Students work on engineering project.

Academics

The Harvey Mudd curriculum integrates vigorous STEM and liberal arts courses to educate talented scientists, engineers and mathematicians—inspiring them to become passionate problem solvers who understand the impact of their work on society.

The curriculum has three components:

The Common Core

Our educational experience starts with the Common Core, a set of coordinated courses from every department—biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, math, physics and humanities, social sciences and the arts. The Core gives you a broad scientific background coupled with academic writing and critical inquiry. No matter what your future major, you will gain a solid interdisciplinary foundation.

Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts

Harvey Mudd is a liberal arts college where students have the opportunity to major in a STEM field while taking nearly a third of their classes in humanities, social sciences and the arts (HSA). The HSA requirement encourages students to pursue their interests in philosophy, psychology, political science, sociology, literature, music, photography, media studies and many other fields. With dynamic professors at Harvey Mudd and the other Claremont Colleges, you will be able to take courses in a wide range of topics of interest to you. Why do we center HSA in our curriculum? Because we believe technology divorced from humanity is worse than no technology at all.

The Major

The major builds depth and technical competence in a chosen field. Majors at Harvey Mudd emphasize a broad-based, interdisciplinary approach to equip our students with problem-solving skills and the ability to adapt to any challenge. Coursework comes alive with project-based experiential learning and graduate-level research opportunities. You’ll finish your major working on real-world research or design projects. Throughout the entire curriculum runs an emphasis on developing strong oral and written communications and excellent computational skills.

Harvey Mudd’s Majors

  • biology
  • chemistry
  • computer science
  • engineering
  • mathematics
  • physics
  • chemistry and biology
  • mathematical and computational biology
  • computer science and mathematics
  • mathematics and physics
  • Off-campus major (OCM)
  • Individual program of studies (IPS).

See the Academic Catalogue for more information.