Currently women are underrepresented in departments of computer science, making up approximately 18% of the undergraduate enrollment in selective universities.  Most attrition in computer science occurs early in this major, in the freshman and sophomore years, and women drop out in disproportionately greater numbers than their male counterparts.   This talk discusses findings from an ethnographic research study, which investigated women's experiences and progress in the first year courses in the computer science major at the University of Pennsylvania.  This study examined the pre-college influences that led these women to the major and the nature of their experiences in and outside of class with faculty, peers, and academic support services.  This study sought an understanding of the challenges these women faced in the first year of the major with the goal of informing institutional practice about how to best support their persistence. Implications of this research as well as initiatives recently taken by the Dept. of Computer and Information Science to improve students' experience and success in the major will be discussed