<p>I'm barely a junior in high school and I am near certain that I want to go to Harvey Mudd for college and major in biology to be a high school teacher. I hope to play water polo and swim there as well.</p>
<p>I've not yet taken the SAT and it's too early in the year to give an accurate GPA but I would say it's around an unweighted 3.7-3.9. I don't think I will achieve straight A's this year but I will certainly have majority A's and one or two B's or B+'s.</p>
<p>Classes:
Right now: - Athletic P.E. for water polo (it's just practice but it starts way early in the morning and runs through first period.)
- Honors Pre-Calculus
- AP US History/AP Language and Composition (both courses taken separately but in conjuction with each other year-long, as in I go to one class on one day and the other class the next, etc. for the whole year)
- Advanced Systems Physiology
Spring: - AP Statistics
- French 3
- AP US History / AP Language and Composition
- Teacher Intern</p>
<p>Next year I plan to take AP Government/Economics, English 12, Athletic P.E. again for water polo, AP Calculus AB and BC, AP Biology, Honors Physics, and take a class off.</p>
<p>EC's: water polo, swimming, Young Life leader (youth group), ComedySportz (improv comedy troupe at school), drama club</p>
<p>With all that I have going for me academically and extracurricular-wise in addition to the fact that I'm a white female wishing to attend a dominantly male school, how much of a chance do I have? Great, good, fair, bad, none? I've heard that girls might have a better chance of getting into Mudd than guys do simply because not many girls apply there in the first place. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I can’t guess at chances because I’m not an admissions officer. But since nobody’s a lock at Mudd, I suggest you also look at Rose Hulman. Also, I’d suggest you plan to get As - it’s early enough in the year that nothing’s stopping you. Not saying that all As are required for any school, but it’s barely September!</p>
<p>What you’ve heard about female acceptence rates at HMC is correct. HMC is on my son’s list for engineering so I have researched their admit trends. From their common data sets here are HMC’s admit rates by gender: </p>
<p>2007: Male = 21.0% Female = 46.6%
2008: Male = 29.7% Female = 53.1%
2009: Male = 27.7% Female = 45.7%
2010: Male = 17.0% Female = 48.2%</p>
<p>I’m curious as to why you’re so set on Harvey Mudd? The biology program at Mudd is great of course, but to get through it you are going to have to take a ton of difficult math and other science classes. You might be ok with that, but from your extracurriculars I don’t see a particularly strong interest in science, which is what Mudds look for as well. With excellent grades and SAT scores you’ll have a good chance of course, but to go to Mudd you really need to have and be able to demonstrate a strong passion for the sciences.</p>
<p>But that’s what I have - a strong passion for science. Biology is just my favorite, if I had to pick. I know they have a dual biology-chemistry major, which is what I’m looking more at instead of doing just a regular biology major. Math is by far my best subject, so I would have no problem with the difficult classes there. I’m set on Mudd because of its esteemed math, science, and engineering programs and I want that challenge.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd requires placement into/completion of eight math courses of everyone. Also note that Mudd requires you have completed AT LEAST AP Calc BC in order to matriculate. You will also have to take their core in chem, physics, engineering and CS. They are a great school, but it is tough.</p>
<p>Alright. I don’t doubt your passion, but generally it’s demonstrated through extracurriculars, since of course they are purely what you want and choose to do. As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into and can convey your passion for science in the essays, you should have a good chance of getting in. To determine how good we’d of course need to see your SAT I and SAT II scores.</p>
<p>Soon the Mudd alumni will jump on you for this </p>
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<p>You are right that this is usually how it’s measured, and Caltech does the same. It’s just that many may choose to just keep learning at the stage of high school and early college, and figure out something interesting to do once they have more background / focus, so I don’t doubt someone’s passion even if they don’t have ECs.</p>
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<p>You can challenge yourself in science, math, engineering at many places. You should, if possible, try to be more specific. I think some things which distinguish Mudd: a) an especially rigorous schedule, where all students have to pass that high standard (creating a unique culture and attracting a unique student body), b) an honor code, like Caltech, c) the structure of their particular engineering program, which seems to have a unique philosophy d) the smallness of the school, e) the extremely high involvement in research and going on to grad school, …etc. While at Harvard, you could find a reasonable subset of people really into certain stuff, at Mudd, it’ll be more concentrated.</p>
<p>I’m not doubting what you decided for yourself, but by themselves those words don’t justify being so set on Mudd.</p>
<p>Geekmom, we were at a Claremont Consortium shindig when the Mudd adcomm was asked specifically if Calc AB was sufficient, and told everyone that if a student was accepted with AB, he/she could not matriculate without taking Calc II at a college the summer prior to entering.</p>
<p>Maybe they’ve changed their policy since then, but it was very clearly BC as the minimum at the time (and it was noteworthy because it was a higher benchmark that MIT!).</p>
<p>I never heard of any Calc requirements for entry, but I guess I had already taken BC. The 1/2 semester entry Calc class covers everything you’d take in BC but not AB, but I guess it is kind of quick. And mathboy98 is right; not to discourage you or anything, but you don’t really even know what math is yet while at the Calculus level. Not to say you won’t be good at it, but it will be difficult. Regardless, there’s not much more to say until you take your SATs.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to visit Mudd and/or talk to the reps. Don’t be too daunted by the comments above. There are plenty of Mudders who ‘only’ have calc under their belts when they arrive, and there are various ways of dealing with that.
The admit numbers for girls are a bit deceptive - fewer girls apply so a higher percentage are accepted, but they are all very solid candidates. That having been said, the school is actively recruiting girls and will provide serious support.</p>
<p>You should also consider other colleges where you can also get the education credentials required to teach in high schools. None of the Claremont Consortium colleges offer a major or minor in education. If working as a highly qualified, credentialed teacher right out of college is your goal, you should go where you can get the credentials to teach high school in whatever state you plan to live in afterward college. You will have more more flexibility in your job search. Alternitive routes like Teach For America don’t require the education courses in college, but you have less choice about where you teach. </p>
<p>Also, consider the cost of your education and consider the salaries that high school teachers earn. Unless you get a great FA package, the cost of an expensive private college is not an investment that will be returned teaching high school. If you are strong enough to get into Mudd you are probably also eligible for merit money at a state U that offers education (and hopefully an honors program too). I have to also say that teaching high school is a relatively uncommon career goal at Mudd. It is a wonderful career goal nevertheless; there just may be preferable places to pursue it.</p>
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