,·Private STEM-Focused Liberal Arts College·Est. 1955
“The STEM powerhouse of the liberal arts world — Harvey Mudd graduates earn the highest starting salaries of any college in America.”
Harvey Mudd College, founded in 1955, is unlike any other liberal arts college in America. With just 913 students on a compact 33-acre campus, it offers a rigorous STEM-focused education within a liberal arts framework — and its graduates consistently earn the highest starting salaries of any college in the country, with a median of $112,500 right out of school. What makes Harvey Mudd unique is its mandatory STEM core curriculum: every student, regardless of major, completes coursework in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and computer science during their first two years. This shared foundation creates a community of broadly trained scientists and engineers who can think across disciplines. Majors include engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematical-computational biology, with joint majors available across departments. As a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium, Harvey Mudd students can cross-register at Pomona, Scripps, CMC, and Pitzer — taking humanities and social science courses that fulfill their liberal arts requirements while accessing 2,700+ courses across five colleges. The campus culture is famously collaborative rather than competitive, with a strong tradition of pranks (including the legendary theft of Caltech's cannon), inner tube water polo, and a close-knit residential community where nearly every student lives on campus.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Early Career Salaries
PayScale 2024
Undergraduate Engineering (non-doctorate)
US News 2026
Computer Science
US News 2026
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceRegular Decision
Harvey Mudd does not offer Early Decision. Notification by late March.
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$72,699
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
Harvey Mudd's most popular major. The general engineering program emphasizes breadth across disciplines and includes a mandatory clinic program where teams of students work on real-world engineering projects for corporate and government sponsors.
CS and math are core strengths, with 20+ elective and seminar courses in CS alone. Joint CS-Math and CS-Physics majors are available.
Physics, chemistry, and biology departments benefit from the STEM core curriculum that gives every student a strong foundation in all sciences.
4 years
Every Harvey Mudd student completes a mandatory core in math, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and computer science — regardless of major. This is unique among liberal arts colleges and produces graduates with extraordinary breadth across STEM disciplines.
1 years
Senior capstone where teams of 4-5 students work on real engineering, CS, or science projects for corporate and government sponsors. Clients have included Google, NASA, Boeing, and the NSA. Students deliver professional-grade solutions to real-world problems.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $68,613
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
