<p>Here are my opinions on a couple of these schools, as a mom whose S has looked into them (as well as HMC). </p>
<p>WPI - Give this school a look. I don’t put much trust in “standardized” rankings but I’ll comment that, although WPI isn’t well-ranked, in the 2011 Fiske Guide they include WPI in their list of “ten colleges that should be on your radar.” It’s not a well-known college yet, but I think in 10 years it will be. Even though they offer no majors in the humanities (well, maybe one), their Humanities Department is the biggest at the school, and they have a required series of humanities classes - they expect multiple courses in a single field, so you develop some deep knowledge. They have a project focus and they encourage studying abroad. There are WPI-sponsored project offices in 17 different countries (plus some in the US - one at Microsoft in Cambridge, Mass, and one at MITRE, for example). Their undergrad curriculum includes two significant projects - the IQP (Individual Qualifying Project), which is not related to your major and tends to have a humanitarian focus; and the MQP (Major Qualifying Project) which is related to your major. For the IQP, many students go abroad, although it’s not a requirement. You can also easily go abroad for the MQP, but that’s somehwat less common. The IQP and MQP are formal parts of the curriculum so you don’t need to worry about getting behind if you go abroad for a project. </p>
<p>The city WPI is located in is depressed - a former industrial city - so there’s not much to do there. However, Boston is an easy train ride away (train station is within walking distance of campus). I don’t know anything about sports there, although I know they emphasize intramurals and they’re active in rowing (there’s a long lake in town where they practice). Since you’re interested in HMC I assume that means it’s a “match” school for your rather than a “reach.” WPI is not as selective as Mudd, so you would be a leader at WPI academically. However, the profs at WPI are generally well-credentialed and I think they would be able to challenge you. </p>
<p>Rose-Hulman - an excellent engineering school, but not one that promotes the humanities and it seems better for hardware-related majors than software. (S plans to major in comp sci.) The list of corporate sponsors on the Career Services page is telling: ADM (food products), National Instruments, ArcelorMittal (steel), On Semiconductor, Bemis (food packaging), Procter & Gamble, Caterpillar, etc. I found a local alumna who had graduated from Rose with a physics degree who is now pursuing a PhD, and I met with her to ask about it. She spoke very highly of the school. But after talking to others who had visited in person, S decided against applying there because of its geographic location. It definitely yells MIDWEST (where I’m from) and the area just doesn’t seem like a place my S would fit in.</p>