{"id":25,"date":"2016-01-25T15:16:38","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T23:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/?p=25"},"modified":"2016-02-03T13:51:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T21:51:15","slug":"true-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/true-value\/","title":{"rendered":"True Value"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sure, there are the national surveys that place Harvey Mudd College in the top tier for its STEM-focused liberal arts education, return on investment, engineering program and more. But perhaps the strongest affirmation of an institution comes from its alumni.<\/p>\n<p>For 60 years, Harvey Mudd College has committed to a specialized STEM education, one that demands a low faculty-to- student ratio, small classes, modern facilities, necessary student support services, exceptional faculty, research opportunities and modern equipment and instrumentation. No denying: Costs are high for Harvey Mudd\u2019s distinctive, personalized, technology-intensive education, but data support that it\u2019s worth the financial investment.<\/p>\n<p>Our curriculum continues to prepare students to appreciate and use critical analysis, to innovate and learn new technologies and to solve problems others are just beginning to tackle. While the College has been recognized nationally for preparing students for high-paying jobs (median starting salary for HMC Class of 2015: $92,500), there\u2019s more to the story. After six decades, we\u2019re still true to our mission of preparing leaders to better understand the impact of their work on society. Alumni tell us they are well positioned for career trajectories that lead them to professional success, regardless of their chosen field. And many pursue lifelong learning, leading to interesting, well-rounded lives.<\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t take our word for it. Here are comments from selected alumni who agreed to share their responses from the 2014 Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium Alumni Survey.<\/p>\n<h2>What do you especially value about your undergraduate experience?<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;How intense it is and how challenged\u00a0I was. The residential collaborative\u00a0environment is something I really miss.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 NATE BEAN \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I greatly value the breadth of courses I\u00a0took at Harvey Mudd College. While I am\u00a0not an expert in any field, I feel confident\u00a0that I have the tools to learn quickly and\u00a0be effective in any position.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 HECTOR CUEVAS \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The close community is still the biggest\u00a0draw to HMC for me. The way that\u00a0people look out for each other and help\u00a0each other is not seen anywhere else.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 NATASHA PARIKH \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It taught me how to juggle a lot of\u00a0responsibilities without breaking\u00a0down. Made me tougher and\u00a0stronger.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 FANGZHAO AN \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It pushed me and challenged me in a way nothing\u00a0had before, expanded my skills and abilities, and\u00a0gave me a lot of confidence in my later endeavors.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 COURTNEY MCQUEEN \u201904<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Being able to interact and engage with\u00a0individuals of a variety of backgrounds\u00a0has drastically increased the number of\u00a0opportunities I have had to meet many\u00a0people and constantly learn from them.\u00a0I chalk this ability up to the broad base\u00a0Mudd gave me.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 CHRISTIAN STEVENS \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The focus on teaching students\u00a0how to learn things. It has made it\u00a0much easier for me to learn new\u00a0concepts and solve new problems.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 JOSHUA COBB \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Working on problem sets in small groups\u00a0with faculty members there to help. It\u00a0turns out that this is often how you work\u00a0through problems as a professional\u00a0scientist, and it is very effective for\u00a0learning.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 CANDACE CHURCH JOGGERST \u201904<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My time at Harvey Mudd made me much more attuned\u00a0to interacting with people different from myself.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 MARY CARPENTER ABE \u201981<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The personalization of the school: how I had access to the complete faculty, administration\u00a0and resources of the school. Also, the personal growth I experienced from being surrounded\u00a0by other brilliant, passionate people\u2014really, it was the perfect environment.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 ROSS A. WATKINS \u201983<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With a solid foundation in many subfields of science, I find myself\u00a0often picking up a textbook and working through problems to learn a\u00a0new skill or field of knowledge. After picking up enough fundamentals\u00a0while at Harvey Mudd, I find this surprisingly easy to do.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 BEN PRESKILL \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The small size allowed for extensive interaction with faculty and other students. Faculty members were only expected to teach and encourage research in undergraduates, so it provided an excellent atmosphere.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 NADIA ABUELEZAM \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(HMC) taught me how to fail and recover from that, both emotionally and practically.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 KATHY FRENCH \u201997<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;HMC was incredibly difficult at points, but the opportunities I\u2019ve had and the skills I am left with were monumentally transforming.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 HALLIE KUHN \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The opportunity to compete as an NCAA athlete. That experience was wonderful in itself and taught me things (perseverance, self-motivation, etc.) that I never learned in a classroom.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 KEVIN ANDREW \u201904<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was able to take Japanese at Pomona College and then study abroad in Japan for a semester. That was a very important experience for me in terms of personal growth.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 OBOSA OBAZUAYE \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The challenging level of the classes, the close-knit community (part of which came from living on campus), the fact that everyone there was very smart and dedicated to their studies.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 COURTNEY KEELER \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I particularly loved when teachers made learning fun! When they went out of their way to make an interactive learning environment.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 JORDAN EBOREIME \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Taking classes at the other Claremont Colleges exposed me to new attitudes of learning and ways of reading.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 MORGAN LUCKEY \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The non-competitive atmosphere.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 ANONYMOUS \u201904<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Honor code and the feeling of trust.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 JOHN LARSON \u201979<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The strong emphasis on solving problems using a broad intellectual toolkit. I also appreciate the institution\u2019s cohesiveness and the faculty\u2019s commitment to helping their students excel.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 LAUREN WINKLER \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The habits I acquired at Harvey Mudd haven\u2019t just helped me to study new topics, but they have helped me to be able to ask the questions and find and research the topic that will answer them.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 JESSICA NELSON \u201904<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The focus on humanities. The breadth of the Common Core.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 ANDREW CARMAN \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;HMC developed my academic independence, confidence as a researcher and attention to the impact of my work on the world.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 AURORA PRIBRAM-JONES \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The quality and willingness of professors to help students learn. The amazing community and support system available through peers.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 ANTHONY CHUNG \u201914<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Helped me develop strong writing skills and good professional skills in computer science\u2014both of these were very helpful for employment! Helped me learn to socialize better by connecting me with like-minded peers, something I never had before college.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 SERGEY TSALKOV \u201909<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were presented with an incredible breadth of scientific topics, which has allowed me to communicate with people from a variety of academic backgrounds. This has been incredibly useful to me in the development of my career.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 TARA LYDIARD-MARTIN \u201904<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My improved ability to learn by myself (i.e., from books, the Internet).&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2013 KATHERINE ANDERSON \u201914<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sure, there are the national surveys that place Harvey Mudd College in the top tier for its STEM-focused liberal arts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}