Harvey Mudd College

Harvey Mudd College remains an exceptionally selective institution with an upward trajectory in national standing. In the 2027 U.S. News Best Liberal Arts Colleges ranking, the college achieved 8th place, climbing steadily from 29th in 2023. Gaining admission requires passing through an intense selection process, as the college accepted just 12.7% of applicants in 2025. This admission rate was higher than 33% of 30 private liberal arts colleges with similar rankings, confirming that entry is more competitive than at most peer schools. Admitted students also evaluate competing offers carefully. In 2025, Harvey Mudd recorded an admissions yield rate of 35.8%, placing it higher than 47% of its peer group. Because less than half of admitted candidates choose to enroll, the college contends directly with other premier institutions to recruit its incoming class. For prospective applicants, earning admission requires demonstrating top-tier credentials, while the moderate yield rate reflects the competitive options available to admitted students.

Admission to Harvey Mudd requires top-tier academic performance in high school coursework alongside high standardized test results. For the entering class of 2025, the median SAT score was 1540, which was higher than 87% of 30 private liberal arts colleges with similar rankings. Testing ranges show steep standards across all sections, especially in quantitative areas where middle-range scores approach the maximum. Classroom grades among accepted students are similarly competitive. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, 89% of enrolled first-year students entered with an unweighted 4.0 high school grade point average. These figures demonstrate that successful applicants typically hold near-flawless academic records and test results in the top percentiles. Prospective candidates must present sustained mastery in challenging mathematics and science curricula to be competitive within this applicant pool.

Harvey Mudd concentrates its undergraduate curriculum in technical disciplines, channeling the majority of its students into a small selection of STEM programs. In 2025, degree awards were heavily concentrated, with the top three bachelor's majors accounting for 76.3% of all graduating seniors. These prominent fields align directly with the institution's strongest academic reputations. In the 2027 U.S. News rankings, the undergraduate Computer Science program earned a national rank of 28. Graduates emerging from these key majors achieve strong early-career compensation. According to 2023 earnings data collected one year after graduation, median pay reached $182,273 for Computer Science graduates and $95,545 for General Engineering graduates. For prospective applicants, this narrow program distribution means that students seeking non-STEM disciplines have limited options, but those pursuing engineering, mathematics, and computing enter nationally recognized programs that yield substantial initial earnings in the workforce.

Harvey Mudd educates an entirely undergraduate student body with an overall size that is lower than all peer schools in its comparison group of 30 private liberal arts colleges with similar rankings. Despite its small scale, the campus enrolls a diverse student body with substantial Asian and international representation. In the 2025 first-year cohort, Asian students numbered 49, accounting for 21.2% of entering freshmen. International students in that same class numbered 23, representing 10% of the cohort. Continuing upperclassmen follow similar demographic patterns, where Asian and foreign scholars maintain a consistent presence across all four class years. For prospective applicants, these figures outline an intimate, tightly focused campus environment where domestic minority and international students form visible, integral components of academic and residential student life.

Harvey Mudd’s undergraduate community is overwhelmingly composed of traditional college-aged students. Out of 949 undergraduates reported in 2025 age records, students aged 18 to 19 made up 44.6% with 423 students, while those aged 20 to 21 accounted for 43.4% with 412 students. An additional 65 students, or 6.8%, were under the age of 18. This tight age distribution means campus life is structured almost entirely around full-time, direct-from-high-school students who progress through their degree programs in close generational cohorts.

International enrollment at Harvey Mudd is located exclusively at the undergraduate level, as the institution does not enroll graduate students or offer advanced degree programs. In 2025, international students comprised 10.6% of the undergraduate student body, reflecting a modest decrease over the preceding decade. International degree completion remains strong, with foreign students earning 11.8% of all bachelor's degrees conferred in 2025. Rather than distributing evenly across all academic departments, international graduates are heavily concentrated in specific quantitative and technical disciplines. Mathematics and Computer Science attracted the highest share, with international students making up 25.9% of degree recipients in that major, followed by steady representation in General Engineering. Conversely, traditional science majors such as chemistry and physics saw zero international graduates. For prospective international applicants, these patterns show an established pathway in collaborative computing and engineering fields within a campus dedicated solely to undergraduate education.

Harvey Mudd is part of the Claremont Colleges consortium, placing it adjacent to several top liberal arts institutions. Immediately next door, Scripps College sits just 0.2 kilometers away and was ranked 38th among liberal arts colleges in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. Also 0.2 kilometers away is Pitzer College, which placed 44th on the same list. A short walk across the contiguous campus leads to Claremont McKenna College at 0.3 kilometers and Pomona College at 0.6 kilometers, both tied at 3rd place among national liberal arts colleges. Further west in Pasadena, California Institute of Technology is located 23.9 kilometers away and ranked 5th among national universities.

Campus safety metrics at Harvey Mudd reflect a stable residential setting where property offenses constitute the primary category of reported incidents. In 2025, the college recorded a crime rate per 1,000 students of 13.5. Across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, vehicle theft was the most common reported offense, accounting for 22 total incidents on campus. Disciplinary referrals for alcohol violations totaled 6 incidents across that same three-year span, while violent crimes and physical confrontations remained rare. The frequency of vehicular theft indicates that students should practice sensible property precautions, such as keeping bicycles and vehicles properly secured around campus facilities. For families evaluating the campus environment, these records demonstrate that serious threats to personal safety are minimal, with daily campus security primarily focused on routine property management.