I’m having a tough time trying to figure out whether to apply ED to Harvey Mudd or Amherst College (athletic recruit so need to pick one).
I’m interested in science and math, though my preliminary interests range from tech to finance, so I was thinking Amherst might be a better fit, in that I can have more freedom exploring courses.
The one thing that I’m having trouble with is that in my opinion, a BS in Engineering from Mudd is a “more valuable” degree, as I can start working immediately after undergrad. I know this is sort of silly, but I was comparing historical acceptance rates between the two schools and was quite surprised with what I saw-- in 2006, HMC had a 46% acceptance rate whereas Amherst has a 19% acceptance rate… 11 years later, they’re both at ~13%. Same thing with yield-- Mudd’s has increased, whereas Amherst’s has stagnated. Is Harvey Mudd much more on the rise compared to Amherst? Would it be a wiser choice to get a degree there now / will it serve me better 10, 20 years down the road?
Any advice/suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance.
There’s been a general trend towards STEM degrees that are perceived as “paying back immediately” (CS, eng especially) in the past 10-20 years and HM benefits from that trend since that’s what it does, almost exclusively.
Mudd is a liberal arts college, although their majors are all STEM. You get the other 4 Claremont consortium colleges where you can easily cross register and classes are a very short walk from Mudd. Every Mudder has a secondary concentration that is not STEM, too. You mentioned on another thread that you would major in CS or math at Amherst. Amherst is a great school, but Mudd is stronger in both those majors. So you could go to Mudd, then decide what your major is in sophomore year. I would also say that the Mudd core is a defining difference between Mudd and Amherst. You would come out with a very, very strong base of STEM knowledge from Mudd, more than Amherst. But nothing is free – if the Mudd education is more robust for STEM majors, it is because you worked hard for every scrap of it.