<p>Please help me compare Harvey Mudd and Cal! </p>
<p>Obviously, they're both great math/science schools---but which is better for a premed + engineering student?</p>
<p>How do their general atmospheres different? </p>
<p>Feel free to add anything else you'd like.</p>
<p>i hear harvey mudd has major grade deflation = bad for premed</p>
<p>I've heard people say the same thing about Cal...</p>
<p>I know someone that goes to harvey mudd. Something like 7 people have EVER, in the history of the college, graduated with a 4.0. I'd say that's grade deflation at its finest...</p>
<p>Cal is fun and has lots of things going on...whilst Mudd is boring...</p>
<p>are you a Harvey Mudd student RML? I think a lot of the students at Harvey Mudd will be the stereotypical "nerd," but if you want to go to Mudd and have a good social life, the other Claremonts are literally right next to each other, and have great social lives.</p>
<p>I know a kid who left Mudd because he hated the pressure-cooker atmosphere. And he was a top student at a top HS. (Disclaimer: it's only one experience ... yours may be different.)</p>
<p>I'm also wondering about the correlation between Mudd and Berkeley. I was wait-listed for Mudd, and now I'm wondering about my chances for Berkeley's school of science. Opinions any one?</p>
<p>IMO:
Berkeley and Bay Area >>>>>>>>>>> Claremont and Inland Empire</p>
<p>The two schools are completely different. You'll get a great education at both but need to choose for your personal tastes. HMC = small classes with more care and feeding. Berkeley = larger classes, but more variety and greater independence.</p>
<p>I disagree with Mudd being boring. A large part of the reason I decided to go there was it just seemed so much more fun and alive than other techie places. However, I don't doubt Cal has some fun stuff going on - just Mudd is probably one of the better "nerd schools" for fun, all-in-all.</p>
<p>For premed though, the grade deflation is your enemy...</p>
<p>the thing with the grade deflation---Don't medical schools factor in the undergrad institution you attended?</p>
<p>Yes, but most medical schools also have minimum GPA requirements. What your undergrad institution was might be something they look at later when they are comparing applicants, but at that stage it'll only help you so much.</p>
<p>Both of the schools are grade-deflated, though I think Berkeley is on average easier, given not everyone is held to the same standards of technical rigor. At Mudd, you're among a small community which IS held to such standards quite uniformly. If you're less than sure about Mudd, I predict your GPA being much worse at it. </p>
<p>I am, however, sure you can find my posts on this subject elsewhere, so I'll leave you to read them if you so choose, and am happy to answer specific questions as you may have them.</p>
<p>But either way, most things people will tell you here may be obvious: large school v. small school (i.e. more variety in academic selection vs. a more uniform standard of academic rigor + undergraduate focus by the professors), Claremont v. Berkeley city, etc. You should select which of these points is most important to you and ask around about these most important points.</p>
<p>Cal Berkeley is huge school while Harvey Mudd is small.</p>
<p>They both are very competitive with hugh grade deflation.
However, I recommend Harvey Mudd Because</p>
<ul>
<li>Smaller class size (smaller school in general) so a professor will teach / grade you, not a TA or graduate student.</li>
<li>You will be able to get to know professor better (better rec. letter)</li>
</ul>
<p>But if you're pre-med...
I'd say you should go to a less competitive school even if it's not as famous...</p>
<p>nicorobin90, that's a very interesting comment you make at the end "But if you're pre-med...
I'd say you should go to a less competitive school even if it's not as famous..." It seems like you imply Harvey Mudd is more famous than Berkeley?</p>
<p>I would like to see any national rankings that on a holistic scale that shows Harvey Mudd is more prestigious than Berkeley. I understand there are definitely drawbacks to going to Cal but lack of prestige is hardly one of them. The only schools more prestigious than Cal are the Ivys, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and a small handful of schools!</p>
<p>Yeah, not many people even know what harvey mudd is. I didn't</p>
<p>nope I meant as in a state school (is not as famous).. not Harvey Mudd :)</p>
<p>What you said makes no sense</p>
<p>Mudd does not have the prestige that Cal has. The peer assessment of Cal is almost equal to HPSM and equal to Yale. Even the current Yale president and past Stanford president made a public statement saying Cal is a peer school and is a top 5 US school. Mudd is also excellent. But it's just too undergrad focused. It lacks breadth and depth in terms of cutting edge research which are essential in the fields of science, tech, comsci and engineering. Mudd does not have a name or has very little name outside in the West coast. And Cal is a solid top 5 school outside of the US. In Europe, Asia and South America, for instance, scholars and highly educated people would consider Cal a top 5 school. I cannot say the same thing for Mudd. </p>
<p>Also, it's not RIGHT to compare Mudd to the whole of Cal. They're entirely different. If one would try to compare the two, try to do it by isolating the other colleges from engineering and science, because Mudd is practically a science and engineering school.</p>