<p>i wouldn't say they're ALL nerdy. there is certainly a larger percentage of nerds / ugly girls at mudd, compared to the average college. however, there are a lot of cool and normal people (i'd say the majority is "normal"!) the people i stayed with and met while i visited were cool, not nerds!</p>
<p>if anyone reading is a prospective student, visit for yourself and see what you think. i personally think rpproductions1987 is making it sound worse than it is</p>
<p>i am just giving the honest truth............it's true...(this was a RECENT VISIT)
I am not putting down Harvey Mudd( as i mentioned previously i am even applying there), but realistically prolly 60/70% of the people are "nerdy" and the rest are "normal".......they're all very talented....but some just a little quirkier than others.....</p>
<p>like the previous poster said: visit it . u be the judge (i am not exaggerating i believe)......
Mudd is still great though......but it has alot of the people i described b4( and i don't "hate" nerds or anything.......but it is weird to have that many)</p>
<p>i hope you get your perceptions of mudd straightened out before you come here. i wouldnt want someone with such a negative outlook of fellow classmates at my school. yes, there are nerdy people, but thats part of the school's charm. and no, we are not all nerdy. and we are not all ugly. or weird. get over it. i dont know who you sat with or talked to, but none of my friends are ugly freaks. you dont need to seek people outside of mudd to find normalcy.</p>
<p>ive been disappointed with this board so far; i thought i'd be answering questions of prospective students, but instead it seems ive just been defending my normalcy, which is starting to get old. let's change things up a bit now, ok?</p>
<p>any QUESTIONS out there?</p>
<p>I think all the prospies are already getting most of their questions answered, just by reading the interesting debate that is transpiring on this thread. </p>
<p>One thing we all agree on is that any prospective students out there should VISIT-- this applies to HMC as well as any other school you are thinking about. And althought radioactivepb may disagree, I feel that visiting is especially important for prospective Mudders, because Mudd is a very unique environment.</p>
<p>I love the Honnold Library...... awesomeness!!!!
You have to be comfortable with "nerds" if you will be applying to Mudd. They will own you!
and wut is the definition of nerd? do u just consider it to be a person who is dedicated? if so, i would like to say that i envy them for their dedication to their studies</p>
<p>I visted Harvey Mudd, and I can testify that there were normal people there. I didn't see any preppy kids, though.</p>
<p>I have a couple of questions!</p>
<p>How hard is it to get to LA for some Sunday shopping sprees?</p>
<p>Are there restaurants, malls, shows, and just some fun stuff to do in Claremont?
Certainly, there are enough to do on campus, outside of school work of course, but what about on the outside?</p>
<p>To current mudders,
Would you say that school work, in general, is more to keep students busy or requires innovation and stimulates creative thought?</p>
<p>Is it true that graduate schools understand HMC students' incredibly low GPA?</p>
<p>getting to LA shouldn't be too difficult, as long as you're actually motivated to do it and have the means (i.e. a car). im sure you could get there by train or bus or something, but it would definitely be easiest with a car. i have a car, but i try to avoid LA. i have gone to irvine and pasadena a couple times, though. </p>
<p>claremont is really a pretty small town. there's a mall not far from campus, though, which is decent (which means its better than my crappy hometown mall) and theres a huge one about a 20 min drive down the freeway in ontario. ive heard the one in ontario is one of the biggest in the state. with 2 movie theaters, its believable. other than that.. well, recently ive been wanting to get out more and not really had any clue where to go, but i guess i should probably talk to the upperclassmen before i say that there's NOTHING.</p>
<p>the work is definitely not just busy work. the concepts are difficult, and the work they assign is designed to help you understand them better. you find yourself wanting the busy work sometimes (or at least i do) simply because at least i know how to do it! </p>
<p>and i've heard that the graduate schools are sympathetic, but from the upperclassmen ive talked to/heard snippets of conversation from, it seems like that's not entirely true. im sure they understand to a certain degree, but they have to draw the line somewhere. someone from stanford with a 3.8 is gonna look better than someone from mudd with a 2.8.. even if they're equally qualified (which there really is no way to test). </p>
<p>one thing about mudd though.. if you make it out of here alive, you can guarantee you're gonna know so much more about everything than anyone you know, and anywhere you go after here will be really easy in comparison.</p>
<p>So if my intended major is not Math/Sci, I should consider applying to other schools? Like claremont mckenna?</p>
<p>if you don't want to major in math, science, or engineering, mudd is not for you. they only offer majors in math, bio, chem, phys, eng, and comp sci (as well as a few joint programs between those majors).</p>
<p>if you like the area, claremont mckenna and pomona are great schools for almost any subject.</p>
<p>Irene "* feel that visiting is especially important for prospective Mudders, because Mudd is a very unique environment."</p>
<p>Since I'm from New England I can't visit. What did you mean when you said unique atmosphere?</p>
<p>To some extent, the stereotypes are correct. The focus of the school is squarily upn eng, math and science. That's the school. The people that attend know they won't change thier major. The school is also very hard, so social skills and appearance are not the most important thing. As stated before, 1/3 of the school were validictorians of thier highschool and the rest were close. Not to scare you away, but it is not a school to choose without a strong direction. It is not a school to choose if you struggled to get good grades in hs. The environment is supportive, productive, and intense. That type of student often fits the mold of nerdy. That being said, some of the coolest people, and easily the most brilliant people I have met in my life were at Mudd (one of 4's was in my class).<br>
While some people are limited, there are plenty of people that are more culturally complex, smart enough for mudd, good at sports, music, theater, etc... It is easy to cultivate relationships with people from the other colleges so being isolated with nerds is not an issue. The issue is your desire for intensive, focused, ardous study in the limited field of majors. </p>
<p>And in terms of transfer, 4 people transfered to pomona when I was at Mudd, but they all had decent grades. I dont think it would really be a problem.</p>
<p>Hi this is a post mainly to people who actually go to Harvey Mudd. I saw Harvey Mudd last year when i was a sophmore and as soon as i finished the tour and stayed for the general chem class i have just felt like harvey mudd is the place for me (and i definitely am not ugly and i love dressing up i wear dresses and skirts all the time). It is so amazing i heard about amazing party ideas and nerf gun fights in the underground buildings and i just love the closely knit community and the unicycles and the skateboards and honor code. Also i have wanted to be a scientist since i was 3 and i have never changed my mind. However my grade point average for each major subject is only about an 87 however the science is higher than that after my next grades go in the transcript. Additionally i’m not sure if i can get my sat score up to par. Do you think i still have a chance of getting in? Do you know anyone who has not had outstanding grades and gotten in?</p>
<p>I guarantee you there are cool people with normal interests who go to Mudd. I also guarantee there are cool people with completely not normal interests who go there.</p>
<p>It’s very likely going to be a school with lots of nerds. Why apply to a full on math/science/engineering program that is very tough if one doesn’t want that at all? Apply to a regular private school (Ivy League) or a large state school.</p>
<p>It puzzles me why there is this concern about how normal the kids are at Mudd - they’re not going out to select people based on how normal they are, but rather based on what sort of academics they enjoy, and of course other things that could be relevant to what they contribute.</p>
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<p>These sorts of people get automatically noticed more, because they fit an easy stereotype. Are you sure you are equitably trying to notice all the other sorts of people who go there? I’m sure they’re nerds in some sense, but it needn’t have anything to do with unicycles or video games.</p>
<p>I was never a Mudd student, but for what it’s worth, I don’t play any of those video games, and I adore literature/philosophy, along with leaving my computer to go try various places for food. I definitely spend a large percentage of my time on something academic, but so do people at many schools. Would I not fit in?</p>
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<p>OK, this is more reasonable. The one thing I have to add, though, is what happens if you go to another school where math/science/engineering are well-represented? You’ll run into plenty of that typical “geek” culture in those departments. Can you find other kinds of people at those schools? Sure. But sometimes, like you said, you’d be more likely to do so only by going outside of the math/science/engineering community. And perhaps this isn’t so different from being at Mudd and socializing with other colleges in the area.</p>
<p>I also have a hard time believing that there aren’t tons of different kinds of nerds at a school that specifically is meant to attract nerds.</p>
<p>One other related comment: it is my experience that the math/science/engineering fields have more of a concept of building lots of machinery on top of itself. So if you don’t go to a school with a ton of whatever one of those fields you want to go into, you’ll be at a huge disadvantage. I believe it is more possible for a liberal arts student to pull off not having to specialize early on. For one thing, a huge percentage of engineers get jobs straight out of college. And as for math and physics, there are few fields which build straight on top of themselves as surely as these. I am unsure about biology and chemistry.</p>
<p>There’s been a surprising amount of misinformation and vague non-information (@interesteddad) on this thread. To answer some of the questions posed at the beginning:</p>
<p>Off-campus major: Yes, but you still have to complete math/science common core (~40 credits that dominates your first 3 semesters) plus complete an on-campus minor (~5 classes). So really not your best bet to come to Mudd unless you know you like science.</p>
<p>Transferring into Mudd: Statements like “Pomona and CMC could transfer into Mudd easy” are ridiculous. The college has accepted few transfer students in recent years due to a housing crunch. CMC and Scripps have 3-2 programs with Mudd that involve a BA over 3 years and then a BS in Engineering at Mudd for the last 2 years. Transfer under this program requires completion of a decent number of Mudd classes with good grades during the first 3 years at Scripps/CMC. This might be a thing for Pomona too, but I haven’t heard of any Pomona people doing it. If you’re interested in the 3-2 program, make sure you ask about the Scripps/CMC Joint AISS program.</p>
<p>Social Life: I think Irene’s statements sound like a pretty reasonable description of Mudd in 2003. But since then, the portion of women has risen to 43%, which has attenuated the “nerd city” atmosphere. Mudders take pride in being nerds when it comes to being passionate about coursework, math, science, hobbies, and other obscure interests. If that isn’t you, Mudd’s probably not the best place for you. But few take pride in being “nerdy” in a socially awkward way. There’s a broad range of personalities and interests over the dorms… something you won’t understand unless you visit overnight.</p>
<p>Mudd vs Pomona:</p>
<p>Mudd and Pomona have a joint CS department, which means that most upper div classes are offered at either one college or the other in a given semester. Needless to say, there’s parity, though Mudd’s introductory courses are probably taught better. </p>
<p>Mudd and Pomona also do a joint math program, though the math departments aren’t as intertwined as the CS departments. Mudd definitely has a broader range of upper-division math electives. As a Pomona student, you’d likely take a good number of upper-divs at Mudd.</p>
<p>For engineering, physics and chemistry, Mudd is far superior. Pomona’s chem department is dominated by pre-Meds. Enough said. (Though if you are a pre-Med, you’re probably better off at Pomona). Pomona doesn’t have engineering courses, and their physics offerings are limited compared to Mudd.</p>
<p>For Bio, Pomona has a very strong department, which has more resources than Mudd’s does. I have not taken any Pomona or Mudd Bio classes beyond 1 required core course at Mudd, so I can’t offer much more insight. But Pomona Bio definitely has a much higher proportion of pre-Meds than Mudd does… </p>
<p>On registration, all the Claremont colleges register at the same time, and for the majority of courses, students from all 5Cs have equal priority. There’s some exceptions like the CMC and Pomona econ departments, but these don’t really affect math/science courses.</p>
<p>So really, your decision would be based on 1) Do I like math and science enough to enjoy Mudd’s broad core? 2) Do I like the people better at Mudd or Pomona? You’ll learn this from an overnight stay.</p>
<p>I’m about to enter my senior year in high school and I’m wondering if some current Mudd students or recent-ish alumni could give me a good idea of my chances of surviving Mudd…
I am fascinated by sciences and all the engineering I’ve been exposed to, though math is not entirely enjoyable to me. I can indeed do it and have gotten A’s in it on through my pre-calc class last year, but it is fairly rare for me to find anything particularly interesting in it, so I’m not sure if having two of Mudd’s main focuses and so far having the ability to handle the other would make me a decent match for enjoying Mudd.
In addition, I am not sure if I am at such a level that I would be able to handle the course work. In the SAT, I got a 670 in both reading and math, so I obviously would be in the lower half for SAT scores in Mudd, though I got a 31 on the ACT, which included a 35 in math and a 28 in science, so does anyone know how those would compare to typical Mudd students and are there any Mudd students with similar SAT scores who seem to be doing fine?
Thanks.</p>
<p>To ZonaMinion:</p>
<p>I’m entering my third year at Mudd. You said you do not particularly enjoy math… Mudd students are required to take 3 semesters of core math, so if you strongly dislike it keep that in mind. The way the core is structured, most of the math is needed for engineering courses, though. The more advanced math courses that other science majors won’t need are not required. So, if you are truly fascinated by sciences and engineering and plan on majoring in any of the subjects Mudd offers, don’t let the math keep you from checking out HMC.</p>
<p>As for your concern about handling the coursework, I feel like I can answer you pretty well. My SAT scores weren’t great, either (660 in reading/writing, 720 in math), and I am definitely in the lower half. I knew going into college that I would be less prepared than most students. You will most likely be able to handle the coursework, but you need to be willing to put in the effort. If you’re up for going to your professors’ office hours weekly, they will schedule a time with you. I visited with a physics professor last year every Friday for half an hour – just me and the professor. Not to mention all core classes have student tutoring hours usually offered twice a week. Homework will take a lot of time (it does for almost everyone, anyway).</p>
<p>So, in short, as long as you take your courses seriously and put in the time/effort, Mudd will be a good fit (and, you’ll even have some time to enjoy it, too).</p>
<p>good thread. thanks for so much information~</p>
<p>As a mudd alum, I have to agree with meg - put in the effort and go to tutoring hours and you’ll be fine. I sometimes wish I had had a harder time in high school, since it was such a breeze that Mudd felt like a hard smack in the face! You definitely have to put forward the effort to study if you want to do well.</p>