Columbia vs Harvey Mudd

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm deciding where I should ED, and these two are my biggest concern</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd or Columbia School of Engineering</p>

<p>Both are really great, so I want to choose the one with better chances.</p>

<p>I first thought that Harvey Mudd would definitely have higher chances but after doing extensive research I found that it is not necessarily so.</p>

<p>Here's some things to consider</p>

<p>Percentage wise, Columbia is harder to go, but not by a big difference. But since Harvey Mudd is a less popular school, the percentage may just represent that there were more applicants for Columbia, not necessarily stronger candidates.</p>

<p>Also, Harvey Mudd is a lot newer and is terrible at sports, thus decreasing the legacy and sports factor for early applicants.</p>

<p>But, Columbia accepts more varied race(thus more asians), while Harvey Mudd is basically a white school (I'm Korean)</p>

<p>But then again, Columbia is an Ivy League, while Harvey Mudd is not as known, so there probably are fewer international applicants.</p>

<p>Also, looking at the yield rate, Harvey Mudd is 20 something percent, while Columbia is over 50. Thus, it shows that not as many people would be dedicated to Harvey Mudd enough to apply early.</p>

<p>I know how many applied to Columbia early, but I couldn't find that information about Harvey Mudd. It'll be nice if anyone can post that information if you know.</p>

<p>So, where would be better?</p>

2

<p>They are radically different schools on many levels. Columbia is substantially larger and more prestigious. Harvey Mudd is rather small and relatively unknown. Within the engineering community, however, I think HMC might hold more clout. I think HMC only offers a bachelor’s degree; that might bear weight on your decision. Both are probably around the same level in terms of admissions difficulty (HMC is very self-selective, and Columbia SEAS has a slightly higher admissions rate than the college itself). </p>

<p>I do think you stand a slightly better chance at HMC in the ED round, but you really should base your decision on a lot more than your chance because these two schools, aside from their engineering focuses, are not very similar and you should consider what aspects compose a desirable school for yourself.</p>

3

<p>1) Yes, it’s true that Harvey Mudd is rather self-selective, so it gets an applicant pool that is smaller in number but extremely strong nonetheless. Because of the nature of the school, nobody really applies just to see if they’ll get in by chance, they have to want to go.
2) Legacy, yes. Sports, Harvey Mudd joins the CMS athletic teams, which actually seem fairly decent, depending on what sport you’re into. Cross country or track and field seems to be their best.
3) Actually, Harvey Mudd takes in a greater percentage of Asian students than Columbia does (22% vs 18%)
4) There are fewer international applicants, but there aren’t very many spots for those few applicants anyway, it’s competitive (I’m Canadian, got in ED).
5) Concerning the yield rate (which is closer to 30%), it is at least partially due to again the strength of the applicant pool at Mudd. Many of the same students accepted by Mudd will be also offered admission by other top-tier prestigious institutions, which may sway their decision. Harvey Mudd is also definitely not for everyone, ie. people looking for a bigger campus feel, people unsure of their major, people going to premed, etc.
6) I couldn’t find how many applied early either, but the acceptance rate is just under 50% in ED at Mudd.</p>

<p>Which would be better? Well, I’ll say this: both of these colleges are good, and will have extremely different atmospheres and communities. Do some research into what place you think you’ll actually like better in terms of the people, the lifestyle, the social dynamics and so on. Similar to what monstor said, you really have to find which of the two is more desirable to you.</p>

4

<p>The CMS teams are good, yes, but that’s because of Claremont Mckenna
So, I don’t think Harvey Mudd really has much sports factor</p>

<p>and honestly, I really like both schools, so I don’t care where I go. So, I’m only left with where am I more likely to go</p>

5

<p>If you were compelled to choose between the two, you would most likely choose Columbia.</p>

6

<p>Going for engineering??? Geez, of course its Harvey Mudd - its a no brainer. Columbia’s school of engineering is not even in top 10 whereas HM’s is sometimes considered to be ranked right after MIT. The top 1 and 2 average salaries of engineering major graduates belong to MIT and HM respectively.</p>

7

<p>Actually…
Columbia has an amazing engineering program
and @kwu: I’m actually leaning a little more toward Harvey Mudd</p>

8

<p>I found that the # of early applicants for harvey mudd is in the early 100. (wow… so few)
but they only accept 30 something from that</p>

9

<p>“Columbia accepts more varied race(thus more asians), while Harvey Mudd is basically a white school (I’m Korean)”</p>

<p>I personally hated reading this statement, but aside from that, go for Columbia. If you’re not completely in love with every aspect of a school, don’t apply to it ED.
At least with Columbia if you change your mind about Engineering you’ll have more options to hopefully choose from to switch out into.
And given by your statement, you’ll have more “varied race” simply by being in NYC if Columbia also turns out to not be “varied” enough like you think it is.</p>

10

<p>Neither school will really care that you’re asian. Harvey Mudd is also easier to get in to, whether ED or RD.</p>

11

<p>Mudd will have a strong presence on the West Coast but Columbia will have a better presence nation wide. Columbia will also put you in a better position for non engineeering jobs when you graduate. I would personally go with Columbia, but if you can’t decide don’t apply ED.</p>

12

<p>These schools offer completely different environments (i.e. Manhattan or Inland Empire suburb?). One cannot say which one is better…only choose based on what you prefer.</p>

13

<p>"Harvey Mudd is also easier to get in to, whether ED or RD. "</p>

<p>Is this based on something?</p>

14

<p>"Harvey Mudd is also easier to get in to, whether ED or RD. "</p>

<p>Percentage-wise, yes. In reality, no. The applicant pool for HMC is extremely competitive considering the self-selecting nature of the school. As such, one actually requires remarkable stats to gain admittance to HMC.</p>

<p>If you are very serious about engineering, HMC is probably THE best undergraduate education you can get.</p>

15

<p>Columbia is not in the top 20 engineering programs. It’s like #22 or #23.</p>

16

<p>If you want to be an engineer, Harvey Mudd is probably the better choice. Except for Cornell, the Ivies aren’t exactly known or strong for engineering.</p>

17

<p>

Princeton has some great engineering programs…</p>

18

<p>Maruhan, you may want to consider the financial aid factor when comparing ED admissions as well. With the recent economic tsunami, it might be wise to look up admitted students of the Class of 2013 and ascertain anynegative changes. </p>

<p>While I do not know much about the real versus perceived value of the 3-2 programs, some people do like to talk about the 3-2 Mudd/Columbia program. This might be of interest to you and help you end up attending both schools. :)</p>

19

<p>If you aren’t sure what school you want to attend, and you love them both equally…then don’t apply early decision to either. There’s no evidence that it significantly increases your chances, and even if it did, it would probably only do so by a small margin. That small margin is not worth it if you later discover that you really love the other school and they give you a better financial aid package, and that you would rather go there,</p>

<p>You’re making erroneous assumptions, too. For example, just because the yield is lower doesn’t mean that there are less dedicated early applicants. The two have nothing at all to do with one another.</p>

<p>I really think that you should just apply to both regular decision and then make your decision next April instead of trying to shoehorn yourself into something now. That’s never what early decision was meant to be used for.</p>

20

<p>“and they give you a better financial aid package”</p>

<p>Except that the student would never know this after being accepted ED at school A, since the application to school B would be withdrawn.</p>

<p>I agree that ED is inappropriate in this case since there is no clear favorite, and it’s a long time from December to May 1, with too much opportunity to change one’s mind. These are both tip-top schools, and the FA consideration could be huge. The environments are a bit different as well. ;)</p>