<p>i know you could take courses at cal tech and stuff. but really how good is harvey mudd. i wanna get a good personal engineering education in college but i also care about the prestige of the school. how would you guys compare harvey mudd to the huge schools such as cornell and u mich</p>
<p>if you want a good personal education, with a name... Also look at Olin... we're getting a name.</p>
<p>Depends who you ask</p>
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd lacks "common-man prestige", so if that's what you want, you should probably go elsewhere. It has tremendous prestige among those who know it, but even many engineers have never heard of it. So if it's prestige that you want, you should probably look elsewhere.</p>
<p>However, from a quality standpoint, Mudd provides a top-notch engineering educational experience that takes a backseat to noone.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that Harvey Mudd is an LAC-type, Caltech beats it in terms of faculty/student ratio.</p>
<p>Both are great schools, however. I'd go with Caltech, if I had a choice, but you can't go wrong with either.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Harvey Mudd and Rose Hulman are superior in undergraduate education when compared to any school in this country.</p>
<p>tomboy, Olin is not realistic to me. if i can make olin, i wouldve applied to MIT... i dont want to see the same 60 faces over and over either. Harvey Mudd is not THAT small. yet i consider it superior to similar schools such as cooper union, which is... crap</p>
<p>"i know you could take courses at cal tech and stuff. but really how good is harvey mudd."</p>
<p>Very good. Have no fear. I don't know about taking courses at Caltech through Mudd; I've never heard of that. I do know of Mudd students who've done SURFs (summer research) at Caltech and JPL.</p>
<p>"i wanna get a good personal engineering education in college but i also care about the prestige of the school."</p>
<p>You will have no more trouble getting a job or into grad school from Mudd than you would from any other top school. The usual restrictions apply (research and/or work experience, GPA, GREs, recs, SOP, etc.). Mudd is very good at making sure their students are positioned for success whichever they choose.</p>
<p>"how would you guys compare harvey mudd to the huge schools such as cornell and u mich"</p>
<p>Apples to oranges to bananas. Specialty LAC <=> large top private uni <=> large top state uni. The same kid probably would not "fit" at all three equally well. Mudder attends the first category, did summer research at the second, and reluctantly turned down summer research at the third. He loved his experience but wouldn't choose to go there full time over Mudd.</p>
<p>I agree about taking a look at Olin. Very competitive small "personal" engineering-only school with very high standards, if that's what you're looking for. If you get in, tuition is free! My only uneasiness is lack of accreditation, but that will surely come on the heels of the first graduating class. </p>
<p>Assuming you're a HS student, don't worry so much about prestige as that is something you really can't fully judge yet. There is "general public" prestige and there is "insider" prestige, and the latter matters more in a technical profession. Insiders are the ones who'll hire you. Insiders sit on grad school admission committees. How prestigious is UMass Amherst? Pretty darn prestigious... if you're a materials scientist.</p>
<p>And Mudd is prestigious enough for the likes of AMS:
<a href="http://www.ams.org/ams/press/mudd-05.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ams.org/ams/press/mudd-05.html</a></p>
<p>(edited to add a word for clarity)</p>
<p>not the same!</p>
<p>caltech will give you the reputation (to average people), but harvey mudd gives you the education (no grad school to distract all the profs).</p>
<p>i don't know anything about taking classes at caltech. (i go to mudd)</p>
<p>
I'm just asking, but what position are you in to say that? Do you own a company and have experience hiring from these two schools vs many others? Or what?</p>
<p>Live,</p>
<pre><code> I teach engineering at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith and have been involved with engineering education for quite sometime. I have been to numerous engineering education conferences around the country and have interacted with students and faculty from both places. I am very impressed with both institutions, especially since their professors spend a large amount of their time working with undergraduate students. This is typically not the case in engineering.
One more thing - I'm just stating my opinion. I believe it is an educated opinion but it's still an opinion.
</code></pre>
<p>Cal Tech〉〉Harvey Mudd</p>
<p>one choice: UC Berkeley (Home of the engineering playaz)</p>