My son is likes both Vassar and Harvey Mudd equally. I understand applying early would increase his chances of admissions. What are the pros and cons of studying Chemistry at either college? Thank you for any insight!
While I can’t specifically comment on the chemistry options, it is interesting to note that these two schools definitely have a gender imbalance when it comes to acceptance rates. The acceptance rate for males is higher at Vassar, while the opposite is true at Harvey Mudd. Just a data point to keep in mind.
Good luck with his decision. Both great schools.
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It’s interesting to me - one is part of the consortium so much bigger and in a bigger area.
Yet Harvey Mudd itself is small - population and campus size vs Vassar but again in the consortium.
Harvey Mudd has science oriented majors vs various fields in the humanities and science at Vassar.
Weather is different.
Not sure of your financial situation but Mudd has the possibility of merit aid whereas Vassar doesn’t. Both meet need.
Are both fly to or is one drivable. In most cases the Claremont schools have easier airport access with Ontario.
Has he been to both ?
What does he like about each ?
If you look at the statistics, there is a much bigger ED advantage at Vassar, especially for a male.
That said, the vibe at these schools is very, very different, not to mention they are on opposite sides of the country. Has your son visited both?
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Core / general education requirements are extensive at Harvey Mudd. Vassar has far fewer such requirements, but does have a foreign language requirement that is not present at Harvey Mudd.
These are really different schools, other than size and LAC focus. Vibe is different, location, campus look and feel, student body, consortium (versus no consortium), core curriculum, overall academic focus (Mudd is more of a STEM school, whereas Vassar has more well-rounded strengths) … It’s hard to imagine the same student being equally enthralled by both.
So maybe it would help to identify the most attractive aspects of each school for your son, and then he can think about which of these elements are most important to him. I agree with others that demographics give him a better shot at Vassar.
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Can you explain how? For many of us, these seem to be very different, but excellent, colleges.
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Have to agree that Harvey Mudd and Vassar, while both fantastic schools, have enough differences that one should stand out as the better match for your S. Assuming they are both comfortably affordable, your S should ED to the school he prefers.
I agree with everyone else these are very different fit schools, and I would prioritize the one where I thought I would be happiest, including because happy people tend to do better in school.
I also note that they seem to have a similar number of primary majors in Chemistry per year, around 8-10. This is not a bad size for an LAC, but I think it might be worth checking out department and faculty pages to see if one or the other stands out.
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yeah, can’t see these two being on the same preferred list, particularly for ED. (Why Mudd vs the other colleges in the consortium, which offer Chem; some upper division science classes are shared anyway.)
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Harvey Mudd is an unusual LAC that focus on STEM with a liberal arts approach. All students start with a core curriculum that includes chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, engineering and computer science. A couple of core humanities/social science-related courses are also included in the core curriculum, intended to show the interplay with STEM. As the core is completed, students select their major and have additional non-STEM requirements to complete their degree. Half or more of students getting a chemistry degree from Mudd go onto PHD programs. A student should be excited by this kind of approach to apply to Mudd.
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I’m a Mudd Chemistry alum, who went on to get a PhD and now work in Pharma (in Chemistry). As others have said, the schools are very different in feel, etc. But, although I’m biased, I’d say Mudd probably has the stronger Chem program of the two. The Chemistry department has always had amazing faculty who are both fantastic teachers and mentors and truly care about the students. It has an extremely strong reputation at Chemistry grad schools and a long history of students going to top grad schools (if that’s the career path they want to pursue).
If possible, he should visit both schools while students are around to get a sense for the environment.
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