Students are encouraged to join clubs and student organizations..

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
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<p>I was wondering if anyone could give insight on the clubs and student organizations at Harvey Mudd. Maybe you could share what clubs and organizations you're a part of (or were a part of) and how much time you spent with that club/ what you did. How many clubs/ organizations were you involved in? How many do you think is manageable?</p>

<p>I personally am interested in the following:</p>

<p>ESW / MOSS-Engineers for a Sustainable World</p>

<p>Society for Women Engineers (SWE)</p>

<p>Mudders Making a Difference (MMAD)- A network for volunteers</p>

<p>Strauss Internship for Social Understanding- A summer internship program designed for HMC students interested in working with a community service organization.</p>

<p>Harvey Wallbangers Climbing Club (HWCC)- The Harvey Wallbangers Climbing Club educates and advocates the art of rock climbing. </p>

<p>RobotSHMC- Robotics Club (Can I join if I know nothing about robots? I want to learn..)</p>

<p>Mudd Creative Collective (MuCC)- Creative arts club</p>

<p>**Tau Beta Pi<a href="national%20honor%20society%20for%20engineers">/b</a></p>

<p>**Sigma Xi<a href="national%20honor%20society%20for%20scientists%20and%20engineers">/b</a></p>

<p>Ballroom Dancing Club</p>

<p>Intramural Soccer
**Intramural Paint ball<a href="What%20if%20I'm%20interested%20but%20have%20never%20played%20before?">/b</a>
**Intramural Flag Football<a href="Is%20this%20for%20girls/%20do%20you%20have%20to%20know%20a%20lot%20about%20football?">/b</a></p>

<p>I know people also casually play chess.. how often and where at?
Also.. does anyone do archery/ is there a way to?</p>

<p>I know I can't do ALL of these. What is reasonable? What is the difference between the two honors societies and what do you do? </p>

<p>Sorry if this seems silly that I was looking at the student activities.. I like to plan things out thoroughly (although leaving some room for improvisation).</p>

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<p>Where did you find a list of student organizations and clubs? I probably should take a glance myself, if only to pass the time until the next step of the application process.</p>

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<p>I just went to the site, the student organizations are here:</p>

<p>[Student</a> Organizations](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/studentlife1/activities1/studentorgs.html]Student”>Student Organizations | Campus Life | Harvey Mudd College)</p>

<p>There isn’t much on intramural sports that I found, just that students who don’t do intercollegiate have the option of participating in intramural sports, like basketball, inner tube water polo, ultimate Frisbee, and a few others.</p>

<p>Honor societies I found here by searching the site:</p>

<p>[HMC</a> Departmental Organizations](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/about/administrativeoffices/dos1/studenthandbook1/directory1/hmcspecialservices/deptorgs.html]HMC”>http://www.hmc.edu/about/administrativeoffices/dos1/studenthandbook1/directory1/hmcspecialservices/deptorgs.html)</p>

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<p>Tau Beta Pi and all them require a certain major GPA so that may be a few years off.</p>

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<p>Okay, well what about the other student organizations? What were you part of, RocketDA?</p>

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<p>“What were you part of, RocketDA?”</p>

<p>I was the Mudd Amateur Rocket Club president for two years… and really the only one keeping it alive senior year. I’m not sure if it has survived. </p>

<p>Besides that, I was in JamSoc and had a legendary jazz/funk band called Atypical Vibe.</p>

7

<p>I’m a member of Sigma Xi. All we ever did was pay money and attend the initiation banquet.</p>

<p>Most of my extracurriculars were outside of Mudd and in 5C-wide organizations. I was very active in the International Place of the Claremont Colleges, as well as with clubs on Pakistani/Indian culture, and interfaith dialogue clubs with Muslims, Christians, Jews, etc… all working together. I took part in quite a few parties, banquets, shows, functions, lectures and so forth throughout the year, though it was nothing quite like at a large state school (I’m at Rutgers right now - the social environment is much more incredibly alive and active if for no other reason that there are about 8 times as many students as on the entire 5C’s). </p>

<p>My participation and expansion to outside the 5C’s is probably my fondest memory of Claremont, and the thing I miss most. It is the main reason I had fun and stayed relaxed and chill (well, more laid back and chill than most people anyways ;-D ) at Harvey Mudd, which helped me do better in my classes than I would have otherwise. </p>

<p>One thing I always felt sad about was the fact that so many HMC students did not take full advantage of the social opportunities arising from the other colleges nearby, and mostly stayed in the Mudd bubble apart from taking classes off campus, which I feel made them very insulated and could drive them to be very miserable, consequently affecting academic performance. </p>

<p>Thus, I encourage you and any future Mudders to not make this mistake - search out clubs and organizations, maybe one that you are pretty active in and a few whose events you go to, and try to ensure that you interact with non-Mudders as much as you can. It will do you wonders, and you will have a much greater appreciation for your education and probably gain a lot more out of it. Learn to have moderation, it is very key.</p>

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<p>I just realized I write really long sentences. Fail.</p>

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<p>Of those, I’m in ESW/MOSS. We have around 10-15 students and 2 professors come to weekly meetings, and some of us going to a second weekly meeting to discuss a water pump project we are working on for Kenya.</p>

<p>Many of those aren’t too active, like RobotSHMC and the rocket club, which have declined since their active members left.</p>

<p>Also; I’m with one club that you probably didn’t see because it’s new: Future Tech. It’s pretty much a presentation/ discussion group for transhumanism and new technology, and we attend a lot of tech conferences.</p>

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<p>Can I join clubs if I’m not that good/ don’t know much about them? Like intramural flag football/ soccer, or the robotics club?</p>

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<p>I don’t know about those clubs in particular. I’m in a couple clubs (Muddraker, Science Bus) though I signed up for like five at the start of the semester. :S</p>

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<p>IM sports are done by dorm and have fairly short seasons (4-8 weeks). They’re pretty chill, and most people play for fun. Some dorms are pretty competitive about certain events (Norf and inner-tube water polo, Linde and soccer), but most dorm teams are just for fun.</p>

<p>Towards the beginning of the year, most clubs do a lot to encourage new people to join, so you don’t have to worry about that. I haven’t heard much about Robotics club, but there is an active electronics club which does semi-similar stuff.</p>

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<p>tiyusufaly wrote :
"My participation and expansion to outside the 5C’s is probably my fondest memory of Claremont, and the thing I miss most. It is the main reason I had fun and stayed relaxed and chill (well, more laid back and chill than most people anyways ;-D ) at Harvey Mudd, which helped me do better in my classes than I would have otherwise. </p>

<p>One thing I always felt sad about was the fact that so many HMC students did not take full advantage of the social opportunities arising from the other colleges nearby, and mostly stayed in the Mudd bubble apart from taking classes off campus, which I feel made them very insulated and could drive them to be very miserable, consequently affecting academic performance. "</p>

<p>I can’t agree more with those statements. I had such an awesome semester this year, and I’m one of the only people I’ve heard say that, from any class. I don’t think its a coincidence that I got very involved in off campus groups this semester as well. You should do it…really.</p>

<p>and yeah, you can defffinitely join groups if you’re not “good” at them. at least I’d hope so!</p>

14

<p>Hmmm…I’m not an active member in any of the clubs you listed (besides innertube water polo, which doesn’t count since most people participate in one way or another, if only by cheering), so I can’t really offer wonderful first hand experience. Here’s some observances from a distance:</p>

<p>Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company - will eat your life. The tour team is absolutely incredible (nationally recognized), but the people on the team are always off dancing. Campus team is a little more relaxed, but still sucks time (4 hours a week, I think?) and is still fairly tricky to get onto as a girl. That said, you don’t have to be on the team to benefit from its presence at the colleges, especially if you don’t have epic dance skills. They host weekly Blues (Sat), Salsa (Fri), and Swing (Th, off campus?) nights, as well as larger multi-dance events once a twice a semester. These events generally have free half hour lessons at the beginning, so its definitely an opportunity worth snatching. If you are willing to pay $30/semester(cheap!) there are also a variety of ballroom dance classes taught by the head coach, who is awesome. So…I’ll never officially be a member of CCBDC due to lack of skillz and time, but I can still enjoy its presence on the 5Cs in a big way.</p>

<p>Strauss Internship for Social Understanding - this isn’t really a club. Basically, you plan to do some awesome volunteer work over the summer, then apply for the scholarship, and if you get the money then you basically get paid to do nonprofit work all summer. Pretty cool. I have a couple of friends who did this last summer - one worked at an orphanage in Mexico and the other worked at a local Red Cross. I think both of them were planning on doing what they did before they even heard that they got the “internship” money.</p>

<p>HWCC - Mudders can get discounted passes to the nearby rock gym ($90-160 / semester, depending on how many people sign up, so they’d love it if you signed up). I’m guessing this club arranges the rides. You don’t need experience.</p>

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<p>yeah, im no good at dancing but when i did my overnight i thought it was interesting. Sounds like there are plenty opportunities to learn here and there without being commited, which is great haha.</p>

<p>Also I think the head coach was my english teacher’s best friend in high school and college XD</p>

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<p>IM Sports can be great fun for players of all skill levels. I’ve competed in inner tube water polo, indoor soccer, and flag football. For football (and other sports), girls score double points (touchdowns = 12 pts instead of 6) so you’d be quite valuable. However, if you make it to the playoffs, the games do become more rough and physical.</p>

<p>I’m not sure if robotSHMC still exists, but I am part of a newly assembled group (of about 15 students) who are getting involved in the FIRST Robotics Competition next year. For beginners, it’d be a bit tougher to jump into this competition but by the time you get to Mudd, we’ll probably have some activities to help newcomers learn stuff.</p>