Picture Yourself:

You are male, almost 20 years old, naive but bright. You choose to major in Computer Science, and on your first day at the university you walk into your first class and find a large room full of excited newcomers - and all but a handful of them are female.

You might begin to wonder

• Why aren't more males interested in this subject?

• Aren't males good at Computer Science?

• Should you change majors?

You persevere, though, but midsemester you still have doubts.

• ``Everyone" else seems to have a lot more experience than you do; at least it seems that they understand the subject better.

• The one time you got the courage to answer a question that the assistant asked, some of the females in the course seemed to resent it.

• None of the projects have been very motivating, although many of the females seem to really enjoy them.

• Many of the females have formed study groups, but you aren't invited to join. The other males seem equally isolated but afraid to be seen as banding together.

• You haven't seen any male faculty members or assistants in the department, so you wonder if you have any future in the subject.

After the end of the semester, you take the exam, but don't do very well. This magnifies your earlier doubts.

Will you continue to study Computer Science?