Sayings Around Mudd

There's a few sayings that are used around Mudd. They're pithy, get across an idea, and while perhaps exaggerated there's a bit of truth.

So, let's look at a few:

There are 3 things you can pursue at Mudd. Good sleep, good grades, and good social life. Pick 2. I think we stole this one from Caltech. Not sure. There's also an addendum that states, "if you're in a sport, that's the 4th choice, but you still only get to choose two." Basically, the idea is that there's a lot to do at Mudd, and you're going to be out of time. In some respects, it's true. I know a few people who really do sacrifice sleep for social life and good grades. I can feel good grades chew out my social life as I prioritize sleep. Then again, most of the time it's more like 2.5 choices. Also, you can switch your priorities around and get a nice blend. Bonus points if good grades just come naturally to you, you crazy smart person, so you can get all three. Speaking of grades, that brings us to the next item.

Take your High School GPA. Subtract 2. That's you new Harvey Mudd GPA. OK, this is NOT true. While HMC is very good at battling grade inflation, we don't destroy everyone and put them into the low B range. I happen to be sitting around 3.0, and I believe a value came out before that we average around 3.3 out of 4.0. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, how ever will I compare with those 4.0 GPAs spewing out of some other college? On one hand, you can't. Some people don't realize HMC's rigor, and will promptly ignore you. On the other hand, it's an advantage. There have been testimony to the fact that many groups actually prefer the HMC GPAs because now they can accurately tell how you did. If you get a bazillion 4.0s, how do you know who's better or worse? Coming out of HMC, they know how strong a 3.0 or a 3.5 should be. Also, these people are not just small startups. We're talking about Sun Labs, UCB, Raytheon, Google. Big groups. Just to put things in perspective, less than 10 students in the 50 years have graduated with 4.0 GPAs.

The odds are good but the goods are odd. One of my favorites. This is mostly from the female side of things. We have about a 2:1 male to female ratio, so as a girl you have very good odds about hooking up if you want to. The problem is the applicant pool is not necessarily full of Tom Cruises. That isn't to say we're all crazy or acne pocketed bottle glasses nerds who get monitor tan. The vast majority of us can operate just fine in normal society, just don't ask us about Star Wars or quantum theory. On the flip side, the guys might seem like they're getting the short end of the stick. However, remember that not everyone you're competing against is that socially able. And, as a bonus, Scripps (an all girl school) is just across the street.

Still no date friday night. Ironically, this is on our HMC T-shirts sometimes. It's placed right after the delta-epsilon proof. This is perhaps the biggest lie ever. As far as social life goes, HMC is pretty vibrant. You should at least be acquainted with everyone in your class, and if you hang around cool places like East dorm, you'll meet plenty of people from other classes as well. On top of that, there are regular social events, parties, and yes people do date. There is actually this weird idea in the 5Cs that we are a party school. Seriously. Yet, we have a lower drinking rate than the other colleges, and a lower rate than the national average. The reason we're known for partying is because we throw awesome parties. One of East's is Funball. We rent a bouncy castle, play awesome dance music, and instead of buying booze we buy loads of candy. Oh, and a funball pit and a cotton candy machine. Other notables would be Wild Wild West, the Suds Party (formerly known as Foam Party), Tax Night, Trick or Drink, Trick or Cheese, and many others. There's this special one that North throws that I can't remember the name of. Club two-something-something. But yeah, we can rock it out all night long if we want.

So, now you know a couple of random sayings and the facts behind them. Cya around.