Harvey Mudd College

General Information:

Mission
To capture a sense of the college’s mission and purpose, founding President Platt drafted a challenging mission statement in 1956 that continues to guide the HMC faculty, administration and students:

Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.

HMC Fast Facts
Character
Private, co-educational, non-sectarian, undergraduate only, engineering, science and mathematics college. HMC is a member of the Claremont University Consortium, a cluster of autonomous undergraduate and graduate institutions comprised of Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont Graduate University and Keck Graduate Institute for Applied Life Sciences.

Mission Statement
Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.

Rankings
The Princeton Review ranked HMC one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education in the 2010 edition of its annual guidebook, “The Best 371 Colleges.” Harvey Mudd College was the only college of math, science and engineering to make the Top 20 lists in two of the key academic categories: “Professors Get High Marks” (ranking 15th), and “Most Accessible Professors” (12th). HMC also made the Top 20 list in the category of “Students Study the Most” (18th). Learn more...

An August 2009 study of salaries of college graduates published by Payscale, Inc. revealed that HMC was ranked No. 2 in the category "Best Engineering Colleges by Salary Potential," with a starting median salary of $71,000 and a mid-career median salary of $125,000. MIT ranked only slightly higher with $71,100 and $126,000, respectively.The study was reviewed in the New York Times Economix blog. Learn more...

In its 2009 edition of "America's Best Colleges," U.S.News & World Report ranked Harvey Mudd College 14th among the nation's liberal arts colleges, second among undergraduate engineering programs and third by high school counselors who assessed liberal arts colleges offering the best education. Learn more...

HMC was named as one of 25 “cutting-edge schools with an eye to the future” by Kaplan Publishing in its 2008 college guidebook, “You Are Here: A Guide to Over 380 Colleges & Unlimited Paths to your Future.” The book is targeted at high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, and the parents of those students, who are beginning to think about where to apply to college. Learn more...

Harvey Mudd College was named one of 25 elite "New Ivies," according to the 2007 Kaplan/Newsweek "How to Get into College Guide." Along with Pomona College, also a member of the Claremont Colleges Consortium, HMC and the "New Ivies" were featured in a segment of NBC's Today Show. Learn more...

Location
In the city of Claremont—a suburban community 35 miles east of Los Angeles featuring sidewalk cafes, specialty shops, espresso bars, tree-lined streets, Victorian Homes and a population of 37,000. HMC is conveniently located 25 minutes from the nearest ski slope, 40 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, 45 minutes from the desert and less than an hour away from the Pacific beaches.

Degrees Offered
Bachelor of Science HMC also participates in four dual degree programs with other members of The Claremont Colleges. It offers a 3-2 program in economics and engineering in cooperation with Claremont McKenna College; a 3-2 program in engineering with Scripps College; 4+1 B.S. + M.B.A. with the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at the Claremont Graduate University; and a 4 + 1 B.S. + M.S.I.S. with the School of Information Systems and Technology at the Claremont Graduate University.

Curriculum and Majors
HMC's required curriculum is divided into four components: the Common Core, which provides the foundation for advanced study; the program in Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts, which completes the liberal arts nature of a Harvey Mudd College education by providing humanistic and social scientific perspectives; the Major, which builds depth and technical competence; and the Integrative Experience, which explicitly addresses the interface between society and science and technology.

Majors offered at HMC include: biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, independent study program, off-campus major and joint programs in chemistry and biology, computer science and mathematics, and mathematical biology.

Campus
Residential, with 99% of students living on campus. A complex of nine academic buildings anchor the west end of the 44.5-acre campus, while eight dormitories cluster around spacious quads on the "student end" of campus. The dining commons and campus center stand in the central area. The overall form of the college follows the initial building design by famed architect Edward Durrell Stone, whose work at HMC is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's "textile block" construction of the 1920s.

Faculty
Full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty (2009-2010): 82
Faculty with Ph.D.s or terminal degrees in their fields: 82

Two-thirds of HMC's classes have fewer than 20 students, and more than 80% of classes have fewer than 30 students. With a few rare exceptions, full-time faculty teach nearly every class on campus.

SAT Subject Test Scores* - Middle 50% Range
Math 2: 760-800

ACT Composite* - Middle 50% Range
32-35 (The highest score on the ACT is 36.)

* For the Class of 2013

Research
A broad range of opportunities is available for undergraduate research in the sciences--often conducted by professors in the various departments--and all students carry out research for at least one year.

Clinic
The Harvey Mudd College Clinic Program engages teams of juniors, seniors and faculty members in the solving of real world, technical problems for approximately 40 "Blue Chip" companies and a number of government agencies.

Tuition and Fees (2009-2010)
Tuition and student body fee: $38,467
Room and Board: $12,570

Financial Aid (2009-2010)
Harvey Mudd College's admission process is need blind for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Financial aid offers, which include scholarships, grants, loans and work study, are designed to meet the calculated financial aid need.

Percentage of students receiving financial aid: 83%
Range of financial aid awards: $125 - $47,350

Admissions Deadlines
Early Decision I: Applications due Nov. 15; reply date Dec. 15
Early Decision II: Applications due Jan. 2; reply date Feb. 15
Regular Decision: Applications due Jan. 2; reply date Apr. 1

Graduate Placement (Class of 2009)
Graduate or Professional School: 47% (73 students)
Workforce: 41% (64 students)
Other: 12% (18 students)
Average Starting Salary: $65,000 to $69,999

History
Harvey Mudd College (HMC), the nation's top liberal arts college of engineering, science and mathematics was chartered in December 1955. Two years later, in 1957, when the space race made technical education a priority in the United States, it opened its doors. The founders' vision—to attract the nation's brightest students and offer them a rigorous scientific and technological education coupled with a strong curricular emphasis in the humanities and social sciences—has been successfully realized and expanded upon. In 1963, the college initiated the nationally recognized Clinic Program, which allows student teams to solve problems posed by sponsoring industry, government and nonprofit organizations. The emphasis on undergraduate research for all students has led to HMC graduates earning Ph.D. degrees in science and engineering at one of the highest rates in the nation.

Small by choice, with 700 students and 80 faculty, HMC enjoys an excellent reputation, which has made the college one of the most selective in the country. Our students' educational experience provides them with the capacity to master the tough interdisciplinary problems they will encounter in science and industry. Harvey Mudd College graduates are scientists, engineers, astronauts and ambassadors, as well as teachers, artists and entrepreneurs. The impact our graduates have on an increasingly technological world is what drives HMC to continue evolving and innovating. With continued support from people who care about the education of the nation's future leaders, Harvey Mudd College looks forward to many more years of providing top-notch undergraduate engineering, science and mathematics education.

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