What does this mean?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
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<p>Ok so I am just going to vent this because it is driving me nuts. </p>

<p>Ok Me</p>

<p>SAT: M-690 CR-600 W-720
SAT II: Chem-640 M IIC-690 French-510
ACT-29
AP
3-chem
4-US history, Micro econ
5-Calc AB
Senior year taking AP Stats, literature, and World History.
I have litterally taken ALL AP classes offered, plus micro econ was an online class.</p>

<p>GPA-3.97 UW ?-W
class rank 2/325</p>

<p>AND I just got a huge faty acceptance letter from Harvey Mudd Today. Yeah I know, you go, how in the world did that happen with her awful test scores. Well, OK, I do have a pretty long EC list, and all of the info looked pretty impressive when explained well on the application, but no national or state awards, no research at universities or anything like that. I did have an interview here. My problem is that I think I would prefer Pomona or CMC to Harvey Mudd, but I'm not accepted yet (and I was unable to interview at those places). I feel like I'm at more of a disadvantage there because all of the applicants have the long ec lists there, as opposed to mudd which probably liked me because they get alot of full on only math science people. UH, I don't know. YOu totally don't have to respond to this to tell me to calm down because I know thats what people would tell me. I would just like to explain this matter and maybe you can just tell me what you think.</p>

<p>thanks! have a good day tomorrow!!!!! yay for tuesday! ok-I'm pretty charismatic</p>

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<p>Your test scores are not that bad honestly, you did about as well as I did in CR, better in writing. Your SAT2s are another story. However, SATs are not the only important part of what you have to offer. As you mentioned you have a strong EC list, which can honestly overshoot any standardized testing score if they are good enough. You have taken the hardest curriculum your school has to offer, which is important, and even gotten nearly straight As in that curriculum, shooting your ass up to rank #2. </p>

<p>Being female does not hurt either.</p>

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<p>In fact Harvey mudd kinda gives the vibe that they REALLY want some girls there, to help promote diversity in the sciences...</p>

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<p>I find this whole issue of "less qualified girls" will get accepted idea very offensive and I certainly hope that is NOT the reason this person was accepted. My D got in ED. 2230 SAT, no SAT or SAT II's below 700, most mid to high 700. All 5's on ap's including calc bc. Very interesting unique EC's. Great interviewer. NMF. </p>

<p>I don't think her sex is what got in. I assumed she would be in the mid to low mid of the applicant pool grade wise.</p>

<p>OP's tests scores are very low from what I thought I know about HMC. my D got over 600 in verbal in 8th grade!</p>

<p>Perhaps HMC is tring to encourage more apps by accepting a few people with low test scores, ala the major Ivy's.</p>

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<p>Stats only say so much, too. She could have had excellent essays and teacher recommendations. The interview probably went very well. </p>

<p>I put very little stock in test scores. I got a 1360 on the old SAT my freshman year, even after taking a six-week prep course. I didn't even know what was on the PSAT until I took it and got a 232. I studied (though admittedly very little) for the SAT and got a 2250. After that, I pretty much gave up figuring out the logic of the SAT as a bad job and submitted my one set of new SAT scores. I don't regret it, either. CollegeBoard got enough of my money and effort as it was.</p>

<p>In conclusion, I wish 2much2do the best of luck. HMC obviously saw something in her.</p>

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<p>The young women I know of who were accepted are MORE than qualified! They'll be kicking butts and taking names <em>wherever</em> they choose to attend... :)</p>

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<p>it is a bit difficult to describe my feelings about the diversity issue without sounding sexist or whatnot. but i'll try:</p>

<p>i think mudd's admissions is a bit screwed up now-a-days. although it'd be nice to increase the number of girls at mudd, accepting close to 50% of them does not do anyone favors... not even those that got accepted.</p>

<p>it is a known fact that within the first year many of those who were given a boost because of their sex or background drop out or are asked not to come back. i honestly believe that both sexes are equally smart and capable but that does not mean that these particular accepted people are equally capable.</p>

<p>my girlfriend, a strong member of the feminist movement, has explained similar enigmas to me. while feminism is about equality for both sexes, giving an advantage to one sex because they are that sex is not a good way to achieve equilibrium.</p>

<p>in the future, mudd should have more females. i think, however, that the low number of girls in technology is a societal factor. hopefully this will change with time, as it has been in the last 20 years. mudd, however, is trying to induce this change by admitting some under-qualified individuals, hoping that they can pull through and rise to the top. sometimes this is the case, but for those who try and fail the mudd experience can be a horrific one.</p>

<p>do i find it fair that the acceptance rate for male applicants is 17% while for females it is 48%? no. absolutely not. we put too many qualified people on the waitlist because we feel the need to induce diversity. in actuality, they only effective means for diversity is when old social standards are dissolved and everyone is put on a level playing field. i think mudd, of all institutions should know this.</p>

<p>so yes, i am very disappointed with some things with mudd. for all of you who think i am only "rah rah mudd" think again. </p>

<p>now, as for the OP, i do not know your specifics so i cannot say whether you are a pity-admit or a truly remarkable person that just isn't good at taking tests. so, please don't take offense to this post.</p>

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<p>As a mother of a daughter (and two son's) I completely agree with you Rocket DA. Actually most females are just plain not interested in math and science. It's a simple as that. Oh well. What is unfortunate is that if females are given a boost just based on their sex, then all females at Mudd will be "eyed" this way by the people there. It really isn't doing very smart and very interested in science girls (my D wants to do comp sci which apparently is a field eschewed by other females these days for some reason) to admit unqualified girls.</p>

<p>As I said, I hope the above OP was not admited because she is a girl. I know a great boy at my D's school who has almost as good of a CV as D does, who is clearly a math genius and was wait listed. He did admit that he didn't put much effort into his Mudd essays so perhaps that's what worked against him.</p>

<p>MIT has similar stats. I had hoped for better from Mudd.</p>

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<p>Actually, I hear very often that high acceptance rates for females to tech schools are mostly because the applicant pool is extremely self-selected: only girls who are CERTAIN that they want to study math/science and believe themselves capable of doing so apply.
While given HMC's 88% acceptance rate of females in Fall 2005 (no kidding - check out <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/index.aspx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/index.aspx&lt;/a> ), this probably doesn't account for everything, it might account for some.</p>

<p>Congratulations on being accepted. : ) If you would prefer Pomona or CMC, probably best wait for their decisions and then see. ; )</p>

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<p>That is actually quite true. I know for sure that most of the girls in my class are WAY smarter than me. :-)</p>

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<p>bummer...my SAT scores aren't nearly as high as the averages given on the HMC website (math 2c score is 720, SAT total is 2030, ranked 13/435 students and only a couple guys above me xD) and I'm pretty scared to be an engineering major. Not that I don't like physics or math, rather I'm pretty interested in my AP Calculus class right now, but I just don't know if I can keep up. I have the option of going to Berkeley, which I think will be easier for me because I'm in the College of Natural Resources as opposed to Engineering, Chemistry or Letters and Science. How do I know if I really am qualified for HMC, or if I'll be a potential dropout because of the sex boost? Is there a way to "test out" the HMC workload or any comparison to make?</p>

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<p>Just... just don't go to Berkeley. Please. Do yourself a favor.
I'm pretty sure if you were accepted, they think you're qualified. : )</p>

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<p>"How do I know if I really am qualified for HMC, or if I'll be a potential dropout because of the sex boost? Is there a way to "test out" the HMC workload or any comparison to make?"</p>

<p>The fact that you were accepted means that you certainly have the potential to succeed at HMC. Granted, you might have to work harder in order to match other students, it is definitely possible. </p>

<p>As for "testing" out the work load at HMC, your first semester will be Pass/Fail, giving you a large amount of time to determine you capabilities with your courseload, as well as how you will manage it. As for testing it out accurately before then, I am not sure there is any other way. You could, however, use something like Facebook to find a female at Mudd that shared the same hesitation that you do.</p>

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<p>I wonder if getting a female president from Princeton has anything to do with it. I have read a number of RocketDA threads...and you are very consistent and originally very reluctant to talk about your disappointment with the direction with HMC. I am hispanic and my son was accepted there. He is captain of the swimming team, plays horn for a youth symphony, SAT M790, W760 V700 and so on. I believe he is qualified to be at Mudd....but to admit minorites on the basis of they are minorities is simply wrong. A number drop out because they were given preferential treatment. I saw that when I was in medical school at UCSF 25 years ago.<br>
I hope Mudd doesn't become another make me feel good eastern establishment...in the end if the quality goest down, employers will pick up on it and everyone will suffer.</p>

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<p>"Actually most females are just plain not interested in math and science. It's a simple as that."</p>

<p>^ It's nowhere near as simple as that. You may or may not save your point by tagging "by age 18" on to the end, but I'd hardly call your generalization the state of nature.</p>

<p>"In conclusion, I wish 2much2do the best of luck. HMC obviously saw something in her."</p>

<p>^ As far as this particular thread goes, this is the only point that matters. Quite frankly, nothing else is our business. If you want to speak generally, fine, but some of the points being directed toward the OP are both unnecessary and hurtful (in phraseology, if not content, since I realize that she did ask for explanations). </p>

<p>And as for all this "I expected better from HMC" stuff floating around, Mudd is a school full of intelligent students, and it's not run by dummies, either. They're not going to set anyone up to fail, and they're not going to intentionally devalue the worth of the school's degree or the quality of its educational offerings. I'm neither defending nor objecting to Mudd's admissions practices, nor am I guessing how the OP herself will fit in to the school. I am, however, willing to say that HMC administrators probably know better than we do about what they're doing. Yes, it should be up for questioning and debating, but I'm unimpressed with some of the presumption here.</p>

<p>To the OP, congrats, and good luck on your decision.</p>

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<p>"Actually most females are just plain not interested in math and science. It's a simple as that."
Unfortunately, I agree that females, in general, have less of a tendency to go into the science. All the data in the world can prove this. However, at this point we cannot prove if females are innately less interested in the sciences or not. I'd like to believe that box sexes are equal.... I mean, there are a few pysiological differences in the brain.... but it is like substituting processor speed for random access memory - their are multiple ways of achieving high performance.</p>

<p>I, myself, have a medium processor, medium/low ram (DDR3 though), a huge harddrive, the best GPU on the market, and ridiculous peripherals. I'm not good at multitasking or test taking, yet, I can learn many things, processes them, store them, access them and get creative. Unfortunately, due to my low ram (but large VM size) I crash a lot and don't like doing the same thing for very long.</p>

<p>The OP may have an ultrafast processor, lots of ram, a small HD, an okay GPU and okay peripherals. Although she is better at different things, one is not a better candidate necessarily for HMC. If she had bluetooth though, man that'd be awsome because that'd mean she can read minds. HMC would like that.</p>

<p>Anyways, the likely cause that females may not go into the sciences as often are sociological factors. Girls are often objectified and driven to "be hot" as society tells them. Many probably feel that this is the only way to gain acceptance. Unfortunately, it leaves us with less of a pool of female mind-power to tap at HMC. The female potential exists in the world.... it is just many girls shy away and never develop it.</p>

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<p>^ More clearly stated than my I-don't-want-to-open-this-can-of-worms-but-the-point-should-still-be-made version (gotta keep the Scripps stereotypes alive, here) ;)</p>

<p>And as always, I appreciate the analogies...lol</p>

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<p>"If she had bluetooth though, man that'd be awsome because that'd mean she can read minds. HMC would like that."</p>

<p>Or it means she incessantly talks to herself. </p>

<p>Anyways, rocket, what makes your particular hardware composition more suited for the sciences than the humanities?</p>

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<p>"Anyways, rocket, what makes your particular hardware composition more suited for the sciences than the humanities?"</p>

<p>Nothing. My software makes me more suited for the sciences :)</p>