[Y HMC?] Miranda Lau

Hey! My name is Miranda Lau (she/her) and I’m a student intern for the Office of Admission. My hometown is Bellevue, Washington, which is about a 15-20 minute drive away from Seattle. I’m currently a freshman, and while Mudders don’t have to declare their majors until the end of their sophomore year, I’m planning on majoring in chemistry as of now. With college application season right around the corner, I’d like to share my experience with how I found out about Mudd, what caused me to apply, and why choosing to attend may have been the best decision I’ve ever made. 

This is me! Photo: Miranda Lau

I first found out about Mudd in my Freshman year of high school, when my older brother was going through his own college decision process. He was interested in touring some schools in California, so my whole family flew down and took a roadtrip all across the state looking at different schools. Although he wasn’t interested in Mudd itself, he did look into Claremont McKenna and thus began my research on Mudd. I knew I wanted to go into STEM without giving up my love for the humanities, and that combined with the small college culture that I admired so much launched Mudd to the top of my college list. The more I discovered about Mudd, the more I knew that it was the right fit for me. I ended up applying Early Decision I, and I’ve never looked back. 

Although this has probably been said countless times before, my favorite thing about Mudd has to be its community. Whether it be a professor, upperclassmen, or my classmates, there is always someone willing to reach out and help wherever I go. I was worried when I began my time here that I would be overwhelmed by the workload or I would have trouble making friends, but in the month that I’ve been here, I’ve confirmed that Mudd is truly the place for me. Yes, the workload is hard, but there are resources provided to assist with that. At Mudd, you aren’t expected to be able to do the homework by yourself. The work is meant to be collaborative, discussing possible solutions and working through problems with a group of friends. 

Contrary to popular belief, Mudd isn’t all work and no play. One of my favorite traditions across the 5Cs is showering people on their birthday. It was my birthday a couple weeks ago, and I hid out at my friend’s dorm in Pitzer (one of the other 5Cs!) until my friends found me and carried me back to my dorm kicking and screaming. They somehow managed to fit 10+ people into an elevator while carrying me, took me into my suite, and shoved me into the shower. 

My birthday shower! Photo: Miranda Lau

I can’t wait for the rest of my time here, and I hope this has shown you how great of a school Harvey Mudd truly is.