<p>So, can any current Mudders say what constitutes a high, or respectable, or average, or low GPA from Mudd? How low can a Mudd GPA go before it affects job and grad school offers?</p>
<p>I think another reason people do not pick Harvey Mudd is location. Sure it is in Southern California, but it is out in Claremont… out in the middle of nowhere. Though there are five campus’ that share an area, outside of that is just farmland and rural areas. There is a small city, but more like a town feeling. If you like the quietness of those surroundings, then you’ll like it. </p>
<p>This is definitely a campus you would want to VISIT before attending because the website does not actually give a good idea of what the lifestyle would be like. It seemed too quiet for my taste.</p>
<p>^ This was part of its appeal for my son, but your point is well taken.</p>
<p>^ Claremont is a delightful small town, very comfortable, many fine shops and restaurants.</p>
<p>Maybe this is just me being accustomed to a country with extremely low population density, but Claremont didn’t seem in the middle of a rural area to me. There wasn’t a stoppage in civilization that I saw during the visit there. Indeed, looking at Google maps, the buildings and towns seem to just keep extending out of LA. Again, maybe a different standard? It’s not unreasonable at the same zoom level outside of Vancouver to see nothing but farmland all the way out to a suburb. But still, it didn’t seem to me like it was surrounded by “farmland and rural areas”.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s not very rural… I’ve run around the area a fair bit and there are some stretches of land in which nothing seems to be happening, but for the most part it’s a mix of residential and small business areas. It’s definitely not urban either, though – you won’t find large buildings or high density housing.</p>
<p>“So, can any current Mudders say what constitutes a high, or respectable, or average, or low GPA from Mudd? How low can a Mudd GPA go before it affects job and grad school offers?”</p>
<p>I will graduate with a 3.00
My dream job (which I have accepted) didn’t ask for GPA or transcripts. Simply, the interview was 6-7 hours long consisting of 5 hours of technical grilling.</p>
<p>In short, my grades had absolutely no effect on my plans… even though I was being compared to at least one aerospace grad student from Purdue.</p>
<p>A 3.0 is pretty respectable, I’d say. People who get 3.5 or higher have no lives or simply have testing down pat. When you are below 2.6 things get a little shaky…and bellow 2.0 and you are working at Jiffy Lube back home**.</p>
<p>**True story about my sophomore roommate - 0.2 GPA.</p>
<p>um… 0.2 or 2.0?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/about/administrativeoffices/registrar1/registrarstats1/gpadistinction.html[/url]”>http://www.hmc.edu/about/administrativeoffices/registrar1/registrarstats1/gpadistinction.html</a></p>
<p>0.2 GPA!!! woah cool</p>
<p>supposedly 0.2</p>
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<p>I have several friends who satisfied this, and on the contrary most of them seemed to have very fulfilling lives. They might not have aced every test but they worked hard and organized themselves reasonably well to be able to do well on enough exams to keep their grades up.</p>
<p>Although, as I write this, it occurs to me that you might have been exaggerating or being sarcastic.</p>
<p>well then, Mr. Speaker (inside joke!), your friends must have had testing down pat.</p>
<p>The median GPA seems to hover around 3-3.3 in recent years. It changes quite a bit from class to class since there aren’t thousands of us. You graduate with some sort of distinction for having a 3.3 or higher, which seems to be attained by 30-45% of students. I guess this makes aiming for a 3.3 a pretty good target for being “above average.” There’s a higher commendation for getting a 3.7, which seems like only about 10-15% get.</p>
<p>He’s not being sarcastic. I have a 3.884 right now and I have no life at Mudd.</p>
<p>What does “no life” mean? I don’t really do anything during the school days + weekends but work on whatever’s on my schedule (different school) for instance, and I’m almost always either doing something academic or taking a break – not because there isn’t enough to do, but because energy tends to drain faster without them. Is this what is meant by “no life”? Because then that’s not even that bad – it’s not like one doesn’t talk to people tons, even if it is related to academics.</p>
<p>Typical schedule:</p>
<p>Wake up, go to class. Then eat lunch, go to afternoon classes. Come back, mess around for an hour before dinner. Go back to my room, work on homework until 11 or 12am, shower, go to sleep. Repeat 5 days per week. Make exceptions for Chuck on Tuesday and The Office on Thursday. In my free time, I watch episodes of various comedy TV shows.</p>
<p>Academically I love Mudd, but socially I find it awkward, oppressive and overall completely unsatisfying. So no, I don’t talk to people all the time. In fact, I usually try to do just the opposite. It’s hard for me to fit into a culture that embraces super smash bros, cracks ceaseless “over 9000” jokes and encourages many women to avoid shaving their mustaches.</p>
<p>And that is why I have no life at Mudd.</p>
<p>What’s an “over 9000” joke?</p>
<p>I see. That’s not way too far off from my schedule, but the difference is usually if there’re 1-2 especially capable people in a class, I will work independently for some time, and then meet up with them to discuss stuff. If we happen to have finished a milestone, we may just eat lunch or dinner together and relax.</p>
<p>Oh and the other difference is that I suspect I have fewer class hours. An overwhelming majority of my time is spent reading books + thinking about the especially hard problems.</p>
<p>Super Smash Bros is fun, but I understand your detached attitude and actually share it.</p>
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<p>Hmm…what dorm were you in? I would associate such things as being most common in East, but I lived in Case, Atwood and South over my tenure at Mudd, and I found plenty of people who had interests different from that description.</p>
<p>So my advice to you, try to seek people all around the different dorms. And also, I think this is important, take advantage of the other 5C’s. During my time, I made a lot of friends from the other colleges and this really did a lot for my social life. I know it is hard sometimes, but make an effort. You will be happier.</p>
<p>Fiona, I had the same question on “over 9000” Here is what Urban Dictionary said, it seems to come from a Japanese cartoon Dragon Ball Z: </p>
<p>" A phrase that people use for something of impressive power, skill or just general fun. It stems from the Dragon Ball Z Show when Vegeta and one of his cronies come across Goku, and Vegeta’s scouter reveals that Goku’s power level is… OVER NINE THOUSAND!
Power level? Its over 9000!!!"</p>
<p>Perhaps someone else can confirm if this is right.</p>