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me, trying to register for the career fair
We love to hate on career fairs but have to admit they’re pretty useful for finding that summer internship you thought was hopeless, or at least snagging a free water bottle (or five). Deputy Editor Mia Lindheimer noticed something a little fishy about CCE’s Engineering Career Fair, and she’s here to call them out.
If you’re in tech, just really want a job no matter how irrelevant, or just wanted some free Google swag, you probably went to Barnard’s “Women in Technology Conference and Career Fair” two weeks ago. After all, it was advertised all around campus, complete with email invites sent to the entire Columbia student body, and some of the biggest names in tech were there. And if you went, you probably wondered: Am I in the right place? Why are there so many dudes here? Yes, you were in the right place, and you were probably lucky if you could get a chance to talk to the recruiters at Square and Google by pushing through all the boys swarmed around their tables. Did the guys even notice that the mailing lists they were signing up for were all titled “Women in Tech”? Probably not. After all, we’re all just trying to get a job– props to them for making the effort.
Still, I was excited to see yet another career fair popping up on campus: CCE’s Engineering Career Fair, this Friday. I wanted a tech internship just as bad as those boys at the Barnard Conference. Going to the CCE fair would be intimidating, and there’d probably be even more guys there than at the Women in Tech Conference, but there would also be different companies and therefore more opportunities to find out about available internships and programs. While I was taking a quick skim over the event description to find the registration link, I noticed a heavily astrixed condition:
***This fair is open to Columbia University students and alumni from the following schools only***
Columbia College
General Studies
The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
School of the Arts
So I guess there is no registration link for me, a Barnard student, clearly only interested in the humanities. Why would a woman be interested in engineering? Unthinkable.
Ok, so there are plenty of very deserving women at CC, GS, SEAS, etc., but we have to wonder what took Barnard off this list. Sure, we’d understand if Barnard was so cruel as to shut its doors to CC students during the Women in Tech conference, but this seems a little uncalled for. Barnard students can major in Computer Science just like anybody at CC can, and are therefore are just as qualified for any Software Engineering internship opportunities at the career fair.
It’s no wonder women have trouble getting into STEM if they aren’t allowed to the career fair in the first place– especially when their own fair is swarming with guys who have been coding since they were two. There are simply enough roadblocks for Barnard students hoping to major in Computer Science or related fields, ranging from a single advisor for all Barnard CS students to simply not being allowed into career fairs such as this. We’d love to see Columbia try to help change that, starting with equal opportunity.
Update: Computer Science Student Services Advising Team has worked with CCE and secured tickets to the Engineering Career Fair for declared Barnard Computer Science majors. If you’re a declared Barnard Computer Science student, your ticket should be in your email inbox now. Thanks CS Student Services Advising Team!
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16 Comments
@Just want to point out that Barnard sent every Columbia student around 20 copies of the same email advertising their career fair.
@Anonymous Shouldn’t you try emailing someone to get this changed before writing a whiny post about it on Bwog?
This would maybe be understandable if Columbia shut down a request to get access, but it seems like contacting CCE to try to reach an amicable resolution was not even attempted.
@Anonymous This article is so bratty. I’m a female in SEAS. I’ve gotten three separate internships in STEM fields and have never felt like I was being kept out by men. It’s probably because I chose to go an engineering school though, and not a liberal arts college.
These employers are looking for students from a school with a strong reputation in math and science, you put yourself at a disadvantage by choosing to go to a school where the strengths lie elsewhere.
@Anonymous Barnard does not even have any computer science or engineering courses.
@Anonymous They just want to go to a proud women’s college and take all the resources of the affiliated Ivy League school next door
@seasgirl If you were SO incredibly passionate about a career in ENGINEERING maybe you have applied to SEAS. Don’t know how you missed the memo that Barnard and Columbia are separate institutions. This article is ridiculous.
@seasgirl should’ve*
@Anonymous When did shitty activists take over bwog?
@Anonymous I’m not even sure why Columbia guys would go to a Barnard career fair. Ban them, who cares.
@Anonymous What kind of mirror universe do you live in where any Columbia student cares about Barnard resources? the only thing that columbia students use barnard for is easier classes to boost their GPAs, and occasionally their dining halls. The only people who think that Barnard is part of Columbia are Barnard students. Columbia students dont think so, the administration doesnt think so, and employers sure as hell dont think so.
@goodbye men Literally the issue here is not that Barnard isn’t part of Columbia (which is a whole other debate, but arguing with Columbia men is never fruitful because they’re only looking to fuel their superiority complexes), but that, once again, Columbia administrative nonsense is at it again. Leave it to Columbia boys to feel entitled to take up space at a Women in Tech conference and then immediately comment how Barnard women don’t get to participate in their conference. Was Barnard not a part of Columbia when you were at our tech conference, getting internships through Barnard? It’s simple: if we’re so separate, stop using our resources. Columbia men cannot decide that Barnard is part of Columbia only when it benefits them.
@Anonymous Not sure why you’re assuming the people commenting here are men
@Mmeme DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER YOU SHITLORD?!
@because you dont go to columbia Barnard has a different career office because Barnard is not Columbia. They have different requirements, different admissions standards, and different endowments. All of the schools you listed are part of Columbia University which Barnard is affiliated with, but not a part of.
@Anonymous I’m sure all the columbia women were sad upset that they didn’t have students from an affiliated institution competing with them for all those positions.
@jeez i wonder why the COLUMBIA center for career education wouldn’t serve BARNARD. almost like they are SEPARATE SCHOOLS.