The rise of technology and the media ultimately affects everyone including our youth. As technology changes more rapidly, it can be viewed as positive or negative. As the media challenges more boundaries, it is ultimately up to the parents to become more responsible for protecting their children and the youth. Today, most school age girls are aware of technology and the media industry. They are also familiar with the Internet and popular websites such as Myspace or Facebook, but do they truly understand the definition of technology and how the media affects them? Q: What do school age girls think of technology and the Media Industry? A: I think today’s technology can lead to many opportunities for teenage girls to become victims of society like cyber abuse online. The media industry also gives the public a false image of how to live, look, and act. (Tanisha Hollis, 18 Incoming freshmen at Palm Beach Atlantic University) Recently, many media outlets have recognized a new enrollment surge among incoming freshman females at colleges, universities, and technology institutes. In the past the institutions’ admission officers have stated a low number of incoming freshmen women in enrollment. On August 7, 2007, Insidehighered.com reported about the recent significant gain at women’s enrollment into technologically oriented colleges and universities. In 2004, the Technique, a southern college newspaper, reported that incoming freshmen women had a 32 % increase over the 2003 freshmen class. It also claimed that the number of Hispanics rose with a 52% increase. Other minorities, including International Students and African Americans also showed a small increase of 11.2 % and 20.6 %, which is significant for female freshmen at Georgia Tech. The Technique also stated that the College of Architecture admitted 62 % more women in 2004 than in 2003. What caused the enrollment surge in 2004 at Georgia Tech? One significant cause in the enrollment surge in incoming freshman women could be contributed to Georgia Tech’s FUTURES program. Georgia Tech’s Futures Program is a special visitation program, for exceptional young women, specifically for 10th and 11th grade women interested in the exciting majors offered at Georgia Tech. This program offers high school girls the opportunity to be introduced to an overview of the colleges and majors at Georgia Tech while gaining a personal freshman experience. The successful results of the program could be a positive experience for incoming women freshmen majoring in Technology and having the opportunity to receive internships and scholarships. As a result, 108 female engineering students were admitted to Georgia Tech in 2004, a phenomenal number. In 2007, Insidehighered.com stated that elite institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology tend to have a higher percentage of female students due to their prestige and relative breadth of offerings with women making up forty-four percent of the undergraduate population in the 2006 academic year. According to the fall semester freshmen statistics in Georgia Tech’s 2007 Fact Book 40% male students were accepted and 42% female students were accepted. However, the 2007 Fact Book states that 55% of males were accepted and 50% of females were accepted into graduate school. “I think we do fairly well considering that we are a school that’s primarily known for technology just because, unfortunately, young women face a lot of barriers where people are discouraged from considering institutions such as ours” said Ingrid Hayes, the director of undergraduate admissions at Georgia Tech. With the continuing technology and engineering programs targeted toward young women in high school, we hope the enrollment surge will continue at all institutions giving women more hope and the confidence to enroll at technology institutions. Works Cited Georgia Tech Institute. Fact Book: Admissions and Enrollment. 1 July 2008. Guess, Andy.” Enrollment Surge for Women”. 27 June 2008. Kantor, Arcadiy. “Women on the increase”. Technique Vol 90. Issue 3.
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