Hi all, I am going to be a senior in highschool. I have the option to commit to Harvey Mudd to play golf. I do not know if I should or if I should go through the normal application process to maybe get into a better school/ more known school. I want to be an engineer. I like that it is a pretty good engineering school, it just seems like it is nerdy, and I am more social/ like to party. As well as most people do not even know what the school is. I have a 3.96 unweighted gpa with all honors and aps. I am a d1 caliber golfer. But my extracurricular are weak with just volunteering and some other light work like LLC, highschool golf, and a business week.
That is not true. Harvey Mudd is very well known and very highly respected.
If Harvey Mudd is not a good fit for you, then you shouldn’t commit. Find a school where you will be happy and - hopefully - feel at home. Don’t commit to a school you’re not excited about.
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- You should commit to Harvey Mudd, if that’s where you want to be.
Now - for engineering, where you go to school in general doesn’t matter. There are exceptions, of course. If it’s for MechE, then you want to ensure ABET accredidation.
What does this mean?
get into a better school/ more known school
Don’t conflate rank with excellence. My kid had 1 B in HS, 10 or 11 APs, a 34 ACT, and got his butt kicked at an unranked school (which is ABET). He also had 20 interviews and 5 offers in the fall.
As for the second half of your sentence, and rankings don’t mean anything but since that’s where you’re going - the top colleges for engineering by US News that don’t have a PhD:
- Rose Hulman
- Harvey Mudd
#4 Naval Academy and #5 West Point
You might have heard of #6 - Cal Poly SLO.
Harvey Mudd is VERY well known and gives you the resources of the other Claremont colleges.
You can go to many schools and be an engineer.
It may not be the school for you. Only you can decide that.
Will you have other opportunities for golf? Does it matter to you?
But I’m not sure there are “better” and I’d say that about most schools - and it is a very well known school.
But neither one of those should be a reason you choose a school.
Good luck.
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Harvey Mudd is a great school for engineering! One of the very best in the country.
Any employer or grad program will be familiar regardless of the reaction you get in your current circle of friends.
I think your issue is more about fit/vibe than caliber of the school and no one can really answer that but you. If you aren’t excited, don’t commit.
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Are you being recruited for golf elsewhere?
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Can you afford HMC?
As for socializing, HMC is a work hard play hard school. You’ll have PLENTY of opportunity to party. Just don’t flunk out.
HMC is well known, and appreciated by anyone who hires engineers. The USNWR ranking is messed up in general, but in particular for the non-PhD programs. HMC ranks in multiple disciplines that they don’t offer. Somehow they net out at #2. Whe other schools collectively outrank them by several spots on the majors. They offer one…general engineering, with the ability to focus. I’d pay very little attention to the rankings and be reassured that it’s a respected program.
If you feel like you’d thrive there, go. If not, don’t.
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If you want to go to Harvey Mudd, do that. If you want to play D1 golf, are there any schools recruiting you? There are plenty of D1 schools that are good for engineering and good for golf.
Ask the Harvey Mudd coach if you can have more time if you need to consider other options for golf.
Every engineering school is going to have plenty of nerds, but lots of other students too. Harvey Mudd has the advantage of social life with students from the other colleges Doesn’t mean students from Pomona or Scripps aren’t nerds too, but you have a bigger social pool to swim in.
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Harvey Mudd is well known for STEM. You should make sure you are okay with their core curriculum as it is very specific. Also, it is my understanding that they only offer an engineering major and not specific types of engineering if that matters to you (someone correct me if this is wrong). Have you visited and talked with students there?
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I’d say top 9 or so in the U.S., perhaps placing it, say, somewhere between MIT and Princeton.
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When it comes to who’s getting paid the most money, Harvey Mudd graduates are top ten according to payscale.
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If you’re being recruited at other schools, ask about what kind of time-commitment is expected and whether they restrict you to particular majors. Engineering is amongst the more demanding college majors, and depending on the school’s approach to academics vs. sports, there could potentially be conflicts there.
The nice thing about being recruited for Harvey Mudd is that they probably have an excellent idea about what kind of a time commitment is necessary for engineering and, I suspect though do not know, make sure there is adequate time for student-athletes to be good students as well. Depending on which other school(s) are contenders, that may or may not be the case.
However, one piece of advice I’ve heard over and over is the broken leg what-if (or arm/shoulder/crucial bones for golf). Is this a school you would still happily attend if you could no longer play your sport there? If the answer is no, then it’s not the right place for you. I will say, however, that if you haven’t visited the school in-person yet while school is in session, that doing so is the best way to see if you might be happy at a school.
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Princeton, undergraduate engineering, top 10? I certainly wouldn’t put it there.
Cornell is the best undergraduate engineering program in the Ivy League, and I’m not sure it would make my top 10.
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That’s because they’re all STEM majors. You have to compare major by major for Payscale to have any relevance.
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Harvey Mudd is a fantastic engineering school and will be well known by anyone who matters (ex. employers, grad schools).
If the college has the mix of athletics and education that excites you and if it is comfortably affordable to your family, then by all means you can commit. If not, apply elsewhere.
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You won’t lose your scholarship if you can’t play either, because D3 schools don’t offer them. There’s nothing to take away. You would lose money if you were hurt at a D1 school.
I have been told that coaches at some D1 schools for some sports will not support a student-athlete who wants to major in engineering because the engineering course schedule is too demanding and time-consuming and conflicts with the D1 practice/travel/game-match-tournament schedule too much.
Just something to keep in mind and ask about if you are going through the recruiting process at D1 schools. Your party opportunities may be more limited than you might think, even at a school with a partying vibe.
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But at some schools (like Harvey Mudd) almost every student is a STEM major, most in engineering, so obviously many athletes are in engineering.
At my daughter’s school (and at many) athletics had priority registrations and got in the sections that didn’t conflict with practice. The schools worked with coaches on the scheduling of games, exams, make ups.
You do need to ask the coach if he’s going to limit the majors.
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Yes, my point was that a D3 school like Harvey Mudd may actually be more supportive of his major than many D1 schools and the D1 schools may have a sports schedule that limits any partying far more than Harvey Mudd’s academic culture.
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For additional perspective, maybe the OP can share
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The engineering programs he views as better fit and/or more prestigious?
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His golf stats and whether he could get recruited at the schools listed above?
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if so, engage in late discussion with the golf coaches at those schools
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If he’s unable to attract the support of those coaches then the decision comes down to choosing between certainty of golf at Harvey Mudd vs chancing it at other engineering schools with walk-on possibilities
Also - maybe budget. Harvey Mudd has merit but is the OP assured? Is the OP full pay and ok with that at $89K this year (so more in future). Even with merit, it’s going to be high unless OP has need.
If they could go for $25-27K, without golf, would that change their calculus?
There’s a lot of variable - OP may have answers to some but may not have thought of others.