<p>Hi, I plan to go into Electrical Engineering and right now I am torn between Berkeley and Harvey Mudd. The thing is, Berkeley is closer to home and has an excellent engineering program, but they accepted me for Spring of 2006. If I did choose Berkeley, I would most likely take some city college classes and then enter in Spring. Harvey Mudd is far in the sense that my parents would either have to drive all day or take an airplane down there. I'm from a big city, have always gone to a large public school, so I don't know how Harvey Mudd would be for me. Also, I have not received financial aid information from either school, but Harvey Mudd definitely has the higher price tag.</p>
<p>Should I start college at the normal time and choose the pricier, smaller school or start later at the large, well-known school?</p>
<p>Sidenote: My parents have never heard of Harvey Mudd and think Berkeley is the greatest school out there besides Harvard. It shouldn't, but my parents' opinions do matter.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? Thank you!</p>
<p>besides the california weather, the two colleges are totally different. Have you visited both?</p>
<p>My suggestion is to do an overnight stay at Mudd. That'll make add to the contrast between the two.</p>
<p>Things you might notice (ie. my thoughts on the issue):
-The area around Berkeley has a lot more to do
-the classes at Harvey Mudd are incredible - you'll be surprised how engaging an intro 80 person lecture can be. I found them more engaging than a 30 person class at my MIT overnight.
-the professors at Mudd are friendly, and open to anyone and everyone who wants some of their knowledge. I randomly started talking to one, and he taught me quantum mechanics for 40 minutes one-on-one, and I wasn't even admitted at that point.
-Berkeley has a lot more innovative research going on. Mudd's research seems to be geared towards developing technologies that are already discovered, while Berkeley is on the foreground.
-Withs regards to the last point: it'll be tough to get any sort of role in the aforementioned research. You'll have to scour everyday and pounce on any opportunity you come across.
-Berkeley engineering students are a little more cutthroat than Mudd students, (although they aren't that bad - not as bad as the pure-science/pre-med students) although both programs are quite difficult.
-If you don't do well enough to get into a top-grad school, the berkeley degree will get you more jobs outside of california.
-You will get quite a many larger lectures taught by TAs at Berkeley than at Mudd.</p>
<p>If you ever plan to work overseas(India and China) UC Berkeley has better name recognition. I used to work with a lot of UC Berkeley engineers and they are impressive.</p>
<p>Berkeley's reputation around the world is unparalleled.</p>
<p>But Harvey Mudd is an excellent school. Definitely a California Ivy.</p>
<p>You could use the opportunity of spring admission to work and save some money, as well as give your brain a change of pace. Sort of a "gap semester!" I'd go with Berkeley.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks everyone..it sounds like Berkeley's winning, even though I was hoping for Harvey Mudd. But I must agree with tokonyo in that I need to explore Harvey Mudd some more..both actually. Thanks!</p>