Mudd Frosh Taking Questions

Student615
Mon, 18 Sep 2006 22:22:17 +0000

Be forewarned, I’m speaking from a Scripps perspective (which, among other things, might serve to show you that yes…we do interact)!


You interact with the other colleges as much as you want to. I don’t know if it “fixes” the gender gap or anything from the perspective of male Mudd students, but Scripps is all women. If you won’t be proactive, you can safely bet that we will be. Your parties are all well attended by students of the other schools. Mudd students often take hum classes (others, too, but mostly hum) on the other colleges, but in the few Mudd classes I’ve taken, there has not been much cross-enrollment at all from the other schools.
The other schools are RIGHT THERE. Anyone who “rarely visits” them is crazy…he’s missing out on the best thing that Claremont has to offer its students (regardless of college affiliation). You will get sick of your dining hall, of your gym, you will want to go swimming, you’ll want to see a movie playing at Pomona, you’ll want sushi on Friday night, you’ll want to take German, you’ll want to sing in choir…whatever. If you want to get off campus, you can (and in doing so, will be in the norm).
I personally love going to such a small school. We have the “cozy and familiar” feeling of the tiny LAC that we are, but the consortium allows us to escape feeling overly familiar with one another. Mudd students seem to know their classmates much better than the students of the other colleges seem to know theirs, which some might find stifling, but I’ve always admired. There’s definitely a Mudd bond.
Mudd parties hard, it parties often, and you’re correct all around about the liquor. I have a number of Mudd friends (friends on all 5Cs, for that matter) who don’t drink at all or don’t drink often. If you don’t like to be around alcohol or drunk people, then you can still find your niche, but you’ll have to work a little harder at it (lots of movie nights…that’s my story). But if you like to go to parties and just not drink, you’ll never have any trouble. One nice thing about Mudd is that there’s a great community feel to the dorms, so people are almost always watching TV in common areas, playing video games, reading in the lounges or courtyards, whatever. A big party is never the only thing going on.
Only word of caution: be very, very, very sure you want to pursue a math/science/engineering degree. You absolutely do not want to go to Mudd and change your mind, b/c you’ll go crazy trying to pursue anything else in the midst of your science-oriented GEs.
Interview…don’t worry about it. Dress comfortably and appropriately (jeans are fine, holes are not…think of it that way). You don’t need to get dressed up, but remember where you are. If you want, you can bring a resume but it’s not that big of a deal. Just spend time the night before thinking about your answers to likely questions: why do you want to go to Mudd, what do you have to contribute to Mudd, how would your friends describe you in 3 words, how are you prepared for this type of education, why a LAC, what’s your biggest strength/weakness? It’ll help so that you’re not caught too off guard at the actual interview, stuck there going “Hmm, that’s a tough question…hmm…wow, that’s really tough…let me think.”


Good luck!