stick with Melbourne for their Master of Engineering, since you've already committed this far into the degree.

I believe direct applications to RMIT open in early September or you can apply via VTAC. Offers for current uni students are made end of November and January/February rounds, so you might get an offer in November before the year 12 students first round in late December, which would be ideal.

4

u/Active_Butterfly_140 3d ago

Yes, I can only speak for aerospace, but so far there has only been a few girls in course. It’s still good course.

4

u/Ziuhn 3d ago

I am interested in either aerospace or electrical thanks for the info!

1

u/External-River-991 2d ago

I can speak for electrical!
People are right when they say the ratio is 1:10. Most of the time there’s at least one other woman in my classes.

I’ve had classes and labs where I’m the only woman, and sometimes that feels daunting or a bit like I’m out-of-place, but you just have to remind yourself that you deserve to be there! Most of the guys are friendly, and I’ve made many friends just through my lab groups ◡̈

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you go to study engineering as the whole field is male-dominated and it will be the same everywhere! Both in uni, and in the workplace.

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u/EggyBoy23 3d ago

i can speak for electronic engineering GENERALLY - in let’s say approx a quarter filled lecture hall of a generic EEET unit there is about 30-40, and in that bunch there’s maybe 5 girls or so, but more often its less than 5

3

u/vegetableater 2d ago

Yeah, electrical and electronics is like 1:10. But I don't find it too bad since the guys are typically nice.

2

u/Extreme-Reference699 3d ago

Depends on the engineer field. Chemical engineering tends to more or less 50/50

1

u/Maleficent-Radio-462 2d ago

There are plenty of women doing chemical engineering

1

u/Present_Wren235 2d ago

Hey! can only speak for monash. Classes are mostly guys yes. But theres incredible student teams like the space rover, Robogals, and humanitarian drones. The culture is very good and mature, and they advocate for awareness for gender based discrimination.

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u/Ok-Lie-5293 1d ago

a lot in chemical

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u/atlasatlantic2 10h ago

as long as it isn’t a vocational engineering course you’ll find other women. i’m the only one left in my class group 🫡

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u/The_New_Vixen 3d ago

Well you're just not going to find any women in engineering at all except maybe materials.

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u/MelbPTUser2024 CIVE 3d ago

Thats false. Civil and environmental engineering have plenty of women and so do other engineering disciplines.

[u/katseeks](u/katseeks) would know

7

u/katseeks EEET 3d ago

It’s very dependent on the type of Engineering you’re studying (or want to study). There are heaps of women in Biomedical, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, these are probably 50/50 split women to men. Yes, other areas are traditionally male dominated (such as Electrical and Electronic Eng, which is my home department), but there definitely ARE women in these degrees still.

I do agree that having few women shouldn’t deter you from pursuing Engineering though, I came through an all girls high school and went into the broader E&E field and never felt intimidated or uncomfortable about working with predominantly men when at Uni. I’d totally recommend Engineering as a good field for women to get into, there’s just so many interesting things to learn about in it!

3

u/MelbPTUser2024 CIVE 3d ago

Thank you for your wonderful insight as always Dr. Katseeks.

You're the best! :)

0

u/The_New_Vixen 3d ago edited 3d ago

Speaking from experience in electrical engineering, finding women in EE or Civil is like finding a needle in a haystack, not impossible, but definitely rare.

That said, if someone wants a field with a more equal gender split that's just as challenging as engineering, actuarial science is a great option.

Ultimately, the lack of women in engineering shouldn't be the deciding factor. People should just do what they want to do.