Suin

There's a lot of interaction between Mudd and Scripps since they are right next to each other. I wouldn't say there's a whole lot between Mudd and the other campuses unless you participate in cross-campus extracurriculars (of which there are a lot), but I'm sure there are exceptions. The dining halls are all shared so you can go and eat at any one. I've never noticed any geek vs prep attitudes.

Blackroses216

^besides the fact when i visited some random guy yelled "nerds!" at us.. I don't even know how he knew we were coming from harvey mudd since we were on scripps campus next to the library... whatever haha.

Miru

colorado_mom - My little brother was at CU engineering days this weekend as well!

In *general*, there isn't much interaction between the 5Cs. In other words, most people don't just randomly make friends on other campuses; for the most part people stick to their kind. On the other hand, within clubs there is plenty of cross-campus interaction. In the clubs that are either small (A capella groups) or have a potentially large time commitment (the ballroom dance company), the friendships are especially close. In other words, cross campus friendships don't just happen on their own - one has to make some sort of effort (even if that effort is as small as joining a club you planned to join already).

It is quite true that Mudd and Scripps have the tightest relationship. The complementary gender ratios helps a little, and we often host parties that we only invite Scripps to. Due to the proximity we are also more likely to visit eachothers dining halls and be on eachothers campuses in general, so this is the one case I can think of where cross campus friendships do regularly spring up outside of clubs.

I would say that there isn't any serious geek/prep attitude, at least not on the level of high school. Most Mudders I know feel the least close to CMC, which supplies most of the athletes for the CMS athletic teams. Many of us have a default negative attitude towards CMCers because they can be jerks (too belligerent in IM Sports, too drunk at our parties), but we certainly don't feel at all socially inferior to them, and they generally respect us (if only because they wouldn't be able to come to our parties anymore if they screwed up too badly).

GeekMom63

^ Blackroses post 32 ^ Someone REALLY needs to get a life! He's been there for at least three months and he's that excited about seeing nerds?

geek_mom

GeekMom63... we all know how exciting nerds can be.

colorado_mom

Mudd students/grads - Was Claremont Colleges a big factor when choosing Mudd, or just an extra perk? Did your opinion change once you were on campus?

When comparing Mudd to CO School of Mines (and other similar small techie schools) , I know that academic intensity is a plus for Mudd (at least for students that want that). I'm trying to guage the importance of other factors too.

Suin

I don't think I considered the other Claremont Colleges very heavily when making a decision, but they are definitely a good thing. I don't know anything about CO School of Mines but eating at Mudd's one dining hall quite frequently for over 3 years is definitely unpleasant so I'm glad for the other dining halls on the other campuses. Being able to take half of our Humanities courses at the other colleges is definitely a plus as well, since there's a much much wider selection. For party people having CMC is probably a plus and for guys Scripps is probably a plus as well.

Blackroses216

^^^ Geek mom, it was more of a derogatory comment than excitement haha.

colorado_mom

Suin - That's a good point. If you are going to be on campus for 4 years (which I think makes things more convenient logistially for long-distance students), it would be good to have a variety of dining hall choices.

A variety of class choices across the colleges would be a very good thing too. I appreciate the answers. Mudd is a lot more expensive than some of our choices, and it is good to know that factors we thing are value-add are valid.

ProxyGC

My kid would NOT have gone to Mudd if not for the consortium. The consortium classes in other subject areas have been a sanity-saver because they balance the tech-intensity and grinding p-sets of Mudd, and help connect with a much less academically stressed group of kids for other social opportunities. My kid is more well rounded in interests than many at Mudd--for example, did not even apply to strictly tech schools (like Caltech and MIT). In fact, the complaint is that there is not enough time in the schedule, what with required core classes, to fit in more classes on the other campuses.

Miru

I think Mudd definitely wins in comparison to CO School of Mines in terms of everything except cost. If your son has what it takes to get into Mudd then he will likely get absolutely beautiful scholarship offers from School of Mines just by submitting an early action (nonbinding) application to the college (and a list of several better ones that he could apply for). Maybe its because I'm a girl, but my parents would have loved for me to have gone to CSM.

Anyway, I hope that you visit both CSM and Mudd in your college search. Golden, CO is a tiny town that didn't particularly appeal to me (some say its beautiful though, so you have to judge it for yourself). As far as I'm aware, CSM is the only college there so there isn't anything to balance out its awful tech school ratio. Denver is close by, but hey, LA is just as close to Mudd . From what I've heard from alums and current students, the social life is rather depressing, and they pretty much worked hard to get out of there as fast as possible. My physics teacher had some interesting stories, and both he and my orthodontist (both are alums) are incredible, smart, people, but neither seemed to have a whole lot of school pride. I've never experienced Mines first hand, but I feel like Mudd is a much more fun and quirky school on its own, and then the consortium adds a plethora of cool opportunities and more interesting, different, people. We pretty much get the advantages of a tight-knit community of science-minded people and the diversity of a university at the same time.

So as not to entirely pan Mines (sorry, that wasn't my initial intention!), the school is much closer to good skiing, if thats something you care about.