ETA that I do also have concerns about DD being steered away from/turned off on math. The steering has already happened at her present school. Her verbal talents are very obvious, but IMO she has some awesome math potential. I worry that math may be more male-identified at a school that is already boy-heavy.
Girls being discouraged to even consider math at early stage is a real concern. That will close so many doors for them. My daughters were competing in Geo Bee and Mathcounts in middle school, so they knew quite well about male domination in certain areas. DD17 was county Mathcounts winner (only girl for many years). But she was hopelessly out-competed at CA State Finals. That was not a pretty sight for girls (all top 10 are boys and Asians). At some point of time in high school, both pretty much rule out match/science/engineering.
Fortunately that was not the end of the story. For some reason, both girls had a dramatic change of hearts at college. My older one DD18, more known as a pianist and writer, declared math major after trying out history/lit and Russian study. She still love writing as ever, just felt that she needs a degree that is more substantial. DD reported that Harvard Math department has about 20 students a year and one third are girls.
Younger DD17, to our amazement, declared Operational research and financial engineering major (actually more math than engineering). It is a hard major for sure, she complains about endless P-SET and projects every other days. But things are looking up as DD17 just landed an internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, quite feat for a freshman.
