Harvey Mudd? or Caltech?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
1

<p>Hello guys,</p>

<p>As the deadline for decisions approaches, I have become progressively nervous about my decisions. This is what worries me about Harvey Mudd. I want to major in engineering, but I am hesitant about pursuing in the purely academia field. I prefer being practical rather than analytic. </p>

<p>1) Classes in Harvey Mudd are probably not as hard as Caltech. I want to be challenged, but I don't want to drop dead because of any psychological illness I may develop because of lack of sleep(just kidding, maybe...)</p>

<p>2) How useful is the general curriculum for engineering? I understand that students in engineering would have a greater options to choose different jobs... But would it not be better to specialize in one field?</p>

<p>3) The school is simply not as prestigious as MIT or Caltech. I understand it is very well known within the country, but I intend to get very involved in the international community(international organizations, etc.). People tell me to go to Caltech because of the prestige. Caltech is number 10 in the national rankings, 4 for engineering, where as Harvey Mudd stands as 14th in the liberal arts ranking. </p>

<p>4) The internship/research options simply seem better in Caltech than Mudd. </p>

<p>5) The social life seems very appealing to me. Harvey Mudd seems to put emphasis on fun... Whereas Caltech concentrates on work, study, and science. </p>

<p>Could someone give me their opinions?</p>

2

<p>I heard Harvey Mudd is the best school in USA ATM </p>

3

<p>If everything else is equal, Cal-Tech is simply the better school. Things, however, are seldom equal. Good education at either.</p>

4

<p>Don’t assume the classes are easier at Mudd. The Mudd curriculum with the required Core and Humanities concentration is really hard – and often gruelling. So, expect to work hard at both. Also, the research options at Mudd arguably are better than at Cal-Tech because there are no graduate students, so there are more opportunities for undgraduate research directly working with the professor. I would go with whichever school feels “right” to you. There is no wrong choice here. </p>

5

<p>I’m guessing you weren’t able to come visit either school’s ASP weekends. Both my children go to Mudd & it has been a great experience so far. I’m not sure what you mean about “practical vs academic” but Mudd has a lot of real world hands on experiences available for their students.</p>

<p>I would read this Mudd jr’s blog post regarding her time at Mudd & the choice to go there (it talks about engineering classes & team/project based learning)(and her emphasis in mechanical engineering):
<a href=“http://newwww.hmc.edu/admission/2014/04/why-i-chose-mudd/”>http://newwww.hmc.edu/admission/2014/04/why-i-chose-mudd/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, Mudd is a feeder school for Silicon valley (Caltech not mentioned) in this journal article: <a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/17/the-top-10-colleges-that-fuel-the.html?page=all”>http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/17/the-top-10-colleges-that-fuel-the.html?page=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In the end you have to go with your gut. Try to reach out to current students at each school and ask them about their experiences.</p>