<p>whats the difference between liberal art schools and non liberal art schools?
how is harvey mudd's science program different from MITs?</p>
<p>I wish someone had explained this to me back when I was in HS!</p>
<p>Liberal Arts Colleges place a greater emphasis on undergrads than graduate students who are responsible for bigger universities' research. Because they highly value the undergraduate experience more than university productivity, they tend to accommodate a certain type of person: one who enjoys learning for the sake of learning. </p>
<p>In order to enrich undergraduates' educations, small class sizes are more common in LACs than at large research universities that typically have more impersonal, giant lecture halls, and they tend to encourage the professors to be more involved with students on a personal level to ensure satisfaction and academic success. Because LACs tend to be smaller, there is also more of a community feel. However, large research universities usually have better and more diverse facilities, so it's a matter of finding what suits you and finding the right community niche for yourself from there. There are generally more options at a bigger research university thanks to its size and larger endowment, so it's just a matter of navigating all the possibilities. </p>
<p>I don't know enough about Harvey Mudd to give you specifics, but I presume there is more individual attention for each student, among other things.</p>
<p>The confusion arises from the use of the term "liberal arts" to mean two different, but related things.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Liberal Arts refers to a curriculum of study dating back to the Ancient Greeks. "Liberal" refers to free men, or leaders. A liberal arts education refers to a broad base of knowledge that today includes literature, the arts, science, math, and social sciences. The top universities (such as Harvard) and liberal arts colleges teach a liberal arts curriculum. The concept here is a broad based education rather than vocational training such as bricklaying, auto repair, or accounting.</p></li>
<li><p>The term also applies to small undergraduate colleges that do not have graduate school students or professional school students. Traditionally these colleges have always taught a liberal arts curriculum.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Harvey Mudd is a bit of an outlier. It is a very small specialized engineering and tech college -- CalTech without the PhD candidates.</p>
<p>Sorry, but just wondering what you mean by without the PhD candidates?</p>
<p>"For a 30-year period beginning in 1951, the following institutions had more than one-eighth of their graduates go on to receive the Ph.D.: </p>
<ol>
<li> Harvey Mudd College</li>
<li> California Institute of Technology"
<a href="http://www.amatecon.com/etext/cac/cac-ch03.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.amatecon.com/etext/cac/cac-ch03.html</a>
"Two-thirds of all Harvey Mudd students go on to graduate school. A recent study ranked Harvey Mudd College first in the nation in percentage of graduates (40.7%) earning the Ph.D."
Blurb</a> about Math Department
"More than 40 percent of Harvey Mudd alumni hold Ph.D.’s, the highest percentage among undergraduate colleges in the country."
FastWeb:</a> Harvey Mudd College</li>
</ol>
<p>So in terms of getting a PhD, doesn't it seem as though Mudd students are just as good candidates? The first link ranks it above CalTech in terms of percentage.</p>
<p>when he says PhD candidates I think he means that you cannot get a PhD at Harvey Mudd</p>
<p>Correct. There are no PhD or other graduate school programs at Harvey Mudd. Thus, there are bachelor of science candidates, but no PhD candidates -- although, very high percentages of Mudd graduates go on to get PhDs.</p>
<p>Ahh. Makes sense, grad students then. Apologies for my confusion.</p>
<p>how is harvey mudd's science program different from MITs?</p>
<p>Which area of science? You can see the differences in major requirements by going to the school web sites. Off the top of my head, some areas of difference are: The Core requirements; Mudd offers a very limited number of majors, albeit with a good deal of breadth within each one; smaller classes at Mudd; research opportunities are widely available at each, although MIT has the lead in "big science" type stuff available on campus . . . . Obviously, both great schools.</p>
<p>Big differences in the feel of the schools and the lifestyle. Son thought would be equally rigorous with lower grades at Mudd. He loves the lifestyle in SoCal and hasn't regretted choosing it over MIT. His HS classmate who chose MIT over Princeton hasn't regretted his choice either. </p>
<p>Majority of those admitted to both schools choose MIT, but son is far from alone in being a mudder who made the other decision. If you are fortunate enough to get into both schools, visit sometime other than during the organized "welcome" weekends and decide which one you like the most.</p>
<p>Mudders also have to take more humanities classes; 12 versus 8 - both on a semester system. This is consequence of Mudd's goal to create well-rounded engineers.</p>