<p>I've been thinking this out thoroughly and simply put the only deciding factor for me is whether or not UF will be able to get me into a good PhD program for physics, I intend to finish my undergrad with the highest marks of the class, and my friend who is attending UF (who obviously is trying to convince me to go with him instead of going to Cali) argues that with such an academic goal I'm bound to get into a great grad school regardless of where I go and hence it'd be better to go to UF.</p>
<p>Does that argument hold CC? Feel free to openly compare the two and ask any questions about my preference (so far my mentality, conceited or not, towards selecting a college is to prioritize the academia and simply "deal" with the other features like campus and population among others).</p>
<p>Thanks~</p>
<p>bump, someone is bound to know a thing or two about them</p>
<p>Is the net cost after non-loan financial aid similar, or the difference is not a big deal to you?</p>
<p>Yes on the financial - Is it going to be a hardship to pay for Mudd? Can your parents pay the family share of the costs or will you have to take out additional loans? My son loves Mudd, and as a parent I love it too. But I don’t consider it worth $100K of loans, if it would come to that for you.</p>
<p>Moving beyond that… Since you got into Mudd, you’re an awesome student. U of F is obviously a great school, but it has a much wider range of students than Mudd does - all students at Mudd are top students. Is there a UF honors program that you’ll be in? Will you be happy taking many/most of your classes with students who never even considered getting “the highest marks of the class”?</p>
<p>And do you really think you can thrive for four years at both one of the smallest schools (< 800 students) and one of the largest schools (> 49000 students) in the country?</p>
<p>Assuming the costs are comparable, I think Harvey Mudd is a no brainer. Yes, you could potentially get top grades at UF, there are smart students there, as there are everywhere, and you can probably find faculty who want to act as mentors once you get out of the big intro classes - but Harvey Mudd is full of top notch students who are excited by what they are studying and faculty who love to teach them in small classes where you get noticed. Being surrounded by people who are excited by their academics and who share your interests is a huge plus. Being able to share resources with students from top notch schools like Pomona and Claremont McKenna is another big plus. Not having to compete with grad students for faculty attention and large intro classes is a third plus. How many more reasons do you need?</p>
<p>I’ll challenge the above post to a degree, fully acknowledging that Mudd is a wonderful and unique science-oriented LAC. But I think you’ll find that the students in the upper and grad-level physics classes at UF will have similar academic credentials to those at Mudd. There may also be more research and publishing opportunities at UF, which will be an important consideration to grad-school admission committees. Last, due to the cost advantages alone, it is quite possible for a motivated student to take advantage of a large number of grad-level classes while still an undergraduate, something that may not be possible at Mudd.</p>
<p>I’d agree HMC is a no brainer if affordable.</p>