Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science , engineering , and mathematics , founded in 1955 and located in Claremont , California , United States . It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges , which share adjoining campus grounds . Harvey Mudd College shares university resources such as libraries , dining halls , health services , and campus security , with the other institutions in the Claremont Colleges , including Pitzer College , Scripps College , Claremont McKenna College , Pomona College , Claremont Graduate University , and Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences , but each college is independently managed by its own faculty , board of trustees , and college endowment and has its own separate admissions process . Students at Harvey Mudd are encouraged to take classes ( acceptable for academic credit at Harvey Mudd ) at the other four Claremont colleges , especially classes outside their major of study . Together the Claremont Colleges provide the resources and opportunities of a large university while enabling the specialization and personal attention afforded by the individual colleges . The Bachelor of Science diploma received at graduation is issued by Harvey Mudd College . The college is named after Harvey Seeley Mudd , one of the initial investors in the Cyprus Mines Corporation . Although involved in the planning of the new institution , Mudd died before it opened . Harvey Mudd College was funded by Mudd ' s friends and family , and named in his honor . Academics . Harvey Mudd College ' s mission is to educate scientist s , engineer s , and mathematician s to be well - versed in the social sciences and humanities so that they better understand the impact of their work on society . The college offers four - year degrees in chemistry , mathematics , physics , computer science , biology , and engineering , as well as interdisciplinary degrees in mathematical biology , and a joint major in either computer science and mathematics ; or biology and chemistry . Students may also elect to complete an Individual Program of Study ( IPS ) made up of courses of their own choosing . Usually between two and five students graduate with an IPS degree each year . Finally , one may choose an off - campus major offered by any of the other Claremont Colleges , provided one also completes a minor in one of the technical fields that Harvey Mudd offers as a major . Because of its mission statement , Harvey Mudd College places an unusually strong emphasis on general science education , requiring a full one - third of math , science , and engineering courses , known as the " common core , " outside of one ' s major . Students are also required to take another one - third of their courses in the humanities , social sciences , and the arts , in keeping with the school ' s tradition of " science with a conscience . " The final one - third of courses comprises those in the student ' s major . The integration of research and education is an important component of the educational experience at Harvey Mudd College ; upon graduation , every student has experienced some kind of research , usually in the form of a senior thesis or a Clinic Program . The undergraduate focus of HMC means that , unlike many larger science and engineering institutions , undergraduates at HMC get unique access to research positions over the summer and during the school year . A unique opportunity for HMC students is the Clinic Program , which focuses primarily on projects in the fields of engineering , computer science , physics , and math . In the Clinic Program , teams of students work for a year on a project suggested by a company . They are expected to make regular reports to the company and to deliver a product at the end of the year . The Clinic Program offers students a first - hand look at a particular industry and allows the sponsoring company to hire an inexpensive Clinic team of four students , whom they often try to recruit after graduation . Reputation . The middle 50 % of entering SAT scores are 740 – 800 ( out of 800 ) in mathematics , 690 – 760 in critical reading , and 680 – 760 in writing . A third of the student body are National Merit Scholar s , and at one point , about 40 percent of graduates were going on to earn a Ph . D . — the highest rate of any college or university in the nation . Harvey Mudd today still maintains the highest rate of science and engineering Ph . D . production among all undergraduate colleges and second highest ( Caltech ranks first and MIT third ) compared to all universities and colleges , according to a 2008 report by the National Science Foundation . According to " U . S . News & World Report " ' s 2013 America ' s Best Colleges report , Harvey Mudd College is ranked the 12th best liberal arts college in the United States and has the # 2 ranking for undergraduate engineering schools in the US whose highest degree is a Master ' s . " Forbes " in 2012 rated Harvey Mudd College # 28 of its America ' s Best Colleges ranking , which includes military academies , national universities , and liberal arts colleges . In 2006 , Harvey Mudd was also named one of the " new Ivy leagues " by Kaplan and " Newsweek " . Harvey Mudd College is one of the few colleges in the US with very low grade inflation . As of 2010 , only seven students in the history of the college have achieved a perfect 4 . 0 GPA . In 1997 , Harvey Mudd College became the sole American undergraduate - only institution ever to win 1st place in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest . As of 2012 , no American school has won the world competition since . Harvey Mudd College , along with Wake Forest University , long held out as the last four - year colleges or universities in the U . S . to accept only SAT and not ACT test scores in their admissions process . In August 2007 , however ( the beginning of the application process for the class of 2012 ) , HMC began accepting ACT results , a year after Wake Forest abandoned its former SAT - only policy . According to self - reported data on PayScale , graduates of Harvey Mudd College earn the highest salaries among graduates of any college in the United States . The Harvey Mudd College mathematics department is highly ranked and was the 2006 recipient of the American Mathematical Society award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department . The department ' s alumni , Josh Greene and Aaron Archer were winner and honorable mention for the Morgan Prize , the highest undergraduate research award in mathematics in the United States . Student life . The cost for attending Harvey Mudd ( tuition , student body fee , and room & board ) total $ 56 , 268 for the 2011 – 2012 academic year . Financial aid is offered on the basis of both need and merit . Approximately 83 % of students receive financial aid , and 40 % qualify for merit - based awards . Harvey Mudd College dormitories . The official names for the dormitories are ( listed in order of construction ) : Until the addition of the Linde and Sontag dorms , Atwood and Case dorms were occasionally referred to as New Dorm and New Dorm II ; Mildred E . Mudd Hall and Marks Hall are almost invariably referred to as East dorm and South dorm . During the construction of Case Dorm some students decided as a prank to move all of the survey stakes exactly six inches in one direction . They did such a precise job that the construction crew didn ' t notice until after they had laid the foundation ( and after the prank team informed someone on the project about the shifted stakes ) , but California earthquake law forced them to re - survey the site and bring in engineering consultation . The cost of this ( nearly $ 5 , 000 ) was borne by the pranksters . South Dorm is in the northwest corner of the quad . " East " was the first dorm , but it wasn ' t until " West " was built west of it that it was actually referred to as " East " . Then " North " was built , directly north of " East " . When the fourth dorm ( Marks ) was built , there was one corner of the quad available ( the northwest ) and one directional name , " South " , remaining . To this day " South " dorm is more north on the compass than " North " dorm is . The fifth , sixth , seventh , and eighth dorms built are Atwood , Case , Linde , and Sontag , respectively . They were initially referred to as " the colonies " by some students , a reference to the fact that they were newer and at the farthest end of the campus ; these dorms are now more commonly referred to as " the outer dorms . " The college had initially purchased an apartment building adjacent to the newer dorms to house additional students , but it was demolished to make room for the newest dorm , Sontag . Since any HMC student , regardless of class year , can live in any of the dormitories , several of the dorms have accumulated long - standing traditions and so - called ' personalities ' . Two examples of these traditions are the parties Long Tall Glasses ( a formal affair thrown by North ) and TQ Day ( a tequila - centered " beach " party thrown by West ) . The personality of a given dorm experiences changes over the years , however , as Harvey Mudd alumni may find upon visiting their alma mater long after graduation . Athletics . Athletics teams from Claremont McKenna College , Harvey Mudd College , and Scripps College compete as one team . Male athletic teams are called the Stags , and women ' s teams are called the Athenas . The teams participate in the NCAA ' s Division III and in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference . College traditions . Individual dorms at Harvey Mudd have their own unique traditions , but the college itself hosts some campus traditions . In the early 1970s the first unicycle appeared on campus . The unicycling club , known as Gonzo Unicycle Madness , was formed , and to this day organizes an annual 9 . 6 mile ride known as " The Foster ' s Run , " to the " Donut Man " donut shop in Glendora ( originally known as " Foster ' s Donuts " hence the name of the event ) for strawberry donuts . Upon return to the campus , the ritual of the " shakedown " takes place ( dismounting and then repeatedly jumping up and down ) , a necessary procedure after a unicycle ride of nearly twenty miles . Sometimes unicyclists on campus also meet to play unicycle hockey . In the early 1990s , though , the ridership of unicycles waned at the college . Currently , only a few Mudders ride unicycles , many of them at " South " dorm . A student - led organization , Increasing Harvey Mudd ' s Traditional Practices ( IHTP ) , works to revive college traditions that have slowly faded over the years , and also starts new traditions that the group hopes to see take root on campus . It hosts annual events such as the 5 - Class Competition , Friday Nooners , Wednesday Nighters , Frosh / Soph Games , and the Thomas - Garrett Affair . Interdorm competitions are also regularly held , ranging from water polo to broomball . The HMC honor code . HMC students developed , live by and enforce an Honor Code themselves . The Honor Code states : The Honor Code is so well followed that the college entrusts the students to 24 - hour per day access to all buildings , including labs , and permits take - home exams , specified either as open - book or closed - book , or as timed or un - timed . Architecture . The original buildings of campus were designed by Edward Durell Stone . Most are covered with thousands of square concrete features , called " warts " by the students , which would be perfectly suited to buildering except that , while some are set into the wall , others are simply glued on . In addition , these warts have the unusual usefulness of being great ' shelves ' for unicycles and skateboards . One can walk towards Galileo Hall and see the warts ( especially those near the entrances of buildings ) being used as racks for unicycles and skateboards . Interestingly enough , the unofficial mascot of Harvey Mudd ( featured on many college handbooks and other publications ) is one of these concrete blocks with a face , arms , and legs , named " Wally the Wart . " Most of the computer labs and many classrooms are located in the basements ( called the Libra Complex ) of the concrete - block buildings . All of the buildings that make up the Libra Complex are interconnected via a series of underground tunnels , enabling convenient inter - building access . Relations with Caltech . The California Institute of Technology , another school known for its strength in the natural sciences and engineering , is located 26 miles away from Harvey Mudd College . From time to time , Mudders have been known to amuse themselves by pranking Caltech . For example , in 1986 , students from Mudd stole a memorial cannon from Fleming House at Caltech ( originally from the National Guard ) by dressing as maintenance people and carting it off on a flatbed truck for " cleaning . " Harvey Mudd eventually returned the cannon after Caltech threatened to take legal action . In 2006 , MIT replicated the prank and moved the same cannon to their campus in Cambridge , Massachusetts . Another Mudd prank involved slight modifications to a freeway sign . By placing parentheses around Pasadena City College , a nearby community college , Mudd students changed the sign to read : " California Institute of Technology " " ( Pasadena City College ) " " Next Exit " Notable alumni . Notable Harvey Mudd College alumni include astronauts George " Pinky " Nelson ( 1972 ) and Stan Love ( 1987 ) , diplomat Richard H . Jones ( 1972 ) , and notable eSports personality Sean Plott . Commencement speakers . Commencement speakers at Harvey Mudd College have included inventors , entertainers , educators , astronauts , and civil rights leaders , among others .