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<p>I don’t know if you were necessarily implying that this does not happen at Harvey Mudd, so forgive me for responding with the (possibly false) assumption that you were.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, there is no direct quantitative way to compare the amount of collaboration and teamwork done at Harvey Mudd vs. at Caltech. However, I can confidently claim that this scientific process of learning from your peers (which I agree with you is how science is really done) is done quite frequently at Harvey Mudd. Almost every Mudder collaborates with his or her classmates regularly. We chat, compare methods of thinking, study together, etc… This is a HUGE part of how students learn at HMC - there’d be no way most of us could get through the curriculum without the support of our peer network. Professors do not simply give you all the answers as the primary authority. Rather, the way I see it is they lecture clearly, and are available to answer questions. However, students only seek the professor out AFTER they have exhausted their peer network and still have trouble with the material. In this case, the professors are unanimously willing to help, have their office doors open, and will sit patiently with you to help you see it. They will not give you the answers, but rather they will try to help you see how you went wrong, so that you learn how to fix things on your own, and figure out the material for yourself.</p>
<p>So it is not like students immediately go to the professor and the professor guides us to everything. Their job is to orate the concepts to us in a clear fashion - it’s up to the students to absorb it and use it to figure out the homework or the problems.</p>
<p>If I don’t answer any more responses to me for a while, I apologize. It’s because I’ll be taking a nap for a few hours, before I go see the midnight premiere of Harry Potter (YAY!).</p>