Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering 17(2), 129–147 (2011) ISSN 1072-8325/11/$35.00 Copyright © 2011 by Begell House, Inc. 129 WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES IN THE STEM COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRANSFER PATHWAY Becky Wai-Ling Packard,* Janelle L. Gagnon, Onawa LaBelle, Kimberly Jefers, & Erica Lynn Department of Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusets 01075, USAl * Address all correspondence to: Becky Wai-Ling Packard, E-mail: bpackard@mtholyoke.edu The experiences of women using the community college transfer pathway to earn four-year degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) ields have not been studied extensively. This study examined the experiences of thirty women (67% irst-generation college students, 23% ethnic minority students) pursuing STEM degrees; they were interviewed once while inishing at commu- nity college and again one semester later. The results illustrate facilitators at the community college, including inspirational professors, efective transfer advising, academic resources, and lexible work schedules, and barriers resulting from inefective initial advising. Ater transferring to a four-year institution, the majority of women persisted in STEM majors despite many barriers, such as negative course experiences, poor advising, and limited inances. Finding a helpful professor or advisor and co- transfer support boosted belongingness and contributed to persistence. Two students switched to non- STEM ields, while two students withdrew from the four-year school completely; these students faced signiicant inancial barriers and did not ind a helpful professor or advisor in a STEM ield. Finally, four students delayed their transfer, primarily due to inancial reasons and family responsibilities. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. KEY WORDS: persistence, irst-generation college students, inancial barriers, community college transfer, advising 1. INTRODUCTION This paper focuses on women’s experiences in the community college transfer pathway as they strive to pursue baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) ields. As noted by Starobin and Lanaan (2010), community colleges play a vital role in STEM education today, with more than 50% of students using community colleges as their entry point to higher education. In fact, women earn the majority of associate’s degrees within community colleges; however, only 5% of the 500,000 associate’s degrees earned by women each year are in STEM ields (National Science Foundation, 2006). In addition, male students outnumber their female peers in STEM majors in community colleges at a ratio of three to one (Hardy and Katsinas, 2010). Although baccalaureate trends indicate gains by women across subields, most poignantly in biology, women are still underrepresented in many STEM ields including computer science and engineering (National Science Founda- tion, 2006).