My parents are immigrants, so they don’t know much about colleges in the US apart from the Ivy Leagues. They think that LACs are pointless, but I’ve been trying to convince them otherwise. They told me that the name of a college is everything, and that people won’t know what “Harvey Mudd” is. Is this true? How often do Harvey Mudd graduates get hired at places like Google/Apple/Facebook?
The most coveted employers all DEFINITELY know & highly regard Harvey Mudd. It’s ine of tbe most prestigious engineering schools in the country!!!
My mom hires people pretty often and she’s never heard of it. She works in a tech company, although, granted, it isn’t Google/Apple/Facebook. Is HMC Computer Science considered in the same league as MIT, Caltech, CMU, Stanford, Berkeley? Or UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.? I’m wondering how the prestigious engineering LAC is received as compared to a prestigious engineering university.
Tell your mom Harvey Mudd is an Engineering school too, almost all of the degrees are in STEM. A very undergrad focused one with small intense advanced classes. It is considered top notch. A lot of the grads do go on to grad school though. Yes it is certainly on par with the departments you name for undergraduate learning. It just doesn’t have the grad dept that is famous at those other schools. You mother may not come across many grads because they school is very small. I find that is also true for my daughter’s school, Brown, which has a really great but small CS dept. She mom this:
Also Harvey Mudd is way up there on Money Mag’s list along with MIT and Princeton etc
https://best-colleges.time.com/money/full-ranking?xid=soc_socialflow_facebook_money#/list
According to this article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/17/the-top-10-colleges-that-fuel-the.html
Mudd had the 2nd highest proportion of graduates going to work in Silicon Valley compared to the size of their total student population.
1.Stanford University: 0.193
2.Harvey Mudd College: 0.191
3.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): 0.133
Also you can see what companies the class of 2014 (keep in mind a graduating class at Mudd is about 200!) went (p. 6) and their salary offers (p. 5) – That small class alone had 2 people go to Google.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzR_KHZNACM_d3RfVkpTZ2N0Rzg/edit
If you don’t know Mudd, you need to reevaluate your perceptions of where you stand in the scheme of things.
@BrownParent @ClaremontMom Thanks! Those resources are really helpful; my parents will be interested to hear the stats!
@JustOneDad Who was that comment even directed at? My mom?!
Harvey Mudd has the highest average return on investment of any college, though that may be partially due to the restricted set of (all STEM) majors they offer.
Here is some information about what graduate schools and careers Mudd students have chosen: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzR_KHZNACM_d3RfVkpTZ2N0Rzg/edit. Multiple students work at Google and Amazon, though no Facebook and Apple.
You can also find similar lists filtered by major if you look at department sites.
From what I have heard, Harvey Mudd is very well known in certain circles and completely unknown in others.
Students are sometimes even are hired by companies for which previously completed Clinic Projects.
SpaceX hires from Harvey Mudd, and I’ve heard they are pretty picky about where they hire from.
Maybe there wasn’t anyone from at Facebook when the list was made, but my son’s friend from Mudd is now at Facebook. I am sure that there are Mudders at Apple.
The link I posted (and randomnumber53 repeated) was only 2014 graduate outcomes so I’m sure there are alumni represented at many more companies.
Mudd does rank at or near the top in ROI surveys. So, there’s that… Nevertheless, in my experience (I am an engineer with 25+ yrs experience) Mudd has less cache in the work world than MIT, CalTech, CMU, Berkeley, etc. And beware: Mudd is notorious for very tough grading, which will almost certainly impact your GPA and prospects with employers that aren’t familiar with the school. Finally, and a bit off topic, Mudd is indeed an LAC and all students MUST take 1/3 of their classes in the humanities. I don’t see how that benefits much if you are aiming for the best STEM education.
Here is an older discussion and article about The Top 10 colleges that fuel the Silicon Valley - Silicon valley Business
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/17/the-top-10-colleges-that-fuel-the.html
And also according to school information Mudd 40% senior will go to PhD.
Here is the Mudd mission statement:
Part of Mudd’s goal is to train engineers and scientists who have a broader view of the world and the impact of their work on it than just the technical viewpoint. The STEM education is also incredibly rigorous, don’t have any doubt about that. Mudd is a pretty unique and amazing school. On the west coast in particular, it is very well regarded by employers, and Mudd students are well represented at grad schools throughout the country.
If the OP and his parents conclude that spending 1/3 of his class time (and 1/3 of the $48,594 tuition) on humanities courses is worthwhile in order to gain a clearer understanding of the impact of STEM on the world, then by all means they should strongly consider HMC for higher education. However, I don’t see how a HMC student could possibly have as strong a STEM background as the students at the highly-regarded universities mentioned above, which don’t carve out so much time for humanities, but rather spend it on courses directly related to the field. Some people feel that the tradeoff is worth it, but others like me don’t.
Mudders take at least 5 classes per semester, but most semesters only 1 is not STEM. They also have great research opportunities – there are no grad students taking research positions. Mudd has made a financial commitment to try to allow a lot of freshman to research on campus after freshman year, too, which can be harder to achieve at other schools. Students can also research in multiple areas – my kid is researching in one STEM area this summer and will be working with her prof on a paper about it this fall, and also will be researching in a lab for another STEM area this fall. That isn’t even getting into the required clinic project the do jr. or sr. year. My kid honestly wouldn’t trade Mudd for any of the other schools you listed. The quality of teaching at Mudd is also very high (all profs, mostly reasonable class sizes).
Harvey Mudd is a very well respected school, and especially for schools on the west coast, it will open doors. Anyone recruiting for engineering who is not familiar with it should do their homework.
“I don’t see how that benefits much if you are aiming for the best STEM education.”
- You could have the benefit of the best STEM education on earth, but if you can't express yourself effectively in writing or vocally, it will be difficult for others to work with you, and they might doubt your intelligence. That's (one huge reason) why the Humanities are important.
" I don’t see how a HMC student could possibly have as strong a STEM background as the students at the highly-regarded universities mentioned above, which don’t carve out so much time for humanities, but rather spend it on courses directly related to the field."
Don’t know about the other “highly regarded universities that were mentioned,” but I do know that MIT students have to take 10 of their 32 required classes in non-STEM subjects. Now, I wasn’t a STEM major, but I think that’s pretty darn close to HMC’s 1/3 requirement.