Community for Women Graduate Students in EECS

Hopper Conference Survey

Life as a Female Grad Student

Grace Hopper 2002 Conference Birds of a Feather Panel Survey

This survey will be used to provide more student viewpoints in the presentation "Life as a Female Graduate Student" for the Birds of a Feather panel at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2002.

The panel giving the presentation is composed of female graduate students in EE and CS at U.C. Berkeley. Your responses to this survey will help us broaden the base of opinions presented by the panel.

All replies will be anonymized before we even look at them. All information regarding your IP, user ID, etc, will not be passed from the cgi-script to us, though you may elect to tell use your name if you like.

Note that the questions with pull-down lists only allow you to select one answer, but the checkbox lists let you pick multiple answers.

For more information, contact Megan at mct@no.spam.cs.berkeley.edu.

Thank you!

Demographics

Your Age Range:

Your Gender:

Your Degree Goal:

Your Educational Institution Location:

Your Long-Term Goals: Where do you want to be in 20 years?
Research University Professor
Professor, Teaching-Focussed
Industry Researcher
Industry Product Development
Government Researcher
At a start-up
In business management
Home with family
Getting another degree
Other

How many years have you been a graduate student?

Roughly what is the focus of your department?

Your Educational Institution:

Your Department Size, in Professors:

Your Department Size, in Graduate Students:

Is your primary research advisor male or female?

Do you know your department's policy on maternity leave?

Do you know your department's policy on paternity leave?

Do you know your department's policy on handling childcare?

Do you know your department's policy on sexual harassment?

Expectations

Could you describe some expectations you had before arriving at your graduate school? (For example, expectations regarding class workload, clear research direction, the advisor search, collaboration possibilities, research group/peer group support, time committment, housing, general lifestyle, etc.)

Could you describe how these expectations changed after spending some time in grad school?

The Undergraduate to Graduate Student Transition

On a scale from 1-10, 1 being the easiest, how difficult was the transition to grad school?

What was the hardest part?
If "other", specify please:

Why did you choose your current university?
Reputation
A particular professor
Department Environment
Other students
Financial Aid
Location
Other, please specify

Has it met your expectations?

How long did it take you to get settled (oriented)?

Please comment briefly on the difficulties you encountered entering grad school, how they were resolved, and what accommodations, if any, were made to help you adjust.

For Returning Students

If you have proceeded directly through school to your graduate program, please skip this question.

Why did you return to school?:
wanted an advanced degree
more educational schooling for your job
didn't want to work anymore
trying to reenter the workforce
other
Anything more to add?

Finding a Research Advisor

If you have a permanent research advisor, how many research advisors did you try before settling on your current advisor? (number includes your current advisor)

Is your research advisor also a mentor for topics outside of research?

Do you have a mentor for non-research topics who is not your research advisor?

Happiness

Are you happy in grad school?

Have you ever thought about leaving grad school?

If frequently, why did you decide to stay?
Family encouragement
Advisor encouragement
Peer encouragement
Friend encouragement
No other option
Resolved the problem
Too stubborn to quit

Anything more to add?

Comfort Levels in School

Have you felt uncomfortable because of the male to female ratio in graduate CS classes?

Do you feel supported in your choice of major?

Have you ever felt uncomfortable having a solo meeting with a research advisor for personal, non-academic reasons? (We are interested in cases involving any personal issues, not just those that are gender-related. We are not interested in situations of the type where you were uncomfortable because you hated having to confess you didn't finish a task you promised to complete, etc.)
If yes, how did this affect your search for an advisor or relationship with your advisor?

Do research group dynamics make you hesitate to voice your opinion at group meetings?
Comment?

What is the gender make-up of your research group?

If it is not already, how do you think your group would interact differently if it were half female/half male?

Student Social Groups

Is there a general graduate student CS group/club at your institution?

Is there a 'graduate women in CS' group at your institution?

Are there other 'minority group in CS' groups at your institution? (i.e, African-American, Hispanic)

Are there institutional means by which student groups can present requests for changes in policy, facilities, etc, to the department?

Class Support

How do you develop or join a study group within your interests? (especially if there is an age gap with your classmates)

Do you use a tutor?

If yes, how do you find a tutor for evenings or weekends? (especially if you work during the day)

Relationship with Research Advisor

Do you have a research advisor?

If "No", skip to the next section.

How often do you have unscheduled one-on-one's with your advisor?

How often do you meet with your advisor in a scheduled one-on-one?

If your advisor is male, would you feel more comfortable having a female advisor?

If your advisor is female, would you feel more comfortable having a male advisor?

When you voice your opinions or ideas in group meetings, how often are they received positively?

How often does your research group have "fun events" that the group participates in? (i.e. bowling, paintball, hiking)

What kind of role do you play in your research group?
leader of a project or problem: have a junior grad student working with you or have an undergrad to help
work with a post-doc/senior graduate student who manages and guides you
work as an equal partner with the other students in your project
you are the only one in the group working on the specific research problem

How often does your research advisor come to you for advice or help on research you are working on?

How often have you observed your research advisor go to anyone for advice on research?

Sources of Mentorship

The dictionary defines a mentor as a trusted counselor or guide. A mentor is generally an influential, experienced individual with whom you establish a personal relationship and who actively helps you reach your goals. But a mentor can also be anyone who you turn to for advice.

In what order of frequency (most frequent [1] to least frequent [6]) do you turn to members of these groups for mentorship?
Female professor
Male professor
Female staff (staff includes post docs, department secretary, etc.)
Male staff
Female grad student
Male grad student

In what order are people from these groups available to you for mentorship (most available [1] to least available [6])?
Female professor
Male professor
Female staff (staff includes post docs, department secretary, etc.)
Male staff
Female grad student
Male grad student

In what order would you prefer to turn to people from these groups for mentorship given equal availability? (1 = most prefer, 6 = least)
Female professor
Male professor
Female staff (staff includes post docs, department secretary, etc.)
Male staff
Female grad student
Male grad student

How many fellow students do you mentor from time to time (give academic advice to)?

Female Role Models

Do you have a female role model in your field of study?

Do you interact with this person on a regular basis?
How?

Have you ever had a female professor(s) or advisor(s) in your field of study?

If yes, how do you think the professor(s) or advisor(s) has affected your outlook?

If no, how do you think your outlook would have been affected if you had been taught or advised by a female professor?

General Questions

What is the biggest challenge you have faced so far in graduate school?

What do you think will help female graduate students more in future?

Why do you think graduate school is important for you?

Is there anything else you'd like us to know?

End of survey

Purely optional information:

Name:

Email:

School:

Research Area: