Please, someone unconfuse me. HMC

<p>I was looking the 2009 USN&WR list of best engineering schools and a saw that Harvey Mudd was listed quite highly. They are listed as #4 overall (highest degree masters) and have 4 programs listed in the top 10, civil, computer, electrical and mechanical. I've heard of the school for years but didn't know anything about it so I went to their web site. No where can I find anything to indicate they offer these majors. ABET says HMC has one accredited program called "Engineering". What am I doing wrong?</p>

<p>Is there more than one HMC? Am I looking at the wrong web site? </p>

<p>Harvey</a> Mudd College</p>

<p>Degree</a> Requirements</p>

<p>Looks like they get a generic engineering degree. Nothing specialized.</p>

<p>Yeah, only I hear that it's so rigorous that it's like getting degrees in ChemE, EE, CivE and MechE all at once.</p>

<p>My brother just graduated with an engineering degree from Mudd.</p>

<p>The thing is, there's just one "engineering" degree, and Techy's right-- they basically just plow through everything. (I was really skeptical at first, but my EE-inclined brother knows how to design beams and columns better than I know how to design a circuit board, so I really have nothing else to say.)</p>

<p>Towards your junior and senior year, you kind of have an idea of what sort of engineering you want to pursue, and your technical electives will point you towards one of the fields a little more than the others. So, you don't walk away knowing how to do <em>everything</em>, but your fundamentals are rock solid (probably more so than with engineers from any other program) and you know enough about your field to show up people who <em>got</em> the specialized degree that you're inclined towards, in addition to knowing a lot about everyone else's fields, too.</p>

<p>It's a little ridiculous, in terms of intensity, and the students light a lot of things on fire to cope with the stress. It's very well-respected in academia and with a lot of very excellent companies, though a lot of people go to a powerhouse grad school in order to gain name recognition with the smaller firms who've never heard of Mudd.</p>

<p>Going to med school is difficult as GPAs are pretty deflated in comparison to other schools, and med schools pretty much don't make concessions for that.</p>

<p>It sounds like and Industrial Engineering degree...maybe more focused in one area in the later years but this doesn't make it close to "getting degrees in ChemE, EE, CivE and MechE all at once."</p>

<p>
[quote]
It sounds like and Industrial Engineering degree...maybe more focused in one area in the later years but this doesn't make it close to "getting degrees in ChemE, EE, CivE and MechE all at once."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I can assure you that the course titles and descriptions don't tell you nearly what you need to know to draw that conclusion. I didn't believe it, either, but I was utterly proven wrong.</p>

<p>^ After your response to my post aibarr, I e-mailed a friend of a friend of mine who goes to HMC, and she said the same thing! That felt like confirmation.</p>

<p>Here’s the answer</p>

<p>From the USnews website:
**
Methodology: Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs**</p>

<p>
[quote]
We also asked for nominations of the best engineering programs in specialty areas; those receiving the most mentions in each appear here. Schools offering any courses in that specialty are eligible to be ranked in that specialty.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2008/08/21/methodology-best-undergraduate-engineering-programs.html%5DLink%5B/url"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2008/08/21/methodology-best-undergraduate-engineering-programs.html]Link[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>So any school that has at least one accredited engineering program is also eligible for ranking in any engineering specialty as long as that school offers at least one course in that specialty. </p>

<p>Wow.</p>

<p>BTW,
They use the same methodology to rank business schools</p>

<p>Well I wouldn't say those rankings are accurate. Mudd gets shafted because it only has a general engineering program. It's hard to rank very highly in programs that you don't even have. Mudd's philosophy is that a general engineering education with a specialization in upper level classes is the best way to train a future leader or engineering professor. Anyway, I believe we are actually ranked 2nd, not 4th:</p>

<p>Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report</p>

<p>Mudd need not be ranked. It's way above comparison IMO.</p>

<p>Too tough for me, that's for sure. Also, I was scared to learn to ride a unicycle</p>