The Women's Technology Program (WTP) was created in 2002 to encourage young women with strong math, science, and analytical abilities to pursue studies in engineering and computer science. The program provides high school students with little or no prior background in engineering and computer science with positive female role models, college-level computing and engineering experience, and an understanding of what engineers and computer scientists do and how they work.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WTP 2021 will be a virtual, online program, not residential on the MIT Campus.
Virtual WTP 2021 will be entirely FREE: there is no fee for students to attend or apply to the program.
WTP is a women-focused, collaborative community aimed at empowering students from groups historically underrepresented and underserved in engineering. We especially encourage students to apply who will be the first family member to attend college, who come from high schools with limited access to STEM classes and activities, or who are African American, Hispanic, or Native American.
During four weeks in the summer, participants explore engineering and computer science through hands-on classes, labs, and team-based projects. Instruction is provided by female MIT graduate and undergraduate students. Guest speaker talks by MIT faculty and industry engineers expose students to research and career directions.
WTP offers two curriculum tracks; they are not certified academic programs and students do not receive college credit.
Classes cover three subject areas:
1) Computer Science introduces students to problem solving concepts using computer programming in the Python language.
Admission for WTP is very competitive. Forty to sixty students (20-40 in EECS and 20 in ME) are admitted each year from a nationwide pool of top 11th-grade female math and science applicants. To apply students must either live in the U.S. or be U.S. citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents if living outside the U.S.
No prior experience in physics, calculus, computer programming, or engineering is required, but we do expect students to have taken the most advanced classes in science and math appropriate for their grade level at their schools, and to be able to handle college-level material at a rapid pace. Because WTP is an introduction to engineering and computer science (not advanced coursework) we do not admit students who have already covered our curriculum through academic coursework or other summer or extracurricular programs.
