ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ

You are free to answer any admission and financial aid questions that you feel comfortable answering, but know that you are not expected to tackle all the questions that come your way. You can always recommend families get in touch with the Office of Admission and Financial Aid to get answers to their more specific questions.

Are you a liberal arts college or a ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ institution?

• In our minds, they are not mutually exclusive, and we believe that both of these pieces of our identity are important. In fact, it’s our role as a liberal arts college of science, math and engineering that makes us so rare among US higher education options. 
• Liberal arts does not mean that the education is either liberal or focused on the arts. Instead, a liberal arts education means that students study broadly across disciplines and learn how to think critically, solve problems and communicate effectively. 

Why is ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ so expensive?

A ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ education is expensive, but we think it’s worth it. This is why we are committed to helping students and their families determine how to make this amazing education an affordable one.

Quick points

• The average Cost of Attendance (COA), or our sticker price, isn’t what most families pay.
  • We meet 100% of demonstrated financial need for admitted students and typically more than 70% of current students receive financial aid.
  • We are need-blind in our admission process for all U.S. citizens and permanent residents. This means we do not consider a student’sÌýfinancial need when making our admission decisions.
  • We are one of a handful of institutions in the United States that is both need-blind and meets 100% of demonstrated need.
  • The average financial aid award is $47,812 (combination of grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study), of which about $38,059 (includes need-based and merit-based awards) comes in grants and scholarships aid from ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ (not from government sources).
  • We are one of the few schools of our selectivity that also offers merit scholarships.
• It is very expensive to provide an education where most of the classes and faculty are in the ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ fields.
  • ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ faculty require greater start-up costs.
  • Labs cost a great deal to maintain and keep up to date.
  • For several of our faculty, we are competing with industry salaries.
• We are a young college with a small (but growing!) alumni base.
  • This year, HMC will celebrate its 70th anniversary!Ìý
  • For most of our history, we were considerably smaller than the 921 students we have now, and therefore our alumni base is small and relatively young.

Our alumni outcomes help justify our high cost

• For the past several years, Payscale.com has rated HMC as the of any college or university in the United States.ÌýOur alums also have among the highest mid-career salaries.
• The median starting salary for a 2025 graduate is $124,999.
• HMC is always near the top of the list of liberal arts colleges with the highest % of alums going on to get their PhD’s.
• Approximately 87% of students will graduate in 4 years and more than 90% in 5-6 years.
  • If a student doesn’t graduate from HMC in 4 years, it will be due to choices they made rather than not getting into classes they need. 

Is HMC ACT/SAT optional?

• Harvey Mudd has been test optional for four years and will extend the test optional pilot to include students applying in Fall 2025 for entry in Fall 2026.

What are your majors?

HMC offers 14 majors:Ìý

• Biology 
• Chemistry
• Computer Science 
• Engineering 
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Joint major in Biology and Climate – New!
• Joint major in Chemistry and Biology 
• Joint major in Chemistry and Climate – New!
• Joint major in Computer Science and Climate – New!
• Joint major in Computer Science and Math
• Joint major in Computer Science and Physics
• Joint major in Mathematical and Computational Biology 
• Joint major in Mathematics and Physics

Also available:

• Individual Program of Study (IPS) – Self-designed major
• Off-Campus Major – Major at another Claremont College in something not offered at HMC and in that case do a minor at HMC
• Double major in two areas at HMC
• Double major in something at HMC and something at another Claremont College

Note:  Unlike most liberal arts colleges, it is uncommon for students to do a double major or the IPS or Off-Campus Major options. Many of our joint majors have come about after the faculty noted an interest in students double majoring in these areas and so have streamlined this as an option.

Why does Harvey Mudd only offer a general engineering major?

ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ believes that its broad engineering program is most likely to produce engineers capable of adapting a changing technology to expanding human needs. Within this context, an engineering major may choose to emphasize a particular engineering specialty by choosing appropriate elective courses and Engineering Clinic projects.

Can I still specialize in an area of engineering?

Yes. Through the elective courses and your Clinic project, you can focus on a specific area within engineering. It is also possible to take courses above and beyond the requirements for graduation.

Additionally, our Engineering Department offers six fellowships that emphasize hands-on experiential learning in an educational environment. These fellowships focus on electrical engineering, civil engineering, bioengineering, engineering professional practice, applied mechanics, and engineering management.

Can I declare a minor?

No. Harvey Mudd does not have traditional minors. A minor is available only to students electing an off-campus major in lieu of a regular Harvey Mudd major.

Instead, all students are required to declare a concentration (just short of a minor) in some area of humanities, social sciences, and the arts. These courses will be taken both at HMC and at the other Claremont Colleges. 

Do you offer a pre-med program?

Yes!  For the right pre-med students, HMC can provide excellent preparation for medical school. Who are the right students? The best way to think about it is that prospective pre-med students need to be excited about the entire HMC curriculum including the Core and HSA courses in addition to their pre-med work. We often see pre-med applicants who seem to be only interested in biology and chemistry and less eager to take the required math, physics, and engineering courses. These students are usually not a great fit for our program.

There is no specific pre-med major, but our pre-health advisors work with students to ensure that they have all of the required courses and have created a strong foundation for medical school. 

Given our students’ vast research experience, they are often great candidates for MD-PhD programs.

How big are your classes?

Our average classroom size is 18. Some of the classes students take as part of the Common Core can be larger, but students in upper-division electives will many times attend classes with fewer than 10 other students. There are a few larger, lecture-style courses at HMC, but these are always accompanied by much smaller recitation or discussion sections.

One important fact is that all HMC classes are taught by full-time professors that have earned the highest degree offered in their fields. Since HMC is a strictly-undergraduate institution, we don’t have any graduate students to step in as teacher assistants. Faculty come to HMC because they want to teach and do research with our undergraduates. Our student-to-faculty ratio is 9:1.

Are research opportunities and internships readily available to HMC students?

Here we try to stress the advantages of being entirely undergraduate. 

• You’re never taught by a TA or graduate student. 
• There’s no competition with graduate students for research opportunities.
• All of our faculty are doing research in their fields and will turn to the undergrads to support them rather than graduate students. 
• It’s not unusual for our students to co-author papers with faculty members and present alongside them at academic and professional conferences by the time they graduate.

Every student must complete a capstone research project during senior year, so every student is guaranteed one full year of research. However, most students graduate having done more than a year of research. Students can begin doing research in their junior, sophomore or even their first year. Additionally, our Office of Career Services helps prepare and connect our students to internships as early as their first year.

Can students take classes at the other Claremont Colleges?

• All Harvey Mudd students will go off-campus for some of their courses. 
• We are on the same break, exam and course schedule at Mudd. 
• A reasonable estimate might be five to seven courses completed at neighboring colleges, with room for variations in individual cases. 
• All core courses must be completed at HMC. 

Do HMC students study abroad?

Between 15 and 20% of our students go abroad in their junior year (this is great given the context that students majoring in ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ are often the ones that have the hardest time going abroad at many institutions).

The study abroad program is open to all students regardless of major. Mudders that study abroad can choose from numerous programs (full or partial immersion, as well as collegiate programs) in various countries and are still able to graduate in 4 years. They will also continue to receive financial aid while they are abroad.

Do HMC students have academic advisors?

All incoming first years are assigned a first-year academic advisor as well as an advisor from the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts (HSA) Department. HSA advisors work with students throughout their time at HMC to ensure they are meeting all their departmental requirements. Once students declare a major, they are paired with a faculty member from their department that will act as an advisor for their major until they are ready to leave HMC. Students will get an additional advisor upon becoming involved with Thesis Research or the HMC Clinic Program; that is 4 official advisors by the time you graduate, just in case you are counting! All HMC advising is overseen by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Additionally, Mudd students support one another through the collaborative nature of the College’s academic program. Much of the work can be done in teams or groups. Most Harvey Mudd students rarely do homework by themselves or work on problem sets alone. Thanks to a noncompetitive academic environment, group assignments at Mudd are pleasant experiences where peers encourage one another and everyone is motivated to put forth their best effort.

What kind of academic support programs are available at Mudd?

HMC offers two peer tutoring programs—the Writing Center and the Academic Excellence Program. Recognizing that even the best writers benefit from peer review, the Writing Center provides a welcoming space for writers to get feedback on their composition projects, whether written, spoken or visual pieces. The Academic Excellence Program provides opportunities for students to work together to improve their understanding of concepts in the academic core. Both programs, which are open to all HMC students, seek to promote collaborative, problem-solving approaches to academic work.

What other kinds of support are available at Mudd?

The Division of Student Affairs coordinates programs, facilities, resources and support compatible with ÎÞÓÇÊÓƵ’s academic mission to enhance students’ learning and growth. They oversee our health and wellbeing program, career services, personal counseling and referrals, leaves of absence, accommodations for students with disabilities, and collaborate with other student services of The Claremont Colleges.

Do HMC students interact with students at the other Claremont Colleges?

HMC students take full advantage of the extracurricular and social options offered at the other Claremont Colleges. The colleges regularly play host to concerts, guest lecturers and speakers, cultural events, art exhibits, film screenings, career fairs, plays and sporting events that are open to students from each of the colleges.

It happens regularly that certain clubs or organizations meet on one campus but are open to memberships from students at all five undergraduate institutions. Students interested in athletics will either join the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) team to participate in a Division III sport, or will join club sports or attend intramural events, both of which will include students from the other colleges. HMC students are also welcome at all dining halls located throughout the Consortium and to all shared intercollegiate programs, such as the Chicano-Latino Students Affairs Center, the Office of Black Student Affairs, the Office of the Chaplains, Hillel, the Asian American Resource Center, the Queer Resource Center, the Student Disability Resource Center, and the Women’s Union.

HMC students can choose just how much they want to interact with students at the other colleges – some Mudders will have a lot of interactions with students at the other campuses, while some just a few.

I’ve heard that there’s a lot of stress at HMC. How do students balance their academics and social life?

This has been an intentional area of focus for HMC in recent years.  HMC is certainly a rigorous place, but we have been adding resources and restructuring our core to ensure that HMC students can bring all of their identities and interests to Mudd. 

It’s true that in college you may not be able to continue every activity you did in high school, but all of our students have identified the activities that they need to feel energized and fulfilled and will make time for these things. 

Traditionally, HMC students take 4 academic courses, plus one or two labs a semester. Our students also make their way out of Claremont to visit the many attractions and events that take place in the Greater Los Angeles area.

What are your residence halls like?

HMC has 9 residence halls. Harvey Mudd is a residential campus where students learn together in and outside the classroom. Nearly all students live on campus all four years, creating an energetic, supportive community. Dorms are set up in different styles (dormitory-style, apartment-style, etc.), but all house proctors and mentors, student leaders that take an active role in overseeing and preserving the residential aspect of HMC culture. Visiting campus is the best way for prospective students to get a clear idea of what residential life is like at HMC.

What is your Admission Office looking for in an applicant?

We hope to see students who have challenged themselves not only in math and science, but in the humanities, social sciences, and arts as well. This does not mean that students must have taken every advanced, honors, or AP course available to them. 

Here are some of the things we look for in the admission process:

• Appreciation for diversity of thought and experience
• Collaboration, 
• Students eager to support and be supported by their peers  
• Impact-minded thinking, 
• Value for interdisciplinary thinking, 
• Value for humanities/social sciences/arts, 

Are there any required courses for admission?

Before a student enrolls at Mudd they must have taken a year of high school or semester of college in: 

• Calculus
• Chemistry
• Physics

A few things to think about: 

• We don’t require a certain level of these courses since students are coming to us from around the world.  
• If a student is missing one of these classes, there is a small chance we will admit them conditionally, with the understanding that they will take the missing class during the summer before college. 
• It is fine if these courses are being completed in their senior year.