Harvey Mudd College facts for kids
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| Type | Private liberal arts college |
|---|---|
| Established | 1955 |
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Academic affiliations
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Claremont Colleges NAICU Oberlin Group Annapolis Group CLAC |
| Endowment | $319.7 million (2020) |
| Budget | $72 million (2019) |
| President | Harriet Nembhard |
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Academic staff
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130 (2021) |
| Undergraduates | 905 (2021) |
| Location |
,
U.S.
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| Campus | Suburban, 38 acres (15 ha) |
| Colors | Black & gold |
| Nickname | Stags (men) / Athenas (women) |
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Sporting affiliations
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NCAA Division III – SCIAC |
| Mascot | Official: Men's, Stag Women's, Athenas Unofficial: Wally the Wart |
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Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California. It focuses on science and engineering. HMC is part of the Claremont Colleges, a group of schools that share campus areas and resources. The college had 902 students in 2021. It offers a Bachelor of Science degree. Getting into Harvey Mudd is very competitive.
The college was started by the friends and family of Harvey Seeley Mudd. He was an early investor in the Cyprus Mines Corporation. Mr. Mudd helped plan the college, but he passed away before it opened in 1955. The campus was designed by Edward Durell Stone.
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History of Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College was founded in 1955. Classes officially began in 1957. The first class had 48 students and 7 teachers. They started with one building, Mildred E. Mudd Hall.
Early classes and meals took place at Claremont Men’s College. Labs were held in the Baxter Science Building. More buildings were added later. These included Jacobs Science Building (1959) and Thomas-Garett Hall (1961). By 1966, the college had grown to 283 students.
In 2006, Maria Klawe became the president. Under her leadership, Harvey Mudd became a strong supporter of women in STEM. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
On July 1, 2023, Harriet Nembhard became the sixth president of Harvey Mudd College.
Exploring the Harvey Mudd Campus
The first buildings on campus were finished in 1959. They were designed by Edward Durell Stone. These buildings have unique concrete squares. Students at Harvey Mudd call them "warts." They even use them to hang skateboards! The school's unofficial mascot is "Wally the Wart." He is a cartoon concrete wart.
In 2013, Travel and Leisure magazine called the college one of "America's ugliest college campuses." They noted that the design used "drab, slab-sided buildings."
Academic Buildings at HMC
Harvey Mudd College has several buildings for classes and labs. Their official names are:
- F.W. Olin Science Center ("Olin") - built in 1992
- Parsons Engineering Building ("Parsons") - built in 1972
- R. Michael Shanahan Center for Teaching and Learning ("Shan") - built in 2013
- Jacobs Science Center ("Jacobs") - built in 1959
- W.M. Keck Laboratories ("Keck")
- Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center ("Greg") - built in 2021
Harvey Mudd Dormitories
Harvey Mudd College has many dorms where students live. Here are their official names, listed by when they were built:
- Mildred E. Mudd Hall ("East") - 1957
- West Hall ("West") - 1958
- North Hall ("North") - 1959
- Marks Residence Hall ("South") - 1968
- J. L. Atwood Residence Hall ("Atwood") - 1981
- Case Residence Hall ("Case") - 1985
- Ronald and Maxine Linde Residence Hall ("Linde") - 1993
- Frederick and Susan Sontag Residence Hall ("Sontag") - 2004
- Wayne and Julie Drinkward Residence Hall ("Drinkward") - 2015
- Garrett House - became a dorm in 2023
The first four dorms (East, West, North, South) are called "the inner dorms." The newer ones (Atwood, Case, Linde, Sontag, Drinkward) are called "the outer dorms."
A funny story about the dorms: During the building of Case Dorm, some students played a prank. They moved all the survey stakes exactly six inches in one direction!
Each dorm has its own traditions and "personality." Any student can live in any dorm, no matter their year.
Academics and Learning at Harvey Mudd
HMC offers four-year degrees in many subjects. These include chemistry, mathematics, physics, computer science, biology, and engineering. Students can also choose special combined majors. For example, they can study computer science and mathematics together.
All HMC students must take a Common Core Curriculum. This usually happens during their first two years. It includes classes in computer science, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, and math. It also includes writing and social impact courses.
In 2023, the most popular majors for graduates were:
- Computer Science
- Engineering
- Computer Science & Mathematics
- Mathematics
How to Get into Harvey Mudd College
Getting into Harvey Mudd is very competitive. For the class of 2026, 4,440 students applied. Only 593 were accepted, which is about 13.4%.
Of the students who enrolled, most had very high test scores. The middle 50% of SAT scores were 760–790 in math. For reading and writing, scores were 720–770. The ACT Composite range was 34–36.
Harvey Mudd used to only accept SAT scores. But in 2007, they started accepting ACT scores too. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the college stopped requiring SAT or ACT scores for some years. This policy was extended for the classes of 2023 and 2024.
The college is "need-blind" for students from the U.S. This means they don't consider if a student needs financial help when deciding to admit them.
College Rankings
| USNWR Liberal Arts College | 29 |
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| Washington Monthly Liberal Arts | 5 |
| Forbes | 114 |
Washington Monthly ranked Harvey Mudd fifth among liberal arts colleges in 2020. This ranking looks at how colleges help society. Money magazine ranked Harvey Mudd 136th in its "Best Colleges For Your Money 2019" report.
In U.S. News & World Report's 2021 rankings, Harvey Mudd College was tied for 25th among U.S. liberal arts colleges. It was also ranked second among undergraduate engineering schools. Forbes rated it 23rd in its "America's Top Colleges" in 2019.
Tuition and College Costs
In 2021, the total yearly cost to attend Harvey Mudd was $82,236. This includes tuition, fees, and room and board. About 70% of new students receive financial aid to help pay for college.
Student Life at Harvey Mudd
Sports and Athletics
Students from Harvey Mudd play sports with students from Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College. Their combined teams are called the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas (CMS). They compete in NCAA Division III. The men's teams are called the Stags, and the women's teams are the Athenas. Their colors are cardinal and gold.
CMS teams do very well. In 2016-2017, CMS ranked 12th among all Division III programs.
The main rival for CMS is the team from Pomona College and Pitzer College. They are called the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (PP). This rivalry is known as the Sixth Street Rivalry.
Athletic Facilities
Here are some of the sports facilities at Harvey Mudd:
- Baseball — Bill Arce Field
- Basketball and Volleyball — Roberts Pavilion
- Football and Lacrosse — John Zinda Field
- Softball — Softball Field
- Soccer — John Pritzlaff Field
- Aquatics — Matt M. Axelrood Pool
- Tennis — Biszantz Family Tennis Center
- Track and Field — Burns Track Complex
Fun with Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is another university known for science and engineering. It is about 26 miles from Harvey Mudd. Students from Harvey Mudd sometimes play pranks on Caltech.
For example, in 1986, Mudd students stole a large memorial cannon from Caltech. They dressed as maintenance workers and took it away on a truck for "cleaning." The students returned the cannon later. In 2006, students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also moved the same cannon to their campus!
Notable Alumni of Harvey Mudd College
Many successful people have graduated from Harvey Mudd College. Here are a few:
- Donald D. Chamberlin (1966), who helped create SQL (a computer language)
- Richard H. Jones (1972), a diplomat and U.S. ambassador
- Stan Love (1987), an astronaut
- George "Pinky" Nelson (1972), an astronaut
- Sean "Day9" Plott, a famous esports commentator and game designer
- Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech
See also
- Association of Independent Technological Universities
