<p>My son (an international student) is considering applying to these three Universities amongst others for Engineering degree. It would be great to hear from past students of these universities why they chose one of these Universities and any advice they may have. And any recommendation on how would you rank these three?</p>
<p>They’re all excellent schools; no one-size-fits-all ranking would be meaningful at that level. The most useful ranking would take your son’s personal desires into account - weather, school size, famousness, engineering specialty, financial aid for international students… </p>
<p>Also, all three schools are exceptionally difficult to get into. Whichever fits your son best, he will also need to pick a few more schools of a lower caliber to ensure he gets into a good school he can like. Search for threads on the importance of safety schools and in particular finding a safety school that you would actually want to attend.</p>
<p>My son’s first choice was Mudd because he wanted a small school where he wouldn’t have to compete with grad students for research opportunities and where he could really get to know the professors and where teaching was the number one priority. He didn’t apply to the other schools, because they weren’t what he wanted. </p>
<p>Princeton and Northwestern will have excellent quality but more name recognition and more choices of classes because they are larger. They probably have less professor interaction and more grad students teaching classes. Mudd has a General Engineering degree and doesn’t have specialized engineering degrees, such as Electrical Engineering or Chemical Engineering. If your son is sure he wants a specific kind of engineering, he’d need to go to a larger school, but Mudd’s engineering graduates seem to be well prepared no matter what specialty they choose. So if your son would fit best at a small school, Mudd is best. If he wants the most name recognition, Princeton is best. If he wants a larger school, Northwestern is best.</p>
<p>Thanks, GeekMom63. I fully agree with your assessment. My son is also very much inclined towards Harvey Mudd. From your son’s experience how much Research work / time kids get at Mudd. And how high Big universities (e.g. MIT, Stanford, etc) rate Mudd students for admissions into Masters. Any other experience of Harvey Mudd, positive or negative, you could share about Mudd would be extremely helpful.</p>
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“From my son’s experience” is a family sore spot. It appears to me that there’s plenty there for the taking, but he hasn’t bothered taking any. He has only been there one year, though. </p>
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Their administrative offices seem overworked and the dorms aren’t that great. Other than that, it seems fantastic. They seem to have no trouble getting into the grad program of their choice or getting jobs, but you’d be better talking to graduates than a newbie about that. Other schools to consider if you like Mudd are Rice (very small, very good university), Rose Hulman (almost as small as Mudd, always ranks #1 for engineering schools without a PhD) and Case Western (small university).</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. That is very helpful.</p>
<p>Anyone else who may like to share their experience with Harvey Mudd - Research Opportunities, Admissions into well known Grad schools, Job offers, and overall quality of engineering program?</p>
<p>You can find some information on the Harvey Mudd website. Look for career services, under information for current students. The career services has Class of 2012 post-graduation report, which presents a listing of where the graduating seniors are going (grad school or work), which grad schools they are attending, which companies have employed students, etc. Most students going to grad school are planning to get a PhD, at schools such as Caltech, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and many other top grad schools. The publication highlights the activities of the career services office, but shows the quality of the opportunities for Mudd grads.</p>
<p>There used to be a slew of hardcore Harvey Mudd supporters on CC. Not quite sure what happened to them.</p>
<p>Son went to Harvey Mudd and turned down Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Rice and several other excellent engineering schools. He got a great education and also had a great time. Is now at MIT in graduate school in engineering</p>