"I feel like at any school in a computer science program as a woman specifically, you’ll face impostor syndrome. It’s not necessarily the university's fault, but it’s just something women in this field experience just by virtue of being so outnumbered, whether in STEM clubs or classes or even just when you’re applying to internships and things.
"Going to the first computer science class as a freshman, a lot of women feel nervous to turn to the person next to you and say 'Hey, wanna work on this project together?' because chances are you will be the only girl in that class and it's easy to feel out of place because of that. I ended up doing a lot of solo work because I was afraid nobody wanted to work with me or everyone else knew what they were talking about more than I did. Having communities like the BC Women in Computer Science Club - which I’m now the president of - has been great. It's somewhere I could meet the other relatively few girls in the major and work through some of that.
"Basically, we try to serve as a resource on campus for any female-identifying student interested in the field: computer science majors, computer science minors, or even just people passionate about technology or coding and looking for a support group. We have a mentorship program that we started this year, so juniors and seniors in the major get paired with anyone interested in learning more about the field. We bring in speakers, help with networking, and hold events. Computer science used to not be as big of a major at Boston College, but it’s rapidly growing so we’re seeing female Boston College Alumni who are now doing amazing things in the industry and want to come back and help foster that environment here. We all need someone we can look up to and see what is possible." - Emily Koehne '22