<p>So I am a Mudd alumnus who is currently getting a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley (actually, I’m on this site in an attempt to put off taking a final by going to websites from my past…), and I can say that it is not that hard to get into grad school from Mudd. I was in the middle of my class, had no published papers, and I got into about half of the Ph.D. programs that I applied to (which is pretty good by most standards). I’ve got a couple of points worth making.</p>
<p>-Grad school admissions (at least for Ph.D.'s) are not at all like undergrad admissions. In undergrad, someone looks at your application, and makes a decision based on how well you stack up to everyone else. Grad school is more like a job application. Professors often look through applications in an attempt to fill in a niche in their lab.</p>
<p>-Admissions are also different for the students applying. You are looking for a lab you like at a school that offers you a good package (good money, not much TAing, freedom of research, etc.). Because of all this, you will see a lot of people going to non-“top tier” schools. There are real advantages to being at a lesser-known university. To give you an example, in engineering, many students don’t even apply to MIT or Stanford because their funding is much worse than it is in other schools.</p>
<p>-That said, Mudd is well known in grad schools. Every domestic student and pretty much every professor I have met at Berkeley knows Mudd. I know and work with a bunch of Mudders at Berkeley, and I think that the school ends up being treated with a lot of respect because the graduates are all really good at what they do.</p>
<p>-Your chances may be marginally better to get into a grad school at a particular school if you go there for undergrad, work for a professor and become best friends. That said, there are huge risks involved. For instance, the professor may not have room for you or you may change your mind about what you want to do.</p>
<p>-Especially if you go to Mudd, there is a high probability that you will change your mind about your major or grad school. Many people do change their mind about one or the other. Case in point, I only gave grad school a second glance at the start of my senior year.</p>
<p>-If your finances allow for it, go to Mudd for four years. If they do not, don’t go to Mudd. College is a transformative experience, and you should milk it for what it is worth. If you try to do Mudd in three years, you will likely be very unhappy, work all the time, and not enjoy the social aspect that is really the most important part of college.</p>
<p>Keep an open mind and have fun.</p>