<p>I don’t think it is terribly difficult to do study aboard at Mudd. I don’t even think it is sufficiently more difficult to matter in making a decision. I’ve looked at the material online regarding study aboard and I’m quite happy with what I see.
When I went to the ASP session on study abroad, the presenters mentioned two issues that students need to be aware of.
Mudders may need to start planning relatively early for study abroad because some requirements can be somewhat difficult to deal with otherwise.
Some majors (most notably math and computer science) have fewer abroad programs than is ideal.</p>
<p>I certainly can’t tell you how Mudders feel about HUM classes. I was informed at the ASP that the vast majority of Mudders take courses at the other colleges, and I’ve already heard from the mom of a Mudder who has a strong interest in a specific area of humanities.
I can tell you that my child is definitely interested in HUM and will be at Mudd.</p>
<p>The comments are very helpful - keep them coming, everyone!</p>
<p>I think my D is content to know she would major in math or physics and whether that’s at Maine LAC or at Mudd, I expect she would keep to that. At Maine LAC, she might double major in philosophy/math or english/math or physics/math or economics/math…
She told me today she just wants the options of seminar style classes, discussion-based, being able to take classical mythology or something unusual…just to explore what she might want to major in. </p>
<p>Study abroad isn’t a deciding factor for her. She sees them as equally an option at either school.</p>
<p>Weather won’t shift her views - she actually sees No Seasons / sunny so cal as a neutral, and Maine’s weather falls in the neutral category too. She has grown up in south texas and wants a change.</p>
<p>My biggest concern is that the personal fit at Mudd felt SO good, and at maine LAC there might have been the slightest difference because it wasn’t quite as perfect a fit based on the short one day overnight. But the Maine school followed the Mudd ASP and maybe it was hard to top. There seemed no question that she would be socially happy at Mudd.</p>
<p>Her other concern is whether she would have enough of a balance between academics and social life (doesn’t want to be overwhelmed) though having everyone else working as hard as she would be probably makes that less of a fear since part of the social life is over homework. She is somewhat afraid of being chronically sleep deprived.
She’s a tough cookie, though.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of people who went to ASP and were immediately turned off by the vibe? My D said every other prefrosh she met felt just like she did about the ASP, very positive.</p>
<p>Other pragmatics - weather in terms of logistics. Travel in Maine can be hard in the winter - both by road (getting to an airport) and by air. Is she okay with that? She could get stuck at Thanksgiving and never make it home (although usually the snow doesn’t really fly until later). At winter break, things are easier because a day or two delay is generally something you can deal with.
On the plus side - Maine weather is never boring. It does get darn cold, but she’ll learn to deal with that. It’s not that difficult. And New ENgland falls are all they are cracked up to be. The rocky Maine coast is wonderful too.
I think she will find her seminars - some at Mudd and some at the other colleges, particularly Pomona.
I think some folks at ASP were still uncertain by the end, but I don’t know of any who were completely turned off. (But my sample size is small - the ones I happened to chat with.) I think most of the folks who were still undecided may have had financial issues to consider, but I’m not at all sure.
Remember that the big workload at the start is deliberate - it helps the kids learn to work together and find help with they need it. It’s clear that there is a lot of support in the system. ANd given that Mudders seem to have a lot of parties and other fun events, I think they have a reasonable social life.</p>
<p>@nemom – my daughter experienced the “travel delay” immediately after her admitted student program at Maine college. She was to fly out on a monday night at 6pm and the plane arrived late to the Portland Airport, so by the time she got to Newark she missed the connecting flight. She’s only 17 and couldn’t stay or check in to a hotel by herself, so we were faced w/her staying all night in the airport or fortunately I called up some old friends in NYC, my D took a cab and arrived into NYC alone staying w/friends of mine she had never met - it was her first time to NYC ever. But she got a cab out the next a.m. and back to airport and made it home…so yep I see that as possible down the line but it didn’t deter my D at all (we discussed it, seeing that going non stop to LAX is easY)</p>
<p>do you know if students are allowed to take seminars, particularly first year seminars at Pomona? I email admissions and asked but haven’t heard back. Admissions, by the way, has been fabulous, personal, and exceeded my expectations except for not responding to that email. I guess I’ll call tomorrow and ask someone.</p>
<p>private message me if you want, but where are you from?</p>
<p>I will say I’m glad that mine has already handled flying coast to coast on his own, and with a tight connection. Part of the reason to go to ASP was give him a feel for what the travel was really like. (When we visited in the summer, it was part of a longer trip.)
And, it will be a bit easier once they are 18 and should be able to rent a hotel room on their own. I also am hoping that mine will find friends who live in our area so they can buddy up on flights.
As far as I know, students can take anything they like at Pomona, assuming they qualify. Looking at the Pomona catalog - there are a pile of intro classics courses, for example, which probably function like a freshman seminar even if they aren’t called that. They will probably have small class sizes and lots of discussion.
Maybe it would help if your daughter looked closely at the Mudd catalog too - some courses are clearly seminar courses but they don’t always make a big deal about it.
Good luck!</p>
<p>My fresh D came to Mudd not a very social child. She had a couple close friends, but spent most of her time at home. At Mudd she has completely blossomed. Part of it is that the honor code somehow allows them to do homework in groups, so even when she is working hard she isn’t alone. She has gone to two school subsidized musicals in LA, gone to Disneyland with friends over a long weekend, gone home with a suitemate for passover dinner and is driving back home with her roommate. She wants to start a club! My D isn’t a party girl, but she talks about all the parties she doesn’t go to… she watches movies with friends, one of the girls she knows was teaching them self defense, there a bbqs and dress up nights at the dorm. They walk into town for dinner, ride their bikes to shop at Trader Joes. A social life is not a hard thing to find at Mudd as far as I can tell! (not to mention there are probably lots of opportunities at the other colleges for parties, meals, clubs that my D hasn’t explored). She works hard, but she also seems to have moments for her personal well being.</p>
<p>That said, HMC is a hard school. You D will work hard, no two ways about it. But, there is the possibility of some balance. Listening to alumni talk, they seem to say that HMC taught them a work ethic that has served them well in the future endeavors. I haven’t talked to any unhappy alumni, but I guess they are out there…</p>
<p>My son flew out from NYC to attend ASP and loved it and will be attending HMC in the fall. He is looking forward to wintering in Southern California!</p>
<p>I’m a bit stunned simply because she was so torn for so long, but I trust her instincts and think she’ll be very happy.</p>
<p>thanks for everyone’s input. I think the hardest part to let go of will be the Maine coast, the location, and believe it or not the snow and cold! But that’s just my assumption. She isn’t voicing anything about letting go of the school but instead of joining Harvey Mudd class of 2015 with great excitement :)</p>
<p>Congratulations! I know it was a struggle! I think she will have a blast. And, who knows, maybe my son will invite her home for winter break for a taste of snow.</p>
<p>Congrats on the decision finally being made - and for choosing Mudd! I hope/am sure she will have a wonderful challenging experience.</p>
<p>As for snow - well you can see snow everyday in the winter on Mt. Baldy behind the school & drive to skiing whenever that is possible. And, it gets cold at Mudd - this winter my D complained that she had to wear gloves to hold her smoothie in the morning!</p>
<p>(Actually, the great thing about California is that you can drive to whatever outdoor seasonal adventure you want - and in S. CA in about an hr - the beach, mountains, desert, rolling hills, farmland…)</p>
<p>@anthroponomist - thanks! do you ever share what your screenname means?</p>
<p>@mom2kids - I guess she might get to play in the snow even in California. I’ll send the big boots we bought at Christmas (thinking she was heading to the northeast for college)
and the gloves too thanks I’m hopeful as well.</p>
<p>Lol! I mostly chose it to conceal my identity–not that it really matters I guess, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I use very different usernames on other websites. I think an anthroponomist studies human behavior, which is always interesting. It has a nice ring to it, if I may say so myself (lol).</p>
<p>Grins - it does not get cold at Mudd. Cold is when you find out your car temp. gauge does register below zero. (F, not C). (But a pair of gloves is a good idea anyway .)</p>
<p>DS visited Mudd in beginning of March and it was a bit nippy/damp the first days there… then it warmed up all around …
but he’s still torn and it might get to a coin toss on Monday…
Counting down the hours
(just wished he went to ASP even though he spent 2 full days in March to compare to CPW)</p>
<p>ASP was very good - lots of fun for the kids but also a lot of information and , as far as I can tell, a good bit of realism too. It was very nice weather by my standards then. If you want any info that I might have, PM me - I might be able to answer questions about stuff like music, dorms, study aboard - I was at ASP and went to a lot of talks.</p>
<p>If you want some snow and cold…D was very impressed when they dumped a ton of snow on campus one day, part way through the year. She thought it was perfect because she really doesn’t care for winter but thought the (temporary) snowball fights were fun.</p>
thanks I’m hopeful as well.</p>