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What do people know about the Olin College of Engineering? It is a very new, very small school near Boston, MA, that offers full scholarships to the few people who are admitted. My scores are generally pretty good (1510 combined SAT I, 800 Math IIc, 1st in my class of over 200, various extracirricular activites); do I have a chance?

By Saera (Saera) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 09:25 pm: Edit

I'd like to have more infortmation about this school too...most places don't have very much information on it at all...

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 11:51 pm: Edit

There has been previous discussion here, including from someone whose daughter is going there. Did you search the archives?

By Kissy (Kissy) on Monday, June 23, 2003 - 09:34 am: Edit

My daughter and I visited Olin during spring break. Unfortunately, Olin students were just returning to campus too so, while we weren't able to take the "official" tour, we met with current students who were more than willing to talk with us and show us around.

The school is brand new and adjacent to the Babson campus. There was quite a bit of construction still going on- new dorm, I think.
I would characterize the architecture as being "warm contemporary" with outstanding engineering facilities. The students stressed how everything,from food service menus to the curriculum, is constantly evolving. There's a lot of interaction between students, faculty, and administration as they tweak and fine-tune the program.

The students said they take LA classes at Wellesley, Babson, and Brandeis. Most seemed to have cars on campus (parking isn't a problem) and travel to Boston fairly often for recreation. Although Olin students have most priviledges at the Babson campus, they said there was little interaction between Babson and Olin students.

The students we spoke with all stressed that they were trail blazers and adventurous in spirit and many passed up other great college opportunities to attend Olin. Olin had paid tuition and board for the 1st two classes but in the new literature, they mention only granting tuition to accepted students. I'm thinking they'll eventually phase out the tuition grants somewhere down the road.

Timmeirz- Your stats are excellent and look like they could put you into Olin. However, applicants who make the first cut are invited to attend one of two prospective student sessions on campus. I believe these are mandatory. The Olin students told us that the prospective students are observed for certain talents and characteristics and that the current students have much input into deiciding which students are finally accepted into the program.

On their website, they may still have links to current students whom you can email.

Hope this helps. There's also an Olin thread on "Individual Schools."

By Plbutterfly (Plbutterfly) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 12:00 pm: Edit

I live in the town where Olin is located and am friends with some of the students who attend the school. I have heard that great chunk of your chances of getting in depends upon the weekend you spend at Olin following the first admissions cut. During this weekend, the high school seniors are paired with Olin students and work together on projects similar to ones they would be doing as students at the college. Far too often, students at the top of their grades with amazing SAT scores work the best individually, and therefore an environment like Olin wouldn't be best for them.
I don't know if this helps at all, but if you'd like, I can get you in touch with one of my friends at Olin in case you have any more questions. Good luck!

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 06:30 pm: Edit

My son is quite interested in Olin. I spoke to a person in the admissions office about an overnight visit this Fall. She said to call back around mid-September, and they could set up a "shadowing" thing with an enrolled student.

Olin is still pretty much "under the radar"... not mentioned in the 2004 editions of two college guide books I've seen. That might help the chances for admission.

One thing I've noted in the info they provide on admissions is a very significant emphasis on out-of-the-ordinary ECs... especially something of an inventive or entreprenurial (sp?) nature. As with the Ivies and other highly selective colleges, fantastic grades alone might not be enough.

By Richen (Richen) on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 04:03 am: Edit

Timmeirz,

With your stats, I suggest you can get full scholarships to many colleges, if you can provide proof of need. Most top colleges will provide you with all the financial needs you have, I believe.

I have also visited Olin for my daughter's admissions in Fall 2002. We decided against it because I was very "unimpressed" with the progress they have made and the limited number of faculty in each engineering curriculum there so far. I think that you are betting your own career on the possible future of a school that is just starting. That makes two gambles out of one, and the odds are against you. Since you are already facing a lot of uncertainty in your life, why should you want an extra burden put on you. If your finances are in such a condition that that becomes the reason of going, then I suggest that with your stats, you should try to look for other financial aid, but find a truly deserving college to go to without all this additional burden. Even though there are many good points to Olin, i.e. the large funding they got (I belive it's around $350 million) and the association with a class act school as Babson, plus the free land they got from Babson, it is still a gamble in my mind. The thing that sealed it for me was the fact that there is just such a small, no tiny, faculty there right now that I don't believe it can provide my daughter with the education that she deserves. Her SAT's were 1500 but her ranking is a bit lower than yours in high school. She wound up going to RPI, which she absolutely loves. One other pump for RPI's engineering---if you look into the stats carefully, you'll observe that their grads in 2001 (when I looked it was the latest stats) as compared to those from Cornell for the same time period, the average starting salaries in each and every engineering specialty was higher at RPI than Cornell's by at least $10,000 per year for Bachelor's degrees!! Wow! That's a lot of difference. So much for Cornell's "great" engineering, huh!?

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 08:40 am: Edit

In fairness, it should be noted that Richen was looking at Olin before it actually existed as a functioning school. Glancing at the website, I note that the Engineering faculty compares favorabley to the small, high-quality Engineering program at Swarthmore College, which has 8 Engineering professors for 90 students, compared to Olin's 12 professors for 75. The question, of course, is how much the faculty will grow as the student body quadruples in size.

I too am somewhat hesitant about a brand new college that is still working out its identity and format. It will be more of a known quantity when they have all four classes running after Fall 2005.

By Idonotcare (Idonotcare) on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 10:07 am: Edit

but Olin is not accreditted, is it?

By Joie1321 (Joie1321) on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 09:13 am: Edit

Idonotcare: Olin is building its curriculum in such a way as to be accredited at the earliest possible time, which will be right after the first class of students graduate.

Plbutterfly: you said, "During this weekend, the high school seniors are paired with Olin students and work together on projects similar to ones they would be doing as students at the college." I am a current Olin student and am confused at what you are talking about. It is true that the candidate's weekend, which is the final admissions 'cut' for who gets accepted to Olin is a very important part of the process, but high schoolers are at no time paired with Olin students to work on projects. They are paired with other seniors. They are split into teams of 5 or 6 and participate in a teambuilding activity, which is most likely the project you are thinking of, an individual interview, and a group interview with the other 4 or 5 kids on their team. The teambuilding exercise is not judged, however. It is just used to help them become comfortable with their teammates. The interviews and general impressions really matter. Also, it allows the seniors to really get a feel of whether not Olin is for them.


Timmierz: Olin currently has 24 professors and will have 150 students (split in 2 grades) this comming fall. I have been at Olin for 2 years now (I was one of the original 30) so I can answer any questions if you want. We may be a new school, and reletively unknown, but the students, faculty, and staff are all working hard to make Olin known. We have formed many official and unofficial partnerships with large compnaies and individuals. We also have close ties to Babson and Wellesley Colleges and are working to strengthen ties with Brandies College, where we can take classes starting this fall.

The education that I have already received at Olin is amazing. I have been taught how to think, how to problem solve, how to work on a budget, find supplies, build contacts, give oral presentations, work in a team, and so much more. I have already had two internships, one at a very well known insurance company due in a large part to my experiences at Olin. Olin may be a gamble, but many companies are playing.

Another cool thing we have done, this past spring, all students were required to participate in OAP (Opportunity Assessment Practicum.) We were split into teams of 5 and assigned a mentor from the business world. We were charged with the job of finding new uses for the Segway Technology. We had to learn how to do market research, write rocket pitches, and make reasonable proposals. The point of this practicum was to introduce us to business and entrepreneurship. At the end of the practicum, Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway and founded of DeKa and the FIRST Robotics Competition, came to our school to watch presentations and give feedback on the three best new uses for his technology. This just shows one way that Olin is trying to build ties and teach the students about different aspects of business and technology.

Anything else that you would like to know?

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 01:42 pm: Edit

You might like to visit the Olin class of 2007 board going on at


http://xforums.net/ib/

Look for the Olin link down the left side.

By Idonotcare (Idonotcare) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 05:29 pm: Edit

Joie1321 , could you please post ur stat?

By Joie1321 (Joie1321) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 06:42 pm: Edit

What do you mean by stat?

By Idonotcare (Idonotcare) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 09:35 pm: Edit

SAT score, extracurricular activity, award received, leadership position, volunteer experience, etc

By Joie1321 (Joie1321) on Wednesday, August 06, 2003 - 10:33 pm: Edit

SAT = 1440; ACT = 32; GPA 5.63 on 5.0 scale; Valedictorian; Rank 2 of 289
Extracurriculars = Math Team, Scholastic Bowl, WYSE (World Wide Youth in Science and Engineering), Science Olympiad state medalist, National Honors Society, Enviromental Club, Key Club, Marching Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Color Guard, Varsity Bowling, JV Softball, Church Youth Group & multiple mission trips & volunteer in nurshery, Scholar Athlete, Fellowship of Chrisitan Athletes, National Merit Commended Scholar, Pep Band, Principal's Straight A List
(I had to go back and look this stuff up because it doesn’t matter once you go to college, and I forgot )

Honestly, my scores where below the average of those in my class. What Olin wants is summed up in something we call the "Olin Spirit." You have to have decent grades, but lots of kids have decent grade and don't get into Olin. I believe we have turned away more 1600s than we have accepted.

What matters is that you are strong in math and science but have passions elsewhere as well. You need to love group work, because everything except tests will be done with other people. The great thing is that everyone tends to do their fair share of the work. You need to like having fun. Olin works hard to make us well rounded and does not encourage us to become simply nerdy engineers. We want to be cool and social nerdy engineers. You need to be willing to take risks and be able to deal with uncertainty (we haven’t finished solidifying the curriculum for years 3 and 4 yet).

My number 1 recommendation is come and visit Olin if you can. If you can’t visit, apply. If you get invited to the candidate’s weekend, come to Olin then. As I mentioned above, most kids know after the weekend is over whether or not Olin is the right fit for them.

If you have any other specific fears and/or questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I hope that I have been helpful.