Harvey Mudd Mathematics Major

Have you ever seen "Real Genius" with Val Kilmer? Yeah.

Yes and No. Mudders are far more well-rounded, a bit less crazy, but just as smart.

Their are no graduate students! So all the professors' attention is on you! You will have the opportunity to do research with them and independent studies and hang out in their offices. As a Home Schooled student, I was used to a very close relationships with my instructors so this school was perfect. There are some larger lectures, especially for the core courses, but then you have recitation sections that consist of about 12 students each and a professor. Classes get smaller, of course, as you take more upper-division courses. You don't
have to declare your major until Fall semester sophomore year (and
even then it can be flexible). I started out as an engineer, but
decided to declare mathematics after taking some classes and talking
with engineering students and professors.

The students admitted to Harvey Mudd are very well rounded. They have many
extracurricular, and social accomplishments. Many scored higher on the
verbal and writing sections of the SAT/ACT than the math. Everyone has
several other hobbies
(http://www.hmc.edu/studentlife1/activities1/studentorgs.h tml). It is
part of the Claremont Colleges Consortium so you can stick to the
small 800-student school or branch out to any of the other four
campuses and take courses and socialize on a large scale. Many people
choose to go to Pomona College, for instance, over Harvard or
Princeton. So there are some very politically and philosophically
savvy people to get to know.

I really like that we can take courses off campus. We have a lot of humanities requirements and I really wanted to take Chinese. I was able to do that at Pomona
college...I also took ballroom dance there and was able to make their
campus team after only two semesters. They have a tour team that has
one the National Ballroom competition in Ohio for five years running.
Claremont is a really cute town. HMC's campus landscaping and
architecture is a little raw, but Scripps campus right across the
street wins awards every year for its beauty.The dorm situation is
really nice. There is a fit for the rowdy, the quite, the stoners, the
alcoholics, the computer nerds...and everybody pretty much knows
everybody else. There is a dinning hall on campus, but you can also
eat at any of the other 6 dinning halls on the Claremont colleges. I
have no complaints about the food...other than that I miss my mom's
cooking. When there is time to get off campus you can take the metro
into LA. Many people have cars on campus and are willing to drive you
places. I don't have a car and I have never needed one. People are
usually pretty generous with their vehicles. I have gone flying,
sailing, surfing, climbing, dancing...there are plenty of activities
if you can make the time.

Downsides...I am probably not the person to ask. I couldn't imagine
myself anywhere else. I know all my professors. If you want something
you can usually make it happen. I suppose one downside is that I
haven't had time to do theater, first semester I was getting four
hours of sleep a night, and you really don't have very much free time.
Mudders usually say there are three things: study, sleep, and social
life...you can choose two. Also, you are probably a genius, but one
downside for me is always just barely being average. Think about it.
Harvey mudd is a school chalk full of national merit scholars,
students in the top 10% of their graduating class, 1600 SAT scores (or
whatever the highest is with the new one...2400?), and do you know
what that means for a school with no grade inflation?? That means I am
average! Just average... 3.0. It kind of sucks and is discouraging for
me. If you are used to being the best at everything, this place will
not feed your ego, or at least it doesn't for me. Now I also have it
on good authority that if you want a college experience filled with
lazy afternoons, a chance to spend lots of time in creative pursuits,
and never feel like you have tons of work hanging over your head, then
run away from Mudd as fast as you can! Only come here if you want to
learn, and learn for all your worth! You will have time for
relaxation, to be sure, but it is quite minimal, and you will always
feel like there is something else you should be doing (unless you are
very good at compartmentalization.) It pains me to say this, but I
want to be honest with you.