***Official HMC Class of 2019 Regular Decision Results ONLY***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
21

@unixmum‌ - Congrats to your daughter! Does Wellesley not have its own CS program? If not, just make sure the dual degree is an option. I know cross registration at some schools allows for a minor, but not necessarily the full degree. For example, other 5C students can take some engineering classes at HM, but can’t get a second major in it if not
there. It would be a great option if they do allow it. I know MIT allows cross reg with Harvard, I guess maybe Wellesley also? I need to look in to that.

Good luck to your daughter, HM is a great option to have!

22

@Texasmom‌ - D didn’t apply at MIT. Wellesley has CS program. But she was thinking of doing the dual program with MIT while enjoying the atmosphere of the small liberal arts with empowered women . But HM came, closer to home and to the Silicon Valley. She’s still waiting from Stanford/Berkeley/Brown - her top choices along w HM. Congrats on your son as well. What school is he leaning to?

23

@Texasmom‌ -D didn’t apply at MIT. Wellesley has CS program. But she was thinking of doing the dual program with MIT while enjoying the atmosphere of the small liberal arts with empowered women . But HM came, closer to home and to the Silicon Valley. She’s still waiting from Stanford/Berkeley/Brown - her top choices along w HM. Congrats on your son as well. What school is he leaning to?

24

**[size = 4]Decision: Waitlisted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2350 - Math: 800, CR - 800, W - 750
ACT (breakdown): 34 - English: 34, Math: 36, Science: 36, Reading: 31.
SAT II: Biology M: 780, Chemistry: 740, World History: 720, Math1: 770, US History: 770, Math2: 800.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (96% unweighted), (101% weighted)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank available but definitely top 5 out of 150. Probably 4 or 3.
AP (place score in parenthesis): European History (5), Statistics (5), Chemistry (5), US History (5), Language and Comp. (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A (not taught)
Senior Year Course Load: College Italian, AP Calculus AB, AP Physics 1 & 2, Science Research (through Univ. Albany), AP US Government and Politics/Econ., AP Literature and Comp., AP Computer Science.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Commended Student, Highest AMC 10 & AMC 12 scores in school, County Science Fair 2nd Place (Biology), Air Force Award WESEF Science Competition (Medicine & Health). Excellence Degree (Along with Honors and Merit) in Speech and Debate National Honors Society.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  1. Speech and Debate - Debate Team Captain - (Grade 10 - 12)
  2. National Honor Society - Vice President (Organize Service Projects, so also community service) - (Grade 11, 12)
  3. Science National Honor Society - N/A - (Grade 11, 12)
  4. National Italian Honor Society - N/A - (Grade 11, 12)
  5. Link Crew Leadership Program - Two time Link-Leader - (Grade 11, 12) - We help assimilate the freshman into high school life and conduct the orientation and other social events for them.
  6. Cross Country (JV & Varsity) - Panther Award, 2 Varsity Letters - (Grade 9, 10, 12) Clarified out with knee injury 11th grade.
  7. STEM Strategic Action Planning Committee - N/A - (Grade 11) - Planning the future of STEM at my high school by 2025.
  8. Kapatid Martial Arts - Junior Black Belt and Sayoc Kali member - (From 1st Grade)
  9. Century Road Cycling Association (CRCA) - N/A - (Grade 11, 12)
  10. Track and Field (JV & Varsity) - (Grade 9, 11, 12) Clarified out with knee injury 10th grade.
  11. Winter Track and Field (JV) - (Grade 12)

Job/Work Experience:

  1. Pleasantville Farmers’ Market - Employee at JA Bialas Farm Stand
  2. My dad’s company - Travel and Gathering Research, creative administrative brainstorming.
    Volunteer/Community service:
  3. GRBA summer intern (not paid) Grade 9,10. NHS activities.
    Summer Activities: Science Research at Pace University. Over 230 hours of research over the past 2 summers. Conducted my own research last summer.

Essays:
Common App - Describing my creativity from a young age (central to life prompt). 8/10
Why HMC - Straightforward and not puffed up. Talked about engineering major (not specific degree but in depth), research opportunities, 6 required humanity courses, small size of single school, medium size community with other colleges. 7/10
Choice 2 (Describe idea and potential impact) - Talked about one of the ideas from my creativity notebooks. Went into specifics. Want to help the world more efficiently. Wind turbines in cars that open when car heading into wind so as to capture some energy (hybrid). Specifics on size of pipes and turbine design (Darrieus). Strong essay without being too technical. 8.5-9/10

Teacher Rec #1: AP US Hist. Teacher. Known for great recommendations, know her pretty well. - 8.5/10
Teacher Rec #2: Honors Chem and AP Chem Teacher. Had her 10th and 11th grade and I work with her now as the VP of NHS, so she has seen me grow. I collaborate with her a lot and we are very friendly to each other. She even lets me call her by a nickname (most people who do get written up). - 9.5/10
Counselor Rec: Known her for all 4 years, but not really well. She is known for writing good recommendations and being really on top of things though. 7/10.
Additional Rec: Cross Country Coach. He watched me grow but also saw me persevere through my knee injury (I biked to each xc meet junior year). He always speaks of me in the highest regards, saying all young runners on the team should look up to me and never give up simply due to roadblocks. Really good recommendation. - 10/10
Interview: Great. Nice man with good conversation. Simple with no extremely specific information but not too broad either. 7.5/10
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other): Research abstract from my Science Research over the Summer: Testing the Use of Zebrafish as a Model Organism for Contamination Experiments through Ethanol and Nicotine. 7.5-8/10

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): New York
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Suburban Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $200,000 +
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nothing, white male with money…

Reflection:
Strengths: Scores and Grades. Activities and Leadership, CommonApp Essay. Recommendations.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Overcame knee problem? Creativity, Definitely.
Weaknesses: Not an ethnic person or any special hook. HMC essays. lack of many national or state wide awards.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think they have many highly qualified applicants, especially looking down this conversation. My essays definitely could have been stronger, but I don’t think that’s the main cause. Do not bring a special hook or angle to the school that they don’t already have.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: University of Rochester (Safety)
Rejected: MIT
Waiting: Tufts, Duke, Lehigh (& IBE Honors Program), Stanford, Yale, and Cornell.

General Comments & Advice:
Keep your head up, you will enjoy wherever you end up going. Congrats to all those that get in. Good luck to all those who decide to remain on the Alternate List (I did) and hopefully they have a low yield this year :).

25

Does anyone have any recommendations for course of action for wait listed people? Thank you!

26

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 32 Composite, 33 Superscore (32 English, 36 Math, 32 Reading, 29 Science) (30 Science with Superscore)
SAT II: 790 Math, 740 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): I’m from Canada so we don’t use GPA. My average was around 96%
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Unranked
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 Statistics, 5 Microecnomics, 4 Macro, 4 Human Geography
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP English, AP Computer Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Won DECA Ontario Provincials (that’s a business competition btw), I don’t really have any internationally recognized awards

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Started my own club at school, president of another, band, sports, research, and DECA…
Job/Work Experience: Summer Marketing Intern for a private swimming company
Volunteer/Community service: TEDX Volunteer, Shad Valley Ambassador, …
Summer Activities: DEEP Engineering Camp (Grade 9), Harvard Summer School (Grade 10), Shad Valley (Grade 11)
Essays: Common app essay was about me chasing a squirrel, I thought it was pretty good
Teacher Rec #1: I think this was a really good rec by my Math & Stats teacher. Finished with 100 and 98 respectively in his courses respectively
Teacher Rec #2: By my mentor and AP Physics teacher. Thought it was meh, and only chose him because I had a 99 in his course and because he was my assigned mentor. This guy is an asshole to be honest, and I kind of hate him.
Counselor Rec: Probably really good. She knew a lot about me. Funny story, I didn’t have a social science rec and Harvey Mudd sent me an email about it, so my counselor wrote my rec as my grade 11 English teacher. Haha, I thought I had no chance at that point because they sent me that email
Additional Rec: Basically my second teacher rec became my additional rec. Again, I don’t think it was that good.
Interview: Didn’t have the chance to have one
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other): I sent in an update sometime in February with 2 full on paragraphs of the 2 clubs I lead at school. I think that must have helped. I also did research with a prof at UofT, so I included an abstract of that in my Additional Information section on the Common App. I also included a plethora of extra math contest awards, chess medals, and just other random awards I had accumulated over the years there.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: I was very lucky that I didn’t need to apply for financial aid
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: Small (350 Students)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: I’m really not sure, but I know it’s quite high.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection:
Strengths: Essays, EC activity descriptions, research abstract, and a very compact application. I literally used every opportunity to include more information about myself.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: My focus on project based learning and the liberal arts approach
Weaknesses: No admissions interview. ACT score, 32 (non super-scored) really isn’t that high for HMC. Really weak mark in AP Biology (84) because I had never taken Biology before.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My essays and my mid-February application update
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: UCSD and UC Davis, waitlisted at UCLA (My UC application was really kind of rushed)

General Comments & Advice:
To be honest, Harvey Mudd was a very last minute college for me. I only found out about it because I had my mind originally set on the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. And truthfully, one of my essays was an Olin essay copy-paste, so I’m actually kind of surprised that I was admitted here. Originally HMC was a backup for Olin, and although I made it past Candidates’ Weekend at Olin (and I think I’ll probably be accepted), I don’t think I can go because Olin doesn’t have a good computer science program. I still feel like I just broke up with Olin, so it’s hard for me to get that excited about HMC just yet.

A few days ago HMC was one of my top choices alongside Cornell, but now after reading some very negative comments about the college last night I’m not too sure anymore :disappointed:

@hopefulperson‌ , I wish we could trade acceptances. I’m dying to hear back from Cornell :cold_sweat:

27

@simonsays123 I’m fine with what I have right now :wink: Congrats on Mudd! I’m sure Cornell would be super lucky to have you. What negatives did you hear about Mudd? I’m curious, since everyone I know IRL loves to gush about it.

28

@Texasmom12

Thank you for sharing your situation.
Come to think of it, it might be a bless that my son didn’t get into MIT.
We actually prefer him to stay close to us.

29

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2150 (800 M, 680 CR, 670 W
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 Math II, 760 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10 (Out of 800)
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Euro (3), AP Physics (5), AP US (5), AP Lang (5), AP Calc B/C (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Calc 3, AP Music Theory, Chem H, Spanish 4 AP, English 4 AP, AP Economics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Student Athlete, Royal Lancer (top 3% GPA)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Varsity baseball (recruited by the HMC coach), Quiz Bowl captain
Job/Work Experience: Tutoring for a long time
Volunteer/Community service: Sunrise Retirement Home
Summer Activities: Baseball, Tutoring, Taught myself physics, coding, and math
Essays: Common app essay I wrote about an injury I got in baseball that prevented me from doing anything but I chose to try playing from the other side which ended up working. In the HMC specific essays, I incorporated a lot of my baseball experience with engineering, physics, and math. I also mentioned watching lectures of HMC professors.
Teacher Rec #1: Math Analysis teacher- I was probably her favorite student since I participated a lot in class and I also talked to her about math outside of class whenever I had a thought or an observation.
Teacher Rec #2: Spanish 3-H teacher- She really liked me and being a language teacher, she is very articulate and probably wrote a good essay.
Counselor Rec: My counselor liked me a lot. I often went up and talked to him both about school and life in general. Throughout the past 3 years, we’ve created a solid bond together and he knows a lot about me.
Additional Rec:
Interview:
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other):

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Math
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Chinese athlete

Reflection:
Strengths: EC’s (the main reason I got in). Good grades, hard worker
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: My experiences with baseball and how it related to my interest in STEM
Weaknesses: SAT score was pretty weak
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Baseball coach was recruiting me
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Caltech (rejected), MIT (rejected), UCLA (accepted), UCI (accepted), UCSD (accepted)

30

Although I’ve been almost clinically depressed for the past 24 hours, I promised myself I would post stats for all my schools because these helped a lot when I applied, so here goes:

**Decision: Waitlisted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400 superscore, 2340 single sitting (740 in math of all things fml)
ACT (breakdown): did not take
SAT II: 800s in Physics, Math 2, US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/800ish when applied, rank 3 in the midyear :expressionless:
AP (place score in parenthesis): 10 tests taken, six 5s and four 4s, 3 self studied
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Marching Band, AP Art History, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Lit, Latin IV, AP Bio, AP Stats
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): I WISH
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): FBLA awards, honor bands, ap awards, nm commended, 1% graduate in county, generic stuff

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): FBLA, NHS, SNHS, band, president/officer positions for all
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities: Research at Claremont McKenna, internship at engineering firm
Essays: Honestly, my HMC essays were the best essays I have ever written in my life
Teacher Rec #1: Ok
Teacher Rec #2: Ok
Counselor Rec: Ok
Additional Rec: From Claremont prof, hopefully it was positive lol
Interview: The best interview I have ever had
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other): Research paper

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m an extremely rare specimen in that I’m a middle class Asian male in engineering

Reflection:
Strengths: I literally worked on campus, stats
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself:
Weaknesses: i honestly don’t know, i’m trying not to blame it on my ethnicity
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I would really love if somebody could pinpoint any weaknesses, im just kinda disillusioned at the moment. This waitlist really really really hurt…
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to Berkeley, UCLA (with regents), UCSD (with regents), Rose Hulman (with pretty much full aid). Rejected Caltech, MIT.

General Comments & Advice:
The best way to cope with sadness is to go to Costco and get as much free food from the free samples as you can. One technique I devised is to wear a jacket, circle around the building, then take the jacket off. That way the employees won’t recognize you. Rinse and repeat until you are either full or not sad anymore.

31

How did you get Berkeley already? And wow your stats do look superb, better than mine for sure.

32

**Decision: Accepted **
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): CR770 W800 M800
ACT (breakdown): Didn’t take
SAT II: Math II 800 Physics 800 US History 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Don’t have them. We had a transcript with grade levels, and I only had Bs in Chinese
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 for Computer Science, Calculus, Statistics, Economics, Physics C, US History
IB (place score in parenthesis): /
Senior Year Course Load: Just usual Chinese high school stuff
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing big really. MCM Meritorious, HiMCM Finalist, and some local math and speaking contests
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar I guess??

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Founded a student run library in our school (10-12), Math club (9-11, Vice President), Class President (9-12), some (little) research (9-11), marathon training (11)
Job/Work Experience: Did promotional campaigns for a major business case competition in our country
Volunteer/Community service: Did subtitles translations for a single var calculus course on Coursera
Summer Activities: Operation Catapult, self studied a bunch of math and physics stuff
Essays: Mudd essays were my favorites
Teacher Rec #1: Math teacher, has known me since 7th grade
Teacher Rec #2: Russian teacher, has known me since 6th grade
Counselor Rec: Very good. She likes me a lot
Additional Rec: From my research mentor, probably good
Interview: Didn’t have
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other): Our MCM abstract plus my project at Catapult

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No. Way too competitive for internationals
Intended Major: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): /
Country (if international applicant): China
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: $100,000-$120,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection:
Strengths: Scores and essays
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Just telling my story
Weaknesses: No major awards. No notable research. So probably not enough STEM activities
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: This is honestly the one school I see as most “fit”. I guess AOs saw that from the essays
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to GT, UCLA, UCSD, USC, RHIT. Rejected at Caltech and MIT.

General Comments & Advice:
Be very honest about who you are. They’ll love you for the real you.

33

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): (Super-scored total: 2140) M: 740 CR: 690 W: 710
ACT (breakdown): (Composite: 32) English: 34 Math: 31 Reading: 31 Science: 33
SAT II: Math II: 760 Physics: 700 (I took this when I was only half-way through the class)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/230
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4); Environmental Science (5); Psychology (5); English Language and Composition (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Didn’t take
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Calculus AB, Physics, AVID Tutor, AP US Government, AP Calculus BC, Honors Chemistry II.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Honor roll every year, AP Scholar w/ Honor, County Award thing every year

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Piano (10-12) I am very involved in the piano and have played advanced pieces, Gay/Straight Alliance (10-12) Support group on campus for anyone who wants to be part of the LGBTQ community, Feminism Club (co-founder) (12) Super happy about starting up this club because it is the first on my campus like it, Protested with PETA for animal rights
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: Play piano for residents at the local nursing home every month, Built a community garden last year (co-organizer), Teen Jury (11) We basically do a “trial” for a teen who was offered the opportunity to have his/her peers decide a program/activity for them after they’ve been arrested
Summer Activities: Basically none
Essays: My personal statement was killer, for the “Why Harvey Mudd?” essay, I wrote how I could not see myself at a UC and that Harvey Mudd was an excellent place for me, for the other essay I responded to the “What isn’t in your application…” one and said that I was very driven and always had a passion for the STEM fields.
Teacher Rec #1: Probably good because he was a teacher who cared a lot about how he wrote the letter and he liked me when I was in his class (AP English Lang.)
Teacher Rec #2: Probably really good too because he also really liked me and has known that I excell in science courses (he was my Human Anatomy teacher)
Counselor Rec: Probably good because she likes me and has gotten to know me and my personality, drive, etc.
Additional Rec: Piano Teacher so very good because she really likes me and knows my drive
Interview: Didn’t have one
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other):

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Mathematics/Chemistry/Undecided
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Small, rural, public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $150,000?
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Being a girl probably helped, good recommendations maybe
Reflection:
Strengths: Passion, drive, grades
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: I really tried to come across as driven and passionate in my essays (which I believe really helped)
Weaknesses: Scores (in respect to average scores to HMC)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I honestly thought I would be rejected, but I think saying that I was driven and a good fit helped.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: So far: Waitlisted: Pomona
Accepted: Lewis & Clark (total backup), Middlebury, Beloit (extreme worst-case scenario backup), and Colby College

General Comments & Advice:
I am very surprised that I was accepted, but I think you need to show passion and that you belong at the school.

34

@PerfunctoryPeter, I was also surprised with my waitlist due to my scores and extracurriculars. I definitely don’t think being an upper middle class white male helped me, and your background probably didn’t help you either. I also got rejected from MIT as well. I guess we can just hope for an extremely low yield.

Originally, I thought that not taking the ACT could have affected you, however it appears many people got in with not as great test scores, so that doesn’t seem to be high on HMC’s list of grading.

35

joins the waitlist disappointment club I accepted the waitlist before reading that merit scholarships weren’t available for waitlisters. That, combined with the extremely low to zero waitlist -> acceptance rate, makes me regret my decision. @tccbucks, I agree, numerical stuff doesn’t seem to be a big thing for Mudd. Which is sad, because other than my SAT CR, that’s where I shine.

36

@hopefulperson‌ Yeah when I told my parents they said, “Well you still have a chance.” And inside I was like “Not really…” But I don’t really care about the scholarship thing, I think HMC is my top choice by so much that I would take the economic hit for it and work it off.

37

@hopefulperson‌ Also, if you want I think you can remove yourself from waitlist just by going online and updating your form or sending an email. I wouldn’t recommend this at least for me, but if you want to I think that is an option.

38

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2240 (R: 780, M: 790, W:690)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: M2: 780 P:770
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
Weighted GPA: 4.27
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 21/492
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5) Physics (4) Macro Econ (4) APUSH (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Econ (6)
Senior Year Course Load: IB Math HL, IB Lit HL, IB World History HL, IB Chinese SL, IB Bio HL, Journalism, Theory of Knowledge, Draw/Paint, AP Comp Sci
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National History Day Winner, state and national winner, National Journalism Awards
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): IB Diploma Canidate

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): editor-in-chief of award winning newspaper, math club president, volleyball 4 years, swim 4 years
Job/Work Experience: Lab work at local university
Volunteer/Community service: maybe 100 hours?
Summer Activities: Volunteer and lab work
Essays:
Common App: 8/10, talked about how i hated math but learned to love it after i took physics and calc
Why Mudd: 8-9/10, very personal, talked about my overnight stay and all the wonderful things that Mudd had to offer
Other: “How has my background influenced they types of problems I want to solve?” talked about pollution in socal and lab work introduced me to environmental engineering
Teacher Rec #1: AP Physics teacher who really loved me as a student 8-9/10
Teacher Rec #2: IB Lit and Journalism teacher, writes many very good rec letters 10/10
Counselor Rec: IB Math teacher and IB coordinator 7-8/10
Additional Rec: Professor in charge of lab I worked in ?/10
Interview: I think it went very well :slight_smile:
Additional material (abstracts/papers/other): Submitted my resume

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Public 2500ish students
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 80-100K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nope

Reflection:
Strengths: scores were in range, I’m very personable
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: I tried to make it clear that i was very interested in the unique things that Mudd offers
Weaknesses: low class rank, lower GPA, slightly struggle with essays, procrastinated on my application
Why you think you were accepted: my Why Mudd essay was very passionate and honest, my common app essay talked about my love of STEM, my interview went well
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCR, Kenyon
Rejected: WashU
Waiting: Berkeley, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Columbia, Northwestern, Princeton, Cornell, USC

General Comments & Advice:
Make sure you really let your personality show in your essays and if you interview! If you live in SoCal, try your hardest to get an interview! I know people with better stats than me who were rejected or waitlisted because they probably didn’t show enough interest in the school.

39

@tccbucks I’m going to keep myself on the waitlist and send an update email, but to be 100% honest I’d rather go somewhere that straight-up accepts me even if I do get off the waitlist, and I have 2 amazing OOS choices like that already. Mudd’s too expensive and they’ve made it clear that they don’t really want me. Good luck to you, and I hope there’s a low yield this year!

40

@tccbucks‌ , if Harvey Mudd really is your clear first choice, then I advise you send in an update to their admissions office with a really nicely written letter explaining your passions and anything else you may have done since the application deadline. I’m not too sure if you know about the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, but that trick (kinda) works with them.