Harvey
Mudd can be a mixed blessing in one's post college
search. Positive, because Mudd's top rate technical preparation is
as good as any program you can find in the
united states (in some instances, strictly better). And, especially
in much of academia, this is commonly known (indeed, it
is possible to say that at some institutions Mudd's reputation
is perhaps better than it should be). This has
certainly been my experience in graduate school, and seems to
be that of my peers as well. Additionally, I find
that the preparation I received in my field (mathematics) has
prepared me to jump into graduate education, competing with the
top levels of my institution, unlike many who came from
other undergraduates and are now struggling to fill in holes
in their education (this is particularly true of many american
students). My understanding is that this is also the
graduate experience of the other majors offered at mudd (save
engineering, which I'll leave to someone else to comment on).
The one thing that makes HMC such a challenging amount
of work is, oddly enough, the student body itself.
If I was told one thing upon entering HMC it
would be that the you can determine, to a large
extent, the amount of work you want to do to
succeed. I took way too many classes and spread
myself a bit too thin many times because I felt
that that was what I was supposed to do.
You can't learn everything, and there's some advantage in doing
fewer things well than many things moderately.
The other thing
I wish I had done during my college tenure was
study abroad. At a school such as HMC, study
abroad is a greater challenge than at most places, and
early planning is key if you want to study abroad
and still graduate on time (and trust me, at the
prices this college charges you want to graduate on time).
As to what H.S. students should do to prepare for
Harvey Mudd College....Well, if you have done your research and
still want to go to Harvey Mudd College, chances are
you're the kind of person who has probably done the
right things anyway. That said, preparation for HMC is
like that for any other highly selective college. Challenge
yourself academically as much as possible, and pursue extracurricular activities
which interest you. It doesn't matter so much what
you do, be it sports/debate/writing computer programs/job, so much as
you pursue it enthusiastically and as best as you can.
As a practical matter, I also recommend interviewing if at
all possible (phone or in person). This is often
a good way for the admissions staff to see if
you have the personality to fit in at mudd, and
it can probably only help your application. Of course,
if you can visit, you should do that as well,
talk to students, and try to get a feel for
the culture.
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