Why is Rose-Hulman ranked above Harvey Mudd? Getting into harvey mudd is like getting into MIT and rose is just not MIT level. Rose is still a wonderful and great school but I’m just curious to see why US news ranked it above harvey mudd.
Harvey Mudd is really a much more rigorous school. Someone probably knows where the metrics come from, but this order never made sense to me either. Cooper Union is a much more rigorous school too.
Consider the breadth of RHIT’s offerings:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19960517#Comment_19960517
I assume that you are looking at the US News rankings of undergraduate colleges for engineering, where RHIT has been #1 and Mudd has been #2 or tied for #1 over the past several years. The methodology that US News uses for ranking undergraduate colleges in engineering is based on the judgement of deans and faculty members of peer colleges. No other factors, e.g. test scores or selectivity, are considered. So that is how the rankings shake out, according to these other schools. The response rate was 28% for that survey. Also note that HMC was rated for its programs in mechanical and electrical engineering, though it doesn’t offer degrees in specific engineering disciplines, which shows how familiar these other peers are with the Mudd program.
Since it is based on a poll, the US News rankings really come down to which school has the most memorable name - and I would tend to agree that Rose Hulman is (just slightly) more unusual than Harvey Mudd…
If one thinks rigor is important, then The US Military Academy (ranked #4) probably rises to the top.
If one thinks test scores and selectivity is important, then Olin (ranked #3) probably rises to the top.
If one thinks breadth of offerings is important, then Rose Hulman probably remains on top.
If one thinks warm weather is important, then Harvey Mudd (ranked #2) probably rises to the top.
I know nothing about Rose Hulman, so this may be true (I won’t dispute what I know nothing about). But did you consider that at Harvey Mudd you have 4 other colleges and their classes available as well?
I think the reference pertains to RHIT’s impressive engineering offerings (see link in post 2).
Oh! Missed that.
There is a different philosophy at Mudd resulting in only one engineering major, so it would be hard to compare.
I agree with @ClaremontMom.
A lot of engineering boils down to understanding and applying linear algebra differential equations to model physical phenomena and systems. This approach is a bit too abstract for many students and requires graduate school for proper specialization, so very few schools other than Mudd approach engineering this way. The “engineering science” option at Harvard or Toronto are similar. Mudd is great for those who want a very rigorous education and want to go to graduate school.
@ClaremontMom and @frontpage
My S wants to ED at Harvey Mudd. I have never been to HMC or any top school (MIT, Stanford, Olin, Princeton, Univ of southern california). He visited Caltech and HMC last summer. He is a bit nerdy (ouch), great in math and robotics and will pursue Robotics as a career. He is crazy about Robotics and can spend every waking moment on building and then programming.
I have heard HMC is a great school - and the top schools are reach for anyone. Any negatives of HMC compared to other schools. We are from southeast, so he does like warm climate and California will be great for him (MIT, Olin might be too cold).
Do you think Engineering is too abstract Or not enough opportunities in Robotics? Do students find jobs easily or forced to do MS/Phd after undergrad.
Thanks.
Both are great, but I think I’m in the majority when I say HMC is both more rigorous and more broadly “prestigious” (take that as you will). The HMC kids I’ve known over the years have been brilliant and have emerged incredibly well educated. Again, though, both are great.
@vsmath - HMC grads have no trouble finding jobs 
Rose H is also known for its extremely supportive atmosphere.
3 - Engineering too abstract? The opposite. Engineering is the application of science to solve real world problems. Nothing abstract about it at all. As far as opportunities for robotics, it's a growing field and jobs will be plenty for graduates of high quality programs and those with good internship or co-op experience. Engineering students do not need graduate degrees to have good paying jobs after getting their BS degrees. Graduate school is desired only if one wants to have more specialization or to go into research or academia.
@vsmath - The only “negative” depending on your perspective is size. To me, it’s a positive, but I do get that some students prefer a much larger university. The nice part is that it is part of the Claremont Consortium, so it isn’t as small as it might seem at first.
As marvin already stated, Mudd grads don’t have a problem finding jobs. Here is something you might be interested in:
https://www.hmc.edu/career-services/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2013/08/OCS-Impact-Report-JUL16-singlepgs.pdf
If you scroll to page 8 you will see where (both grad schools and employers) Mudd students end up.
I don’t know the specific opportunities for robotics, but I would not be surprised to learn that many there that share your son’s passion. And I believe this semester the core engineering class (for all sophomores) had an underwater robotics component.
By abstract, it’s not that the problems you are solving are necessarily abstract. For most engineers this is not the case. The abstractness is in identifying a problem into a specific class of similar problems and developing and using tools that solve a class of problems. This is much more powerful than understanding individual problems in isolation. I think this is the “abstract” in engineering.
Engineering is very concrete in the sense that most problems engineers solve are concrete and tangible. This is not the case, in say, pure mathematics.
@ClaremontMom @marvin100 Thank you both for replying. My apologies for late reply. I did not login to the sites and had family issues. Eagerly waiting for the decisions to be mailed this week. HMC says Dec 15th but their webpage says that decisions have been mailed. Keeping our fingers crossed. Thank you again.
@ClassicRockerDad
I know this post is old, but I have ready through many of your posts. You talk about admissions to RHIT and the “Rigorous Nature” …I have a friend and a co-worker who both went there…and those people know their stuff…leaps and bounds more than the people at work from Cal-Poly or UC Berkley, or for that matter even people with masters from State schools.
I can tell you that the stories I have heard from that school…would scare the living crap out of me if I was a student. The students most often are studying until 4-5 in the morning, for a test that is occasionally only 1 question. The complaint from a lot of students who don’t make it through isn’t that the school was not “right for them”…it was the fact that the school was too hard for them.
Now, on some other posts, you spoke of notoriety and Ph.D admissions. Not many people are going to Rose planning for a Ph.D…not to mention that its a very small school of 3000ish students…so most people who do pursue degrees post undergrad are not only admitted , but find Ph.D programs a cakewalk. The majority of students however, go directly into the workforce (97% placement) by time of graduation.
Notoriety? No doctorate program…not a lot of published papers in journals etc…
However, go to apply at Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Hitachi…name a big company…and I can bet you hands down they know the school. If they don’t; then isn’t that really just a bad recruiter not knowing the top ranked schools?
Not only does the school boast the 5th highest average salary after graduation, but it has been #1 Engineering for 18 straight years from their website…
So for what it is…an Undergraduate Engineering Holy Land…it isn’t really comparable. The comparisons I’ve seen made are squashed by rankings and stats.
@Xrposiedon, your post is very confusing. I can’t tell what school(s) you are referencing throughout, and your points don’t fully make sense.