<p>"So how is a 17 year old to be sure that wonderful/specialized Mudd is not too specialized for him or her? "</p>
<p>If your son knows that he wants to go into science/engineering/math then Mudd is probably one of the LEAST specialized places one can go for undergrad. If your son has doubts as to whether science/engineering/math is his thing, I’d highly suggest looking elsewhere.</p>
<p>The best way I can put it is this: The type of person that excels at Mudd knows before attending that this is what they want to do. </p>
<p>For those students, they understand that in order to superb in a subject a solid foundation is needed and corners cannot be cut. That is why the core is so wildly successful at producing generalized scientists/engineers that can go on to do much.</p>
<p>I hope that didn’t come across as too brash. That was not my intent…</p>