Answers and advice as you complete your application:

We know that applying to college is a lot of work. Take a deep breath and congratulate yourself on getting to this point! This post is meant to relieve some stress (we hope!) by offering some advice and providing answers to questions you might have as you complete your application. The answer may be below or it may be covered here. 

Office Closure December 22 – January 3rd

Please keep in mind that our office will close for winter break at 5 pm (PST) on Tuesday, December 22nd. We will open at 8 am (PST) on January 4th. During our winter break we will not be able to respond to our phone messages. However, emails to admission@hmc.edu  will be checked regularly throughout the break. Please be patient as you may not receive an immediate response, however we will be sure to respond to any requests in plenty of time for you to complete your application. 

Once we return, our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm (PST).

January 5 is our application deadline

• Submit your Common Application or Coalition Application to us by this date (don’t forget to budget time for the additional HMC questions). Your application should be submitted by January 5, 2022, 11:59 pm of the time zone you are located in.
• Please do not panic about missing school documents. We understand if your high school transcript and recommendations are submitted after our deadline, and this will not in any way disadvantage your application. Once we have processed the majority of materials we’ve received, we will then send out a missing items email. Please pay attention to these emails. Again, we’ll give you plenty of time to complete your application. 
• Do review our required materials.

Read your emails

• We will communicate primarily through the email you used in your Common Application or Coalition Application.
• Go through your junk mail and spam folders. At times, very important messages end up there (i.e. when we announce that decisions are ready to view in the Applicant Hub).
• Please pay attention to requests for missing items, but do not panic or call your school to ask them to resend the documents. Most requests can be handled within a few days.
• After our system registers that we have received your application (which will not be the same time you hit “submit” on the Common Application or Coalition Application website), you will receive a confirmation email from admission@hmc.edu. Instructions on how to access the HMC Applicant Hub will follow within four business days from helpdesk@hmc.edu. 

Log into your HMC Applicant Hub

• Use the Hub to check the status of required admission and financial aid materials.
• For those applying for need-based financial aid, access the “Financial Aid @ HMC” link in the Hub.
• You will also receive your application decision in the Hub.
• Early Decision II decisions will be available by February 15 and Regular Decision decisions will be available by April 1.
• For issues regarding access to the HMC Applicant Hub, read these hub FAQs.

Harvey Mudd is ACT/SAT test optional and we accept self-reported test scores

• HMC is ACT/SAT test optional through the high school class of 2023. 
• Applicants are not at a disadvantage in our admission process if they do not submit ACT/SAT testing. Furthermore, ACT/SAT tests are not used in our consideration for merit scholarships. 
• Read more about our standardized testing and test optional policies here.
• If English has not been your primary language of instruction, please submit your English proficiency exams (CAE, DET, IELTS, or TOEFL)
• You can submit test scores using the self-reported test scores form on your HMC Applicant Hub.

How to access fee waivers

• Request your fee waiver through the Common Application or Coalition Application. Students must select an indicator of economic need in the Fee Waiver section.
• Additional options for a fee waiver are also available in the HMC specific questions of both applications.

Arts supplements, resumes, abstracts, extra letters of recommendation, etc

• None of these is required or will increase your chances of admission. 
• We do not accept music CDs, art portfolios, dance videos, etc. Our campus is filled with artists of all sorts and we love them, but we do not have faculty available to review these submissions. We value your contributions and talents in the arts and this can be highlighted in the activities section of your application. You may even choose to include a shortened link on your application. However, we cannot guarantee that we will view it as part of our review.
• We welcome research abstracts and other examples of your scientific and mathematical endeavors. You can upload this as part of your Common Application or Coalition Application.
• Don’t send a separate resume. It will not be uploaded into your file. Instead use your application. The activities and honors sections are a great place to showcase your commitments and accomplishments, although it is also fine if you don’t enter anything in this section.
• We require three letters of recommendation; from a school counselor, a math or science teacher, and a humanities, social science, or arts teacher. If you need to send another letter, our system allows for one additional recommendation (this can be academic or non-academic i.e. supervisor, coach, etc.). We do not recommend that you submit additional letters given our volume of applications.
• Remember more is not always better! Simply giving us what we require will put you in a great position in our process. 

College Courses 

• If you’ve taken a college course, include this information in the application and share that a transcript is available. If you note that you earned credit from the college (rather than attended a summer program, for example) our system will add a college transcript onto your checklist in the HMC Applicant Hub. If this college course is included in your high school transcript, please send us an email to petition to waive this requirement. Otherwise, we expect a transcript and will accept an unofficial copy during application review. We will require official transcript college transcripts for enrolling students.

English Proficiency Exams

• If you attend high school outside of the US, our system adds an English proficiency exam as a testing requirement.  However, if you live in a country where English is the primary language of instruction for most high schools, this requirement will automatically be waived once you submit your application. If it is not automatically waived but you have been educated in English or your primary language is English, you may petition to waive this requirement by completing the request form in the HMC Applicant Hub. 

How and when to contact us. Hint: Less often than you think.  

• This may seem antithetical to the wonderful HMC spirit of community, but we get a lot of paperwork and it takes us some time to get all of it processed and tagged in our system.
• A phone call or email in early January inquiring about the status of your application will get the response above and a prompt to check your HMC Application Hub.
• The Applicant Hub will list when we’ve processed a piece of your application. This may be the same date as when we received the material. At times it may be a day, or even a week after we’ve received it – particularly if it is sent through the mail. We appreciate your patience as we process your materials.
• When in doubt contact us at admission@hmc.edu. We are here for you. 

Send us good vibes. We’re sending them to you with each application we read.

• We mean this. We love getting to know you through your application, and we will be your advocate throughout this process. 
• You’ve put in a lot of work on your college applications, and we’re going to commit the next few months to helping create the HMC Class of 2026.
• Thank you for the trust you are putting in us and in Harvey Mudd. We will work hard to earn it! 
• Trust yourself and the process. You will end up where you belong!