Interview and application tips and chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
1

I am absolutely in love with Harvey Mudd and all it has to offer. I have an interview with a representative in about a week and just wanted a few tips on what how I should prepare, what I should bring, and any other tips you can provide.
Relevant application info:

ACT: Eng 34/Lit 34/Sci 36/Math 36
GPA: UW:3.45 W:4.26
Senior year schedule: AP Physics C, Calc III Vector Calculus, Senior Foods, Physman(honors PE, yeah I know and yeah I hate myself), AP Psychology, Principles of Engineering, AP Literature

I know my GPA is pretty low for a school like this, but the big things I have going for me are that many STEM based EC’s I participate in as well as personal projects. I’m writing my essays on the my passion for engineering and the many projects I’ve worked on such as a mind-controlled interface for a robotic arm, laser harps, and the robotics I’ve made like hexapods, bipeds, and more. With a team from my school, I’ve also designed and run an experiment at Fermilab National Laboratories using their Test Beam Beamline and we will be publishing a paper in a scientific journal on this soon. I’ve also competed in numerous math competitions and placed decently well (qualified and scored 7 on AIME etc.) I’m also in the process of building a company that a friend and I started in the smart home industry to release our main product in the coming months. Should I bring any papers with information on any of these activities, espicially the company or the Fermilab experiement with me for my interview alongside my Resume? Also do you think that my EC’s and everything else can make up for my low GPA, especially if I emphasize on them?

2

Your challenge is going to be to prove that you can keep up in the classroom. Mudd isn’t a series of ECs strung together – it is a very, very fast paced mostly STEM classroom experience. Did you have an upward GPA trend? Is there some non-STEM area that has consistently hurt your GPA?

Read the Mudd mission statement and think about it before going in. It seems like they want students with a passion for STEM, but not just that. You need to be more than a geek with a STEM focus to get into and succeed at Mudd.