Months before receiving her diploma, UW Bothell student Eleanor Wort has already secured a position with one of the region’s top employers. In July, she will be utilizing her bachelor of arts in Applied Computing degree as one of Microsoft’s newest associate consultants.
During the interview process, Eleanor was flown to Dallas, Texas. Along with 42 other applicants, she was given two days to prepare a 20 minute presentation for a panel of Microsoft employees on something she was passionate about. She decided to present on her study abroad experience in San Sebastián, Spain.
“Everybody I met in Spain was really surprised that I was a girl doing any kind of engineering. They would tell me, ‘what, no, you can’t do that. You are a girl.’”
What they didn’t realize is that Eleanor represents the future of STEM disciplines. The number of women in STEM majors at UW Bothell has more than doubled from nine-percent to nearly 19 percent in 2014. Women make up 40 percent of STEM faculty, far outpacing the national average.