<p>"She did to my dismay, however, express some interest in Harvey Mudd, which is a fine school, but I just can't abide its absurd name. I'm a big believer in place names. I won't live on a street or in a town that has a goofy name, and Mudd College certainly qualifies. In the end she ran out of energy and never finished her Harvey Mudd app."</p>
<p>What if I told you that I've gotten at least half a dozen job offers before graduation and I'm from Harvey Mudd? What if I told you that the manager of the propulsion division at JPL just told me yesterday, "Well, if it isn't the famous <rocketda> from Harvey Mudd College?"</rocketda></p>
<p>How about more HMC alums gain admittance to grad schools like Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, GaTech in engineering and MIT, CMU for robotics than nearly any other school (per capita)?</p>
<p>My lab at JPL/Caltech specifically asked for me to choose another HMC student to bring into the project...this is a GALCIT lab.</p>
<p>You're right. HMC is a great school. I'm pretty proud to be at such an amazing place but it blows me away that a name would stop someone from applying. I guess it is good though; the name acts like a filter for people who really aren't that dedicated to engineering/math/science.</p>
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<p>What if I told you that I've gotten at least half a dozen job offers before graduation and I'm from Harvey Mudd?<<</p>
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<p>I'd reply that it's great that you can do so well coming from a college whose name is literally Mudd. I'd also say it looks like you are pretty defensive about the name already - which is all the more reason to choose a school you don't have to be defensive about.</p>
<p>Oh sure, I discouraged him from applying anywhere west of the Mississippi River.
And tonight I'm picking him up at the airport. He's flying in from California.</p>
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She did to my dismay, however, express some interest in Harvey Mudd, which is a fine school, but I just can't abide its absurd name. I'm a big believer in place names.
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Despite the name, Mudd has a great reputation as an engineering school as rocketDA indicates. It's part of the Claremont colleges which adds resources. Why would a mother have a problem with a mudder?</p>
<p>Wow, Mudd! That's a name usually greeted with awe. I think that's the only school on the left coast that I'd actively encourage my S to try for (when the time comes) if I thought he had the grades for it.</p>
<p>When my son was thinking about colleges, he said that he was planning to major in computer science but that if he changed his mind about his major, he was not sure what subject he would want to pursue. It was obvious to me that besides computer science, most of the courses that had really interested him in high school were in the humanities or social sciences, not other technical fields. So I discouraged him from applying to technical schools and encouraged universities instead. But I would not have forbidden him from applying to a technical school if he wanted to. (As it turned out, he did major in computer science at a large university -- but he also has a minor in philosophy.)</p>
<p>When my daughter was thinking about colleges, and the names of both Columbia and Penn came up in the discussion, my husband said that he would forbid her from applying to both of them because of their big-city locations. I do not know whether he would actually have done it, though. In the end, neither of those schools was on her final list, so we will never know.</p>
<p>"D's safety choice of University of Colorado is not sitting well at all, not that there is anything wrong with the school, my D's theory was show up for exams and Snowboard, not on my dime!"</p>
<p>4Giggles, our D is a second-year student at CU and our S will start there in the fall. D has been VERY academically challenged and certainly doesn't just "show up for exams and snowboard." I hope that makes you feel a bit better about the university.</p>
<p>As for the initial thread question, we pretty much let them decide where they wanted to apply. D was a "coast" girl; other than CU she would only apply to schools on either coast. S only wanted to go to CU so it was a very easy process for him (and his parents).</p>
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<p>What if I told you that I've gotten at least half a dozen job offers before graduation and I'm from Harvey Mudd? <<</p>
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<p>I agree that not applying to HMC just because of its name is irrational, but sometimes people have these irrational quirks (but we still love 'em--the people, not the quirks). </p>
<p>Another irrational quirk when it comes to college applications--"I strongly advise you not to apply to XXX College because I knew a guy from high school who went there and he was really, really weird."</p>
<p>I applied to Harvey Mudd many years ago. I was so impressed by everything I learned about the school. When it came time to make the decision, however, I couldn't commit myself to a school I'd never visited that was so far from home. I think it was the right decision for me, but I still wonder what the experience there would have been like. Fortunately, I was very happy at the school I did attend. Another school ONE of my parents would have preferred I'd not chosen....</p>
<p>I believe one of our advertisements this year for incoming frosh had "My name is Mudd" written across it. From one of the threads on CC, I interpreted that it was very well received and enjoyed. </p>
<p>Though I can, kinda-sorta, see the name of a school being a minor problem. Perhaps I never looked at Brown because the name of their school is the color associated with crap, but who knows.</p>
<p>I did not discourage but did say non-UC schools were only an option with merit aid. Number one turned out to be one of the Claremont schools, and with no merit aid. She kind of knows she will get in ( got a likely) but won't get money. Now it turns out she got into aother great school, albeit without merit aid, and we ARE considering paying for. How is that for discouraging? Gulp!</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, congratulations! I think I know which schools you are talking about, and they are both great. Good luck to your D.</p>
<p>I did not really <em>discourage</em> D from applying anywhere, but <em>encouraged</em> her to apply to our Big Research U as another safety. She was reluctant to do it because the school required two new essays, but when she got a big purple envelope in the mail only two weeks after hitting the "send" button, she was very happy!</p>
<p>If Georgia Tech had been on DS's radar, I would have strongly encouraged him not to apply. I know too many people who were chewed up and spit out of that place. He was not looking south, so it was never an issue.</p>