Is Harvey Mudd that great of a school?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
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<p>I know Harvey Mudd is having a great school. However, my dad is not so sure.
He told me he has only heard of it when he moved to California and that one of his colleagues attended. He is a Computer Science Professor who went to Brandeis for his undergrad, and Yale for his Graduate degree.</p>

<p>He pretty much shuns on any solely undergraduate programs.</p>

<p>I have tried to explain to him that Harvey Mudd has a great network, environment, class size, undergraduate research opportunities, and is very prestigious in the engineering field in California (where I plan to stay). The weather in California is great and I do not want to move. He still suggests I should go to Cornell if I am accepted because of the prestige, even though i told him it is cold, depressing, and would cost a lot more (HMC offers the 10k scholarship, plus no airfare)</p>

<p>Can anyone give me some solid resources that show why HMC is so great?</p>

<p>Preferably addressing:</p>

<ul>
<li>Prestige/ Network</li>
<li>Research opportunities</li>
<li>School Ranking Comparison to Cal Tech, UC Berkeley, Cornell and MIT</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks guys!! :]</p>

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<p>Prestige in its own field? Great. Within the science and engineering networks it seems its a well known name. Just look at where the students are going on to. The pamphlet for what the grads from last year were doing with their lives already blew me away, with where they were working and studying (and how much many were making).</p>

<p>Research opportunities… Absolutely everyone is required to research. The clinic. What more could you ask for?</p>

<p>You won’t find many rankings with those schools together, as they offer graduate degrees. But here’s a few I found.</p>

<p>PhD production:
1 35.8% California Institute of Technology
2 24.7% Harvey Mudd College
3 21.1% Swarthmore College
4 19.9% Reed College
5 18.3% Massachusetts Institute of Technology</p>

<p>US News - Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
(At schools whose highest degree is a bachelor’s or master’s)

  1. Harvey Mudd College (CA) 4.5
  2. Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. (IN) 4.5
  3. Cooper Union (NY) 4.2</p>

<p>Highest SAT Averages
California Institute of Technology 1470 1580
Harvey Mudd College 1430 1560
Harvard University 1400 1590
Yale University 1390 1580
Princeton University 1390 1580
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1380 1560
Pomona College 1380 1530
Washington University in St Louis 1370 1530
Dartmouth College 1350 1550
Swarthmore College 1360 1540
Stanford University 1340 1550
Columbia University in the City of New York 1330 1540</p>

<p>Rank , Mid-Career Salary , School , Location , Type</p>

<p>1 , $134,000 , Dartmouth , Northeast , Private
2 , $131,000 , Princeton , Northeast , Private
3 , $129,000 , Stanford , West , Private
4 , $126,000 , Yale , Northeast , Private
5 , $126,000 , MIT , Northeast , Private
6 , $124,000 , Harvard , Northeast , Private
7 , $123,000 , Caltech , West , Private
8 , $122,000 , Harvey Mudd , West , LAC</p>

<p>USNews had it as the most selective LAC in America. Combined with national universities, someone came up with this:
1 Cal Tech
2 Yale
3 Harvard
4 MIT
5 Princeton
6 Columbia
7 Washington U
8 Harvey Mudd
9 Penn
10 Swarthmore </p>

<p>So obviously, it’s up there and competitive. And even so - it offers arguably one of the best science/engineering educations you can get anywhere. Worth it, in my opinion.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info. I actually knew all the above (and told my dad) with the exception of the last one.</p>

<p>However, my dad does not see the US News as a credible source. :confused:
Him and his silly Ivy league obsession… </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks, this is good data, and I’ll show it to him.</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

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<p>What field are you interested in?</p>

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<p>Engineering. :]</p>

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<p>Mm. I’m not an engineer, but seeing as your dad is in CS, here are a few links that might be useful in persuading him:</p>

<p>[Harvey</a> Mudd College, CS 65](<a href=“http://www.cs.hmc.edu/courses/2008/fall/cs65/]Harvey”>Harvey Mudd College, CS 65) - one of the CS courses offered to freshmen last Fall. A lot of material for a semester-long quasi-intro course!</p>

<p>[HMC</a> CS: Publications](<a href=“http://www.cs.hmc.edu/publications/]HMC”>Computer Science | Harvey Mudd College) - have him look at some of the student publications. They tend to stand out compared to the “practice research” papers academics expect from undergrad schools.</p>

<p>[ACM</a> International Collegiate Programming Contest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“International Collegiate Programming Contest - Wikipedia”>International Collegiate Programming Contest - Wikipedia) - ask him to point out Cornell to you. :-)</p>

<p>Has he visited the college? It can be a good way of convincing parents!</p>

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<p>You could tell your dad to ask his other colleagues what they think of Mudd. Id hope they could set him straight. Although on a related note where does he work as a professor? The only place I know in the PS area is COD (I’m a PDHS grad), but if that were the case I wouldnt know if hed actually have any CS colleagues ^ ^.</p>

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<p>braden:</p>

<p>hey, is the pamphlet for what past HMC students are now doing available online? if so, could you please link me? thanks!</p>

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<p>You will find plenty of students at Mudd who turned down the ivies (including Cornell engineering) to get what they believe is a better education at Mudd. Also, without graduate students there, the undergraduates at Mudd get research opportunities you would never get at an institution where you are fighting with grad students for the work.</p>

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<p>Ivies are about prestige, Mudd is about education (except for Princeton and Yale which are also about education). These are gross generalizations, of course.</p>

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<p>If you turn down Mudd engineering for Cornell, I hate to say this but you are an idiot. Maybe then, you shouldn’t go to Mudd…</p>

<p>There is no competition. Period.</p>

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<p>^^ My parents are divorced, my Dad teaches CS at UCI. He used to work at Cornell, but he decided to move to southern CA, and liked the Irvine area. (Plus, according to him he got a noticable increase in salary from Cornell, since the prestige of an Ivy is suppose to be the bonus)</p>

<p>I do not want to go to Cornell. It’s cold, expensive, and I do not believe offers the opportunities or enviornment available to the students at Mudd. I just need to convince my Dad of this.</p>

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<p>“my Dad teaches CS at UCI”
Heh. It’s a small world. My gf works in the CS dept over there.</p>

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<p>^oh cool. :]
Is she an undergrad too?</p>

<p>^^ Dude!! That school is down the street from mine. I actually go to a new Catholic School down the street from PDHS.
I’ll be in the first graduating class next year. :]</p>

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<p>^^ Rocket, I’m curious why you think Cornell engineering is so obviously not the choice to make over Mudd engineering. I know little about Cornell’s program, for one thing.</p>

<p>By the way, I assume you assume that we account for the fact that most people aren’t built to be Mudd students.</p>

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<p>Ooh. They have David Eppstein and some other pretty well-known CS researchers.</p>

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<p>Screw Cornell. I’m staying in Beautiful, warm, California. :]</p>

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<p>^^ Now THAT is a good call! I’d hardly want to leave CA either.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I almost did. It’s a hard choice to make before coming to Mudd because of all the prestige surrounding Cornell Engineering. I made the right choice in retrospect though.</p>

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<p>OP, if you can, take your dad to the admitted students program. It is very well done, and he will see all the great professors who are teaching there. When we went last year, we couldn’t believe that these great professors gave up their Sundays to talk to a bunch of prospective students and their parents. It was pretty impressive.</p>