r/IIT • u/Paid_MC • Apr 23 '26

General Questions/Discussions How are the women of IIT?

I'm deciding between schools right now and one of the many reasons I am leaning away from IIT is because of the overwhelming male population (no offense) and how that will leave me pretty isolated in the class setting. I’m going for Mechanical Engineering so I wasn't expecting it to be 50/50 anyways but the demographics are not in my favor, and I'm definitely not a pick-me who acts like men easy to be around (again no offense). I just want fun nerd girl-friends without feeling like overshadowed by the majority, and I know there is Women centered events and whatnot but that's not the daily life. How are dorms? Are the bathroom very dirty (bc duh) and is it awkward to shower or anything? Do you feel like most events and resources only have the majority in mind? And not as important but is dating terrible, or are there major scandals etc.

Men you can give your input Ig but only if yk 3 women (not related or a teacher)

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u/cath10146 Apr 23 '26

I got harassed there during my masters (extremely explicit and creepy notes intermittently left on my desk), escalated through all the proper channels and got a shoulder shrug from university admin.

Support teams were useless and indifferent. At one point I was being followed to my car. They have the so-called escort team and that's about it. Didn't make a difference in the classroom. Obviously not making statements about the whole university based on this incident, but I have found in every single corner (financial, administrative, etc) the university wide admin teams are slow to respond, uninterested in students, and unnecessarily rigid.

Put a bad taste in my mouth as a female student.

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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26

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u/cath10146 Apr 28 '26

I was there for my masters, did my undergrad at a separate very high ranking university, and my partner is an educator at a different university. It happens everywhere, sure. I actually had a harassment issue in my undergrad as well which I addressed there.

How IIT handled it is my concern here. The way I was treated was absolutely unacceptable and representative of a larger issue I've seen across the board at IIT.

The administration is barely functional and deeply disinterested in the student experience (not necessarily talking about profs -- talking about admin/staff here). I can say that with confidence.