Harvey Mudd is an engineering, science, and mathematics-focused liberal arts college in Claremont, California. A member of The Claremont Colleges inter-collegiate system, Harvey Mudd offers the under 1,000 undergraduates enrolled a STEM-focused education with the resources and opportunities of a larger liberal arts network. The acceptance rate is about 13%.
The college is test-optional for first year applicants in the 2024-2025 application cycle, meaning that you are not required to submit an SAT or ACT score. Don’t take that as a free pass, though. While you aren’t required to submit a score, nearly 70% of accepted and enrolled first-year students in the fall of 2023 had submitted an SAT or ACT score. So, while the admissions office says that not submitting scores will not harm your application — submitting scores may really make a difference.
When applying to Harvey Mudd, it’s really important to differentiate your application from the pack through narrative, passion, and clarity of purpose. Since Harvey Mudd is college focused entirely on STEM, only offering majors in the maths and sciences, it’s easy for applications to blend together. Applicants have taken the same types of courses, done the same types of summer programs, and pursued the same sorts of internships. Even doing independent research isn’t all that impressive when almost everyone applying has also done independent research. So, what is an applicant to do to stand out? This is where the essays come into play. In this post, we’ll break down each of the Harvey Mudd supplementals to help you write and exceptional application to Harvey Mudd that stands out from the other high-achieving STEM-loving students seeking admission.
If you are considering a STEM-focused college, contact us. Translating objectives into outcomes requires strategy.
The Harvey Mudd supplement is all about getting to know you — the whole you, and the parts you that go beyond your transcript, scores, or activities section. They’ll get one or two facets of who you are through the main common app essay, but the supplement is your chance to give them even more clarity, painting a picture of how you’ll uniquely contribute to the Harvey Mudd community.
Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society. - HMC Mission Statement
“Scientific research is a human endeavor. The choices of topics that we research are based on our biases, our beliefs, and what we bring: our cultures and our families. The kinds of problems that people put their talents to solving depends on their values.'' - Dr. Clifton Poodry
HMC’s collaborative community is guided by our mission statement. Through an intentional interdisciplinary curriculum our students seek to build a skillset adaptable to society’s needs. How has your own background influenced the types of problems you want to solve, the people you want to work with, and the impact you hope your work can have? (500 words)
The intro to this prompt can be a little overwhelming, so don’t be hard on yourself if you have to read it a few times. Basically, the gist is that they believe that pulling from different fields — including those outside of STEM — will make you a better scientist, engineer, or mathematician. It’s like developing different tools in your tool belt. You might use the STEM tools the most, but having other tools to grab in a pinch is imperative to doing your best work and adapting to any environment.
But while the supplement intro is all about interdisciplinary learning, what they are actually asking you for is a little bit different. Harvey Mudd wants to know what from your background is a tool in your belt, and an influence on your dreams for the future. This could be something from your culture, community, faith, socioeconomic group, camp, or any other group you are part of, or it could be something related to a passion or hobby that is important to you. If you’re a surfer, you may have learned how to navigate competition for waves while building friendships out on the water. If you live in a multi-generational household, navigating different preferences and beliefs may come second-nature to you. Look in your life for something to focus on here that centers on bringing people together and creatively navigating differences to created shared understanding and/or success.
End the supplement on impact. How do you want to impact the world, as relates to the story you shared earlier? Maybe you want to be part of building strong teams that make life better for other people, or maybe you dream about making our coastlines more climate resilient. Whatever it is, aim to have it feel like a natural outgrowth of your core story.
Many students choose Harvey Mudd because they don’t want to give up their interests in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts – or HSA as we call it at HMC. Briefly (in 100 words or less) describe what you'd like to learn about in your dream HSA class. Your class can either be one chosen from existing classes at HMC, or you are welcome to create your own. (100 words max)
This supplement is super short, so we love addressing it by writing a course description as if this was a class you could sign up for. This means you can’t pick a class Harvey Mudd already offers, but you can look at current HAS course descriptions for inspiration.
Your course should have a name, like “A History of Landscape Photography” or “Science in Fiction.” Like these courses, you’ll follow the course title name with a 2-4 sentence description that includes the scope of the course, key learning objectives, and an idea of what the source material (like assigned books) might be. You could also include mention of any necessary field work experiences or site visits, such as a trip to a museum or to see a local relevant site.
Optional: You may include examples of work that you would like to share, including additional math and science endeavors, research abstracts, or creative projects. Please limit your submission to two pages.
Our motto is, barring a short list of exceptions, that optional isn’t actually optional. If you are applying to Harvey Mudd, you should have something to include here, whether it’s an abstract from an independent project or a write up from your town newspaper about a creative endeavor or competition outcome. You have tons of options for what to put here, but there is one thing that is not an option. You may not, under any circumstances, go over two pages with normal spacing and margins at a minimum of 1/5”. One of the things that the admissions office is assessing your application for is your ability to follow directions. Ignoring the length limitation here is a major red flag that you aren’t going to be a positive character addition to their next first year class.
Harvey Mudd is an amazing college for students who know they want to major in a STEM subject, but who don’t want to be limited solely to STEM courses. We recommend the college especially to those who also want a close-knit and caring community.
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