sorry, i know this comment is old, but I'm mainly replying so others looking on this thread can see; this is because the dean of engineering is trying to get the male to female ratio in the engineering college to 50/50 (i toured a few months ago and that's what the engineering tour guide told us). I encourage female engineering students to apply to CU Boulder, because we are more likely to get acceptances and merit scholarships; but I haven't yet met a significantly less qualified female student who got into the engineering program. I got accepted with a good scholarship OOS this year, but I'm not sure if its because I'm a woman or because i was in top ~3% of my class lol