<p>I was accepted to both schools, and am interested in studying physics, chemistry, or possibly math. I have seen the rankings on PhD productivity for both, which make it seem like going to Yale would be sacrificing some quality of education in exchange for the prestige. Is there a good reason to choose one school of the other in terms of academics?
Thanks</p>
<p>The Yale name will take you far and open more doors than Harvey Mudd</p>
<p>Yale would be a better choice by FAR!!</p>
<p>Since when does name matter? Go to the school with the best academics.</p>
<p>
This is probably more of a reflection of the goals of the student body.</p>
<p>A couple of the comments above MUST he from high school kids.</p>
<p>I absolutely guarantee you that graduate school adcoms know about Mudders in great detail. You know, does it matter whether the general public knows Yale more than Mudd? OP has a stated objective of Ph.D. level work. Adcoms don’t care about general public prestige. </p>
<p>Both schools will be equally respected by adcoms. Mudders test slightly higher. Mudd might be a better choice because if the LAC expected, highly available interaction with professors.</p>
<p>understand too, the weather will be radically different at the two.</p>
<p>The academics of Mudd are better. The HMC name carries just as much weight to those in the know as Yale. The average person will of course know the “Yale” name much better. Is it really worth it?</p>
<p>The guy/girl ratio at Mudd can be tough if you’re male. I’d imagine (no expert by any means) students are happier at Yale.</p>
<p>As far as academics, I really can’t say. I think a small school focused in math/sciences would really be a unique experience though. Something to consider. </p>
<p>But Yale is Yale.</p>
<p>My impression with Mudd is that it’s a pretty boring school which severely lacks diversity. If you’re a social person, it wouldn’t be an ideal place for you. However, its academics are top-notched. </p>
<p>I’d go with Yale in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>I disagree with you there. The reason I applied to Mudd was that it was a science and engineering school that actually had a culture and community and was FUN. From my visit to the brochure that had me laughing all the way through to all the little quirks, the pranks, and ridiculous sounding parties, the place had me hooked from the get-go. Yeah I’m going to be drowning in work, but it seems the students there at least have a good time when they can. Which was more than I could say for other places. Also, the guy girl ratio is 60/40 with an all-girls school directly next door. Not shabby.</p>
<p>That being said, I think the community and sense of humour at Mudd appeals to a certain kind of person. Make sure that’s you or you’re not going to be happy. In the admitted students forum there’s currently a debate on what the derivate and integral of a cow is. I find that funny. You might not. (The argument is that it’s pi, by the way.)</p>
<p>Greg6or – you apparently are completely unaware that –</p>
<p>Plenty of Mudders routinely take courses at Pitzer, CMC, Pomona, all within 10 minutes walk under 75 degree clear skies.</p>
<p>Plenty of Pitzer, CMC, Pomona students take courses at Mudd, though admittedly not that many because they’re so … rigorous :)</p>
<p>Scripps is all female, and 5 minutes walk to the southeast, again under sunny 75 degree skies. You can almost think of the Scripps psych majors and Mudd engineers as being complementary bookends for the 5 campus consortium.</p>
<p>Lastly, Caltech is only 25 minutes drive from Claremont. If a Mudder wanted to vist a professor or library at Caltech, or discuss something scientific with students even smarter than him/herself, Caltech is the only place on earth to accomplish that.</p>
<p>I say pick Yale over Mudd because Mudd has an ugly duckling campus of the claremont schools. Otherwise I’d pick it over Yale, because of the access to the other claremont schools.</p>
<p>I don’t know what type of clownery was going on with the first few posts, but if you’re set on studying math, physics, and chemistry, go to HMC. The students could care less about the name, they’re just brilliant kids getting probably the best undergraduate science education in the nation. My URM friend who recently won a national math competition applied ED there without looking back. If you are focused on prestige, HMC is no place for you, but if you care about learning and hanging out with quirky, interesting, motivated students in sunny socal, look into it. Also, with respect to grad schools i would say a science degree from HMC > yale.</p>
<p>If there really is a question in your mind as to whether to go to HMC vs Yale for a technical undergraduate degree, I’m not sure you are cut out for Mudd.</p>
<p>This is ridiculous. These initial posts show a lack of knowledge and understanding about how this all works. By all means, go to Yale… You’ll just opt out of the best education you could have possibly received.</p>
<p>For anything technical:
Mudd >> Yale.</p>
<p>“I have seen the rankings on PhD productivity for both, which make it seem like going to Yale would be sacrificing some quality of education in exchange for the prestige.”</p>
<p>To be useful, PhD productivity would have to have, as denominator, # people at the school who wanted to get PhDs, in teh particular area of interest.</p>
<p>A school might have lower PhD productivity, measured on a percentage basis, if more of its grads have access to and prefer other options : medical school, law school, Investment banking and consulting firm employment. The mere presence of individuals who chose other objectives in and of itself does not mean that those of its graduates who wanted to pursue PhDs were in any way disadvantaged there in those pursuits.</p>
<p>As for science PhDs specifically, it is evident that a school that has more of its graduates pursuing studies in humanities, social sciences and the arts will have a smaller % science PhDs. Again the mere presence of these other people, studying other things, has no necessary poor implications for its science students.</p>
<p>You may find one school may be preferable to another, for various reasons, but IMO this one chart is not highly illuminative towards this determination.</p>