<p>Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.</p>
<p>I got accepted into both Penn SEAS and Harvey Mudd. Penn will cost me 2/3 as much as HMC and I'd like to major in BioE or ChemE. </p>
<p>I know the schools are very different but I really like aspects about each one. For Penn, I'm eager to try out the East Coast and be so close to the cities (Philly, NYC, DC...). However is the SEAS program respectable compared to HMC, as in could I still get a good job or go to a good grad school?</p>
<p>I also like the quirkiness of HMC and smaller class size but I don't know if I'd like to stay in California, and cost is kind of a factor. </p>
<p>You do realize that Penn is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the country in BioE? I’d call that pretty respectable. Of course, being only a couple of blocks from the #2 medical school in the country–and an amazing and ever-growing world-class medical research complex–doesn’t hurt, either. :)</p>
<p>I got into both (back when I still considered a math/science career route), and visited both. I’ll let others talk about other aspects (especially academics), but I think Penn is at a better location and has a MUCH nice campus. Mudd’s buildings are kind of ugly in my opinion. While Claremont has beautiful weather, I still feel Philadelphia has a lot more going on around it. Though obviously I’m biased.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Mudd but I do hire a lot of people and I would say if you’re looking to get a job someday doing just about anything, the name of Penn will make a difference. it’s well known, highly regarded and to me, it’s a no brainer.</p>
<p>Honestly, I just read your post and the first thing I said was: “What the heck is Harvey Mudd.” If you can pay for Penn, I’d go here. Chances are, you would have more opportunities. There are a lot of kids at Penn who turn down full rides because of the resources and options here. You’ll just have to decide if they’re worth it to you or not.</p>
<p>I love Penn as much as anyone, but the lack of appreciation for Harvey Mudd here is regrettable.
Now, I can’t speak to the finances, so if Penn is significantly less than HMC, it may very well present a better value.
But Mudd is an incredible school for engineering, probably totally unique in many ways, and the choice between the two would come down to Claremont vs. Philly – LAC type environment vs. large research university – and of course, finances.</p>
<p>If girls are on your radar, stay away from Harvey Mudd. I live near Claremont and have spent a lot of time on campus over the last three years. Although you’d be near the other Claremont colleges, they don’t have much of a girl selection either. Penn has better looking girls and even if you tired of Penn girls, there’s a ton of other college campuses in the Philly area. Claremont is kind of remote. The other party scene is in LA and that’s about an hour away. So go to Penn/Philly for the girls.</p>
<p>I also applied to both schools, and I’d like to reiterate what the above poster said. HMC is an incredible school with a lot of unique things going for it, from the clinics to the consortium system to weather. I retrospectively think that had I not gotten into the program I am in (here at Penn), I would have gone to HMC. The name will be recognizable to the people who matter. And if name recognition is a concern, Penn won’t help, because everyone who doesn’t matter thinks it’s Penn State.
You did however mention that you might want to leave the state. That is obviously a personal concern that no one can quantify, and could easily be a tipping point to Penn. But in my opinion, HMC will give you a much stronger engineering education. Penn is a university though, so you have more options. As with any choice, there are pros and cons; you need to decide what it is you’re looking for, no one here can tell you that.</p>
<p>For undergrad engineering and hard science, Mudd beats Penn hands down. If a recruiting engineering firm hasn’t heard of Mudd, then it’s probably not a respected firm.</p>
<p>Erm, Scripps? All-girl college? Larger than the entire collective student body of Mudd? 30 second walk away? I’m not entirely certain how you missed that one over the past three years.</p>
<p>Also, in an entirely startling new development, the incoming class is majority female. It’s rather scary and confusing to all us here at Mudd.</p>
<p>I love Penn when I visited, the city, all the opportunities, the fact it’s a huge university where I could have an awesome social and academic experience. But then I keep reading how HMC is consistently ranked as one of the top engineering schools. Penn has a good program, but I don’t think they are comparable. </p>
<p>So now that the summer is coming to an end I’m having second thoughts. Is this normal or did I choose “wrong”?</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is probably a better overall engineering school, but Penn’s BME program is very very good. Honestly, I don’t think you could make a “wrong choice” in your situation.</p>
<p>Agree with MajorLazer–there isn’t going to be a right and wrong choice. Overall, Harvey Mudd is a more respected engineering institution, but Penn’s Bioengineering department is very highly regarded and very popular. </p>
<p>Honestly, academics are only part of the equation, though. Once you are in college you may realize how “good” a program is doesn’t mean that much (though Penn’s BioE is still excellent, and CBE is very popular as well). As a Californian, I have come to appreciate going to Penn SO much and am so thankful I didn’t stay in California. I can’t imagine growing as much as I have had I stayed in California. Penn will offer you so many more opportunities than Harvey Mudd–academically (you might find you don’t like engineering, and at Penn you will have basically any academic path imaginable open to you; and you simply have the ability to explore so many fields Harvey Mudd and other Claremont Colleges might not offer because of their size; plus there’s so many more research opportunities if that interests you), socially (there’s a huge variety of students, West Philly is actually really awesome, Center City is so accessible and offers so much without sucking the life out of campus). I felt the same way when I started Penn–was it the right choice, should I have gone somewhere better for engineering, (guess what–I’m not even an engineer anymore!), was it worth the money when I had Berkeley as an option? etc. Hopefully you will come to realize that your experience is so much bigger than how your academic program is ranked. I’ve learned so much, and so much more about myself, having been able to get away from California and Californians and being exposed to such a diverse mix of people, a whole new city (and cities–don’t forget you’ll have access to NYC, DC, etc)…I truly believe you will have an experience you would not have gotten had you gone to Harvey Mudd. Honestly I can’t even imagine going to a school in a suburb now that I’ve been at Penn. And I basically didn’t even like Philly for my first 2 years, constantly comparing it to SoCal or New York, but I’ve come to learn just how awesome it is for students and in its own right. Sorry, I may be rambling at this point, but I relate to how you’re feeling and I just want you to get really excited about what’s ahead of you. Talking to most of my friends who still go to college in California, I know I would never have gotten the experience I have so far had I stayed here. You won’t regret it. Feel free to PM me as well.</p>