<p>My daughter is a freshman Mudder. All of the things you described are true. And maybe more so for her, as she didn’t come from a very strong math & science high school background. But I doubt even her friends who are more prepared academically would say it was easier than high school. However… she adores it. We were talking about this last week over spring break, and here are a few things that came up:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The professors make a point to NOT encourage competition among students. It is all about the students vs. the work – not each other. For that reason they don’t grade on a curve.</p></li>
<li><p>One reason the work is unyielding is because science is unyielding. The facts are the facts, and you need to know them and be able to use them. Period. You can’t make part of physics or linear algebra go away. You just have to work through them.</p></li>
<li><p>Almost everyone is taking the same classes for the first few semesters. You are required to take the core courses the first time they are offered for the most part. So core fills your schedule up. Very few students place out of classes; they don’t take AP credits. There are placement tests, but you have to be really, really good to pass out of something. So everybody is working on the same material together. There is a lot of group studying, since everyone is working on the same thing. However, the honor code also means you have to do your own work. So no one will give you the answers, but they will help you think about the concepts and how to attack a problem. This results in really, really tight bonding for the class.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a ton of support. My daughter is pretty shy, but she is in her professor’s office hours frequently to get help, and there are also tutoring sessions run by older students (work study jobs) for most of the classes. On top of that, for students with gaps in their preparation there are some extra half credit (no homework) classes (often in the evening) that provide extra support in some of the classes. Sometimes departments do extra things – like for 3 days prior to the start of spring term, the physics department had a session on campus for students who they thought might struggle with the Wave/Mechanics class offered 2nd semester in core – it was very, very inexpensive, and they spend mornings working through some of the concepts and math to help them be ready for the class. My D did it, and thought it was fun. Some students come to pre-freshman year sessions – I think those with lower writing skills may get to take the core Writing class during that period and get that out of the way. </p></li>
<li><p>Some of the older student also take the freshman under their wings – my D went to an interview for a summer research position on campus, and the prof said, “Oh, you are one of <senior name=”">'s frosh". My D cheerfully admitted she was. She is not assigned to this senior – she met him in the dorm, and he and a couple of older friends have sort of adopted her and her close friends as “theirs” to help shepherd them through the first year. And I guess he mentioned D to the prof when the prof was setting up interviews. Of course there are older students who are assigned to groups in dorms, etc. as well.</senior></p></li>
<li><p>First semester is pass/fail. My D was loaded up with more than the normal 16 credits – 17.5, I think. So she has a little cushion in the bank from her p/f semester, as she passed everything. This semester she chose to add an elective (comp sci class) on top of the core, so she is taking 19 credits. Working super hard, but again… getting a little ahead on credits. She did not have to do this, she could be taking 16 credits (her choice). This is good if you want to study abroad or maybe take a lighter load when you are doing clinical (projects with companies) later on. Or… if you fail a class and have to retake. Hasn’t happened to her yet, but it does happen. But there are other ways to get ahead on credits. One is to take “summer math” where they cover the sophomore math core semester at Mudd in a shorter period in the summer.</p></li>
<li><p>One reason the professors are so insistent on covering their material and the core is hard is because there are no grad students. The professors want these students to help with research, and need them to have the basic skills to do so. It also prepares them really well for clinical projects, and eventually for real jobs. My D says her professors are brilliant, and really want to teach the material (I think she would say she has had only two profs she didn’t like so far, and both were only for one quarter).</p></li>
<li><p>Quite a few of the classes are only one quarter long. And as far as I can tell, almost all of her exams have been something like “midterm 1” and “midterm 2” – so the finals are not cumulative. And there is a fair amount of weight given to homework. There was even 10% participation in one of her classes this semester. 
When I went to a large research university, our grades were often almost all based on exams, and finals were cumulative a lot of the time. So I consider this a better model.</p></li>
<li><p>My D thinks she only knows one student who is transferring out after freshman year (she said there may be a couple more, she just knows one). This person has their eye on med school, and realized that grade deflation makes that really tough. However, if you look at Mudd results in employment and grad school, you can see that they are amazingly well prepared.</p></li>
<li><p>Regarding coping, my D has joined a club/team at Mudd that meets a couple times a week. I think she went to another club a few times because her friends did, but hasn’t really stuck with it. Sometimes she goes off campus with someone she knows who has a car on the weekends – not overnight, just for a few hours, up into the mountains usually. She hangs out at the coffee shop at Scripps. There is some kind of humans vs zombies game coming up on campus, she is thinking about participating in that. Some students are big online gamers, but she and her friends are not into that.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So… don’t go to Mudd if you want an easy school. And don’t expect the kind of grades you got in high school. But if you want to be with a lot of amazing, smart people, and in an environment that I think is more supportive that some of the other top STEM schools, it is great. My advice is to go to accepted student visits and stay overnight. You will probably know for sure after that if it is right for you.</p>