According to the U.S. Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, about half of the women who started college with a STEM major, either switched to a different major or dropped out of college altogether. About 32 percent of the women who left STEM fields switched to a non-STEM major, compared with 26 percent of men. The study also found that those who were switching majors were high performing students (overall GPA of 3.5 or higher). In Degrees of Success, Hurtado et.al. found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. This data clearly shows that the early college years is one of the significant points of leakage in the STEM pipeline.

Here is a compilation of the statistics on women in STEM fields – Statistics – women in STEM

Data sources:

National Center for Education Statistics – Degrees conferred by sex and race

National Center for Education Statistics – Graduation Rates

US Dept of Education – Post Secondary Awards in STEM

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center – Bachelor Degrees in STEM

US Dept of Education – Gender Equity in Education, A Data Snapshot

US Dept of Commerce – Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation