<p>The great grad schools know about and admit Mudd students. Think about the numbers. The class is less than 200, but 3 went to MIT, 1 to Cal Tech, 1 to Stanford, etc. Also, last year (and this year), the job market has been really great – particulary for the CS majors. Many of the CS majors turned down great grad schools to work, at least for a while, before grad school. Mudd may not have as much name recognition outside of its niche as other schools outside of the STEM community, but it is no impediment to grad schools. Except for med schools, the grading scale doesn’t seem to be a problem either. The grad schools know what the grades mean at Mudd.</p>
<p>I am sure it is possible to graduate in 3 years, but I don’t know anyone who has. The workload is really tough at Mudd and they do not give credit towards graduation for AP classes. Those who I know that took summer math, etc., did so to relieve the pressure on the workload the rest of the year. </p>
<p>Some go into LA, but it isn’t close enough to just pop over. You can take the train into LA, but then have to rely on LA’s rather pathetic public transportation system to get around. And you need to either spend the night in LA or pay close attention to the the train schedule to get back. There are folks with cars to drive in, but the LA highways are notoriously clogged. That said, I know there are classes that go into LA to go to museums, etc. I think they car pool. But for the most part, I think most of the social life is in Claremont. </p>
<p>I don’t know about transferring or the Claremont Grad school.</p>