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You are correct in aggregate - of course companies cannot hire people who don't exist - but I really struggle to believe that *Google* has 17% female application rates after controlling for education.

Why do you struggle to believe this?

The 17% figure reported is for tech workers only - their overall and non-tech numbers are much better, with 30% and 48% women respectively. You can see their released numbers here.

From this publication by the ASEE: "...females accounted for 18.4 percent of [engineering] bachelor’s degrees, up slightly from 18.1 percent in 2010. The percentage of master’s degrees awarded to women remained unchanged at 22.6 percent; while that of doctoral degrees decreased about 1 percent from 22.9 percent in 2010 to 21.8 percent in 2011. The proportion of engineering degrees awarded to females should remain stable over the next few years, since women represent 18.2 percent of all bachelor enrollees, 22.7 percent of master’s enrollees, and 21.6 percent of doctoral enrollees."

"The percentage of black students also decreased slightly at all levels, bringing the percent of [engineering] degrees awarded from around 4.5 percent to closer to 4 percent."

And regarding computer science, according to this infographic, 18% of computer science undergraduate degree recipients were female (14% at major research universities), and 19% of the highschool AP computer science test-takers were female. Also according to the infographic, percentage of female computer science undergraduates has dropped dramatically (by 79%!!) since 2000.

I definitely agree that the under-representation of women in the tech sector is a serious problem. However, this under-representation seems to be caused by a number of poorly understood socioeconomic and cultural factors, and the data doesn't indicate particular misogyny on Google's part.

I am talking about the financial aid program for undergrads:

http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/SmartGrants.jsp

You probably confuse this with SMART fellowship program for grad students:

http://smart.asee.org/about

I was going to make the point that that study fails to mention how many engineers drop out of their programs in general; looks like someone else already did that research, however:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/05/engineer

http://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/jee/award-winning-jee-papers/2008-wickenden-award-winner.pdf

Notice that they found that women persist in engineering at the same rate as men. The fact that most women leave engineering in a particular time frame is largely irrelevant, since most men also leave engineering in that same time frame.

If women are hearing snide remarks, it is apparently having less of an effect on their willingness to remain engineers than you might think. Both studies seem to support what I said from the outset: the problems are mainly before college, when high school students are deciding what programs they wish to apply to. The more recent study also indicates that efforts to encourage students to persist in general (rather than programs that focus on women specifically) tend to reduce the rates of women dropping out by a greater amount than the rate of men dropping out.

There's already a Government program that pays for your tuition, health insurance, and gives you a stipend, all while guaranteeing you a job with a Research facility when you graduate. http://www.asee.org/fellowships/smart/

While most corporations don't have big positions for high school students, you can usually get in the door and start learning. Try some local companies and offer to work cheap. The smaller the company, the more likely they are to accept you.

For better opportunities, the National Labs and assorted government research facilities almost all have high school internship programs. Some examples:

DOE Labs: http://www.doe.gov/organization/labs-techcenters.h tm
Apprentice Programs: http://www.gwseap.net/default.asp, http://www.asee.org/seap/index.cfm
FFRDCs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFRDC

These can often turn into college scholarships (partial or full), guaranteed job when you graduate, etc. And if you do go work there, your years of service will be from your first day of internship. Can get you better benefits and perks later on in your career. Clearances may also be issued.

1. In the sciences, at least, previous experience is very, very important. i know some people who posted here commented that its all about GRE scores and grades. i found this, personally, to be totally untrue. as i said before, im in the physical sciences, which may be a bit different. that said, the focus in my grad school is on _doing_ your own research and the admissions committee is therefore interested in what you can do.

2. In the science field, if you want a job as an academic at a US school (i.e. a prof) you will be best off coming from a US school. For masters study im not too sure, though. One thing to keep in mind is that more funding will be available to you in the US _if_ you are a US citizen (see below). Going abroad may cost you more.

3. I think you will have to be open to changing your routine and way of thinking. Industry is, generally speaking, organized and motivated very differently than school. I have found grad school to be much more challenging than industry (even though i was managing several people in the R+D dept. at the company i worked for) - the demands on your time are tougher (random, long hours) and the intellectual tasks are more difficult. Prepare to work hard! I would also reccommend talking to your signifcant other, if you have one. The change in schedule and drop in free time (no more 2-day weekends :) are things you will want to discuss with him/her. Finally, start reading to get in shape... you'll be reading lots.

4. No comment.

Also, you will want to look for external funding. This can help supplement your meager stipend or offset the cost of tuition (if you have to pay). Some places to look (in the US, for US citizens) for Comp. Sci funding are:

Good luck!