<p>bicostalMamma…is your kid suffering because he feels too “different” to ask for help or is a URM? …I went to a tough Yankee LAC from a terrible public school in the south. I was ashamed of my accent and lack of preparation and didn’t want to ask for help…it was so humiliating. I felt like if I went for help I would just prove the point–low income southern girl on financial aid–never should have been let in and is only there to add some diversity. I suffered in silence until my parents said…you may be on financial aid but you are still a paying customer at that school. DONT let your son think that he doesn’t deserve help…the school let him in, they have a responsibility to educate him…he is a CUSTOMER even if he is on scholarship. He should ask for help with the attitude that he DESERVES help…Later I became a professor myself and I never forgot that it is my JOB to teach and teach successfully. I taught simple econ as well as advanced econometrics. It doesn’t matter. A failing student who really is trying is my failure too as a teacher. MANY teachers feel this way and as long as he shows effort and determination to overcome they will also make an effort to get him through this. tell him to be proud of his hard work, be proud of the obstacles he is facintand will overcome, go in with your head held high but with your ears and mind open for advice and help. If he won’t do it…it is worth you making a call to the RA/the Dean whatever it takes to let them know he is in trouble. I really believe they want every kid to succeed and they particularly want someone with challenges to succeed.</p>
<p>Hey, what is the typical math sequence at Mudd?</p>
<p>Do the majority of Freshman take Calculus First semester? (I understand this is equivalent to AP Calculus BC)</p>
<p>What is the typical math sequence? From what I understand Calc BC and Linear Algebra can be taken one or the other (not talking about specifically at Harvey Mudd, since you stated LA is offered in the fall) What about after that? Differential Equations? Multivariable? I saw both of these requiredonly Calculus as a prerequisite.</p>
<p>“Hey, what is the typical math sequence at Mudd?”</p>
<p>I think it is (if I can remember):</p>
<p>Math 12 (Basic calc and stuff)
Linear Algebra I
Differential Equations I
MultiVariable Calculus I
Probability and Statistics
MultiVariable Calculus II
Linear Algebra II
Differential Equations II</p>
<p>Linear Algebra comes before MV Calc?</p>
<p>I’m a bit confused… my friend (I’m a senior and so is he) is taking MV Calc, and he just finished AP Calc BC. Can you please explain?</p>
<p>Heh, I’m pulling out my transcripts from behind my diploma to answer this one… :P</p>
<p>correct order:</p>
<p>Basic calc and stuff - Math11
Linear Algebra I - Math12
Differential Equations I - Math13
MultiVariable Calculus I - Math14
MultiVariable Calculus II - Math61
Probability and Statistics - Math62
Linear Algebra II - Math63
Differential Equations II - Math64</p>
<p>These are all required for all HMC graduates (unless you pass out of some).</p>
<p>"Linear Algebra comes before MV Calc?</p>
<p>I’m a bit confused… my friend (I’m a senior and so is he) is taking MV Calc, and he just finished AP Calc BC. Can you please explain?"</p>
<p>Basic linear algebra has nothing to do with MV Calc. Of course, when you get into graduate/PhD level studies you’ll find that some MV calc problems (particularly in fluid dynamics) require some pretty advanced math like solving Eigenspaces along Characteristic Lines (see hyperbolic equations, etc). I guarantee that your friend was not doing this right out of HS as there are probably only a hand full of people in the world who can comfortably solve non-linear tensor problems.</p>
<p>In short, the order of math at HMC is pretty good and you learn a lot along the way. If you are like me then you’ll do horribly in the classes and then look back and finally understand what was going on… like 2 years later.</p>
<p>Is it true that all kids come in with a HS GPA of 3.9 and above?</p>
<p>“Is it true that all kids come in with a HS GPA of 3.9 and above?”</p>
<p>Definitely not all. Many, however, do have exceptional GPAs though I’d encourage anyone who is VERY passionate about math/science/engineering to give a good look at HMC even if you don’t have fantastic HS grades.</p>
<p>RocketDA can you take a look at my thread?</p>
<p>If any of you out there took IB Physics HL with the relativity, waves, the double-slit experiment and that kind of stuff, in hindsight I believe you might have a fighting chance to place out of physics 23.</p>
<p>Also, “Is it true that all kids come in with a HS GPA of 3.9 and above?”</p>
<p>3.86 here. Although you will extremely lucky to have a Mudd GPA higher than the one you got in high school - the distinction between A- (3.66) vs. A/A+ (4.0) is a killer!</p>
<p>And rocketDA’s right. After taking Calc BC (i.e. Calculus II), diffeq, multiv and linal are pretty much independent at the intro level. It’s sort of nice to have a bit of linal for multiv (curl, flux, etc) and diffeq II requires a working knowledge of mid-semester linear algebra, but for the most part intro math courses don’t depend on each other. So if you want to maximize your high school math education, know your Calculus BC <em>cold</em> because everything depends on it… <em>especially</em> limits and Taylor Series. Or just pay really, really good attention in math 11(m)</p>
<p>Haven’t seen a pressing need for the mean value theorem yet :)</p>
<p>Any Mudders care to share where else they applied – and what made Mudd your final choice?</p>
<p>“Any Mudders care to share where else they applied – and what made Mudd your final choice?”</p>
<p>I guess my philosophy is this:</p>
<p>Why not put yourself through a great personal challenge for four years? Stretch yourself, transform yourself.</p>
<p>I felt that HMC would provide me with the best undergraduate science/engineering education possible. Working hard now puts you on a track to be doing what you want to do later in life. Consider it an “integral rule on investment”.</p>
<p>My wager worked. I guess my life has become somewhat of a fairy-tale.</p>
<p>Seems I keep running into your posts rocket DA… I love them and tried to hunt back in your postings to find details on your life. But there are so many of them! Can you give a little synopsis?<br>
My daughter is undecided on majors now (senior and hunting for colleges) but she loves physics, math and compsci. I thought HMC was a great fit for her when we visited… my two problems are that it’s on the west coast (we’re on the east) and MIT is so much closer to home!</p>
<p>mom22girls,</p>
<p>It sounds like both of your problems are really just the same thing- that HMC is further away from other schools (MIT in this case). Here are a few things.</p>
<p>1) I know many kids who went to schools because they were local, and hated them. I’d say that generally the further people went the more they liked college, just because many of the people who went far did so because they enjoyed the school, while the people who stayed close did so just to be close. They sacrificed educations that they might have actually really enjoyed and taken something for, just for…</p>
<p>2) A few extra hours a semester with their families. That’s all it really comes down to. Distance is really a function of travel time (not physical distance), and for me Cornell was 5 hours driving while HMC was 6 hours on a plane. So I may not come home over the 1 break/year that’s long enough to come home in- I don’t want to come home then anyway because I would like to take some amazing opportunities in places I haven’t experienced yet. But that’s OK, because…</p>
<p>3) Most of my family communication is done on the phone anyway. And it works great. My roommate is from Dubai and he talks to his folks all the time through skype, video chat. Communications technology is pretty amazing. Honestly, I would go to HMC if it were in China, or in the Arctic, or on the Moon, as long as I had an internet connect. For me this school is worth it. Even if there was another “good” tech school nearby, because…</p>
<p>4) All schools, especially ones like Mudd, are VERY different. These aren’t subtle things. My life outlook at this point is dramatically different than it would be if I would have chosen any other school. I think in a good way. Lastly,</p>
<p>5) Variety. I kind of purposely came to the West coast to experience a new part of the world. I’ve been on the East for my whole life up to now, so it’s nice to experience the other side with LA and San Fransisco and all. I plan to do huge things and be a worker of the world; I don’t want to spend my entire life restricted to the confines of one small patch of land. While the West Coast is still roughly similar to the east coast in distance and culture, it’s a start.</p>
<p>My point: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t pressure your daughter to choose schools based on physical location. I don’t care what school she decides is best for her- if you said that she wanted to go to MIT but HMC was closer I would recommend MIT. I’ve just seen too many cases where people are reluctant to leave home or where their parents forced them to stay close, and in far too many of these it has ended in disaster.</p>
<p>Plus, it’s still in America. Out of an entire globe, and hundreds of countries, she chose the one that you happen to live in. I’d call that pretty close to home, relatively.</p>
<p>P.S. Would you be opposed to her doing study abroad for a year? If not, think of this as a tiny version of that.</p>
<p>I definitely won’t pressure her - I actually think HMC is a better fit for her than MIT, but it’s up to her… thanks for your advice. I’ll encourage her not to think of distance as a factor (or name recognition either!)</p>
<p>BicoastalMamma – It is 100% falsehood to say that the professors don’t care. Your son needs to talk with them. If he’s on the edge (or below it), I can promise you that <em>they</em> are already trying to talk with <em>him</em>. My Mudderfrosh’s profs have all been <em>very</em> accommodating when he’s asked them for help during office hours. It’s not unusual for him to receive email replies from them on weekends, or after midnight.</p>
<p>There are tutoring/group homework sessions for every core subject, a couple of times a week. If your son isn’t taking advantage of these sources of help, he should give them a try. One obstacle to that is the very short notice they give by email (constant email checking seems to be pretty important at Mudd), but I’m sure the sessions are posted in other ways as well.</p>
<p>There are also many, many (…many…) distractions at Mudd, and frosh year is partly about learning to balance work, play, sleep, and personal responsibility. I’ve watched with alternating amusement and consternation as my own Mudderfrosh has tackled the balancing act for himself. It took him a while to learn to ask for help, and he’s still learning how to balance his coursework with his job, laundry, sleep, the novelty of having a real social life, and the manymanymany fun things he’s engaged in with other Mudders. That’s a big adjustment for anyone, and it’s only been six weeks! True that the workload is very heavy, but the support from faculty and other students is considerable.</p>
<p>My suggestion: Take a deep breath and go back to that “what to expect during freshman year” handout they gave you during orientation. Look at the things you can encourage him to do (e.g., getting help early, where early=now). And be a sympathetic ear, and let him find his way through the adjustment. The whole school is pulling for him, really. And if he made it in, they were confident that he could make it through.</p>
<p>Oh, and I really wouldn’t worry overmuch about H1N1, as long as he’s paying attention to basic hygiene.</p>
<p>I will support geek_mom on saying the profs don’t care is completely false. I’d have profs email me when I was sick a few weeks ago because they noticed I was tired in class and my homework quality had deteriorated. If they get in contact with me because my homework scores have dropped by a few points, I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t be making every effort to help a student who is right-out failing.</p>
<p>geekmom, would you elaborate on your comment concerning the “novelty” of having a real social life? My child has none now (h.s. senior). What’s it like at Mudd?</p>
<p>mom22girls – pm’d you.</p>
<h1>31mom22girls</h1>
<p>My son (who is now in his second year at HMC) applied ED. He also applied to the UCs (they had a deadline before HMC released their ED acceptance) and was accepted to Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD. If he didn’t get into HMC , he would have applied to MIT and Caltech.</p>
<p>BicoastalMamma: I agree with geek_mom and braden. The profs really do care about their students. My son scored around a 70% on one of his earlier exams and his prof emailed him and had him go into his office to make sure he fully understood the course material!</p>