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Does anyone know if Olin posts online or just mails the candidate invitations?

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, February 04, 2004 - 04:03 pm: Edit

My daughter received an invitation last year. I believe that it came via some company like DHL or FedX.

Good luck!

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Wednesday, February 04, 2004 - 09:58 pm: Edit

Thanks...

I know the odds are rough, I know the news will probably not be good, but I just want to know one way or the other! (Aghh I hate the college application process!)

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Wednesday, February 04, 2004 - 10:17 pm: Edit

Hang in there! Last year, my daughter was surprised to make it to Candidate status, and. . . .then to accepted status!

Have you visited the campus?

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Wednesday, February 04, 2004 - 10:45 pm: Edit

Yeah, I visited last fall (Oct 19th I think it was, the open house). I didn't even really want to visit or apply because I thought it was way too small. Pretty much as soon as I set foot on campus I changed my mind and by the time I left I loved it.

It's funny how visiting schools can completely change what you think of them.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 07:51 am: Edit

Yes, it is very small, and very different. A visit is so important.

My daughter didn't visit campus till Candidates Weekend, and that visit really cemented her interest in Olin.

How did you decide to apply there?

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 04:53 pm: Edit

My dad heard about it on NPR a while back, and he told me he thought I should apply. After visiting, I decided he was right.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 05:47 pm: Edit

My daughter first heard about Olin from some of their mailings--the bungee-jumping one, and the "It's Alive!" poster. She's working with a FIRST team at a Boston high school these days. There's an article about that on the Olin front page.


What other schools are you interested in?

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 06:26 pm: Edit

I applied to Rutgers (my dad is a fan, since I'm instate and therefore have a full scholarship because of SATs and grades), Norwich, Clarkson, Lehigh, Colgate,and RPI as well as Olin. I'm not sure what my second choice is. I like Clarkson a lot, but so far away, and no easy way to get there! RPI's girl/guy ratio isn't so great, but otherwise I liked it. Lehigh is very expensive, as is Colgate (also doesn't have engineering. Norwich is also kinda far, plus it's very military. And I really don't want to stay in New Jersey for college, so we'll see.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 06:34 pm: Edit

My daughter also applied at RPI. When we visited, she thought the education there was really good, but the quality of life stuff was not too great. Her other choices were schools in cities--Carnegie Mellon, Ohio State. Boston is just a great city to go to school in, Pittsburgh and Columbus aren't bad either.

Well, I'll be thinking of you tomorrow--hope you get good news!

I'll be watching here Feb. 6!

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 06:54 pm: Edit

Thanks... ::takes deep breath::

By Kissy (Kissy) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 01:48 pm: Edit

D received her candidate's invitation this morning (dancing for joy!)

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 01:54 pm: Edit

Hooray hooray! It will be such an exciting weekend for her, and for you as well if you are able to attend!

We stayed at the Babson CEE, as we did not want to rent a car, and it's a very easy walk over to Olin from there.

Congratulations to your daughter, and I hope we'll see a couple of other posts here soon!

By Kissy (Kissy) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 02:27 pm: Edit

Thank you,Chrisd! I think you had once mentioned that your D will be participating in one of the candidate's weekends - do you recall which one? We'll be at the first one. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for baltodad and son - hope we hear some good news.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 02:41 pm: Edit

I am not sure which one she'll be helping out at. . . .maybe the first, I'll ask her. She said she's going to be one of the students who helps out with the "blue foam" building project, a hands-on event for candidates. Olin is, in most every way, a work in progress, so events may be different this year.

Yes, I hope baltodad & son, as well as Beck86nj, have good news today--how did the envelope arrive? For my daughter, either her candidate invitation or acceptance was just "tossed" on our front porch by the delivery folks--it seemed way too casual for such important news!

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 03:02 pm: Edit

::GRINS::

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 03:11 pm: Edit

Congratulations!

Which weekend are you going to?

By Kissy (Kissy) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 03:15 pm: Edit

Congrats Beck86nj - I'm grinning for you, too!

Envelope arrived via DHL, tossed on our back doorstep. No delivery notice or anything. Just glad I saw it!

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 03:17 pm: Edit

The first, which works out better for me anyway.

It was on my doorstep when my friend dropped me off after school. I jumped out of the car while it was moving (creeping really, but still scared my friend) and ran toward the doorstep shaking. Very shaking.

By Sba (Sba) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 04:21 pm: Edit

My son should be home from school in a few minutes. I sure hope he has a package waiting! Olin is a great school.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 04:33 pm: Edit

Good luck wishes to him too, Sba! Hope he lets you know as soon as he finds out!

By Themastermind1 (Themastermind1) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 04:45 pm: Edit

Do you still get a letter via DHL if you didn't make it to candidate status?

By Sba (Sba) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 04:59 pm: Edit

He's been invited to Candidates weekend March 5th and 6th. I'm so excited and so is he!

Thanks for the good wishes.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 05:08 pm: Edit

Congratulations to your son, Sba!

Candidates Weekend is memorable, even if a student goes elsewhere for college.

Themastermind1--I don't know the answer to your question, but I would suggest that if you don't receive anything by Monday afternoon, call admissions.

I've emailed my daughter to see which weekend she's volunteering at. I think the second weekend might conflict with this FIRST project she's involved with. I'm very happy to try to answer any questions you might have.

By Sba (Sba) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 05:15 pm: Edit

Our son wants to do the candidates weekend on his own. We went as a family to visit the college last summer, so we got to take the tour and talk to people.

He's a very independent kid, and I try to encourage that, so I guess we will let him go.

Can you think of anything super important that we will miss as parents if we don't attend?

By Themastermind1 (Themastermind1) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 05:16 pm: Edit

I called DHL and they don't have a record of any packaged shipped from Olin to me this week

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 05:24 pm: Edit

Sba-- If you've been there on a campus visit already, you probably wouldn't miss anything super-important. When my daughter went last year, there were kids, maybe a dozen, who came solo.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 05:34 pm: Edit

Themastermind1-- Maybe hang in there till Monday? Best wishes where ever your college search may take you.

By Themastermind1 (Themastermind1) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 05:36 pm: Edit

I guess. I called Olin and asksed if they notify non-candidates via DHL, and the lady said she didn't know but she thought everything went out via DHL.

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 06:07 pm: Edit

Hang in there, Mastermind.

By Enu (Enu) on Friday, February 06, 2004 - 10:13 pm: Edit

w00t! I'm going to the first weekend. I'm probably going to go alone, since the reimbursement doesn't even cover my transportation costs let alone my parents'. I was surprised to see no mention of sharing a hotel room with another loner candidate in the acceptance materials. I guess I'll call Olin and see what they can do about it, but if there's someone here in the same boat, the e-mail address is in the profile.

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 06:24 pm: Edit

Chrisd-

Do you remember what the interviews were like? I'm guessing they're evaluative... similar to other college interviews?

Thanks

By Themastermind1 (Themastermind1) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 06:31 pm: Edit

Well, I got a rejection letter :\

Did figure out how to find out if you've made candidate status (and probably if you got in) early - call DHL and ask them if they have any packages in their system going from Olin's zipcode to yours - if they do, congratulations. If not, you have some sad news coming via USPS Priority Mail

By Sba (Sba) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 08:50 pm: Edit

I'm sure that there is an excellent school out there that will be perfect for you. You just need to find each other.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 10:16 pm: Edit

Interviews.. . . .last year, there were two interviews for each candidate. There was one interview with the candidate and several Olin people: administrator, faculty, and a current student. The second was a group interview w/ 4 or 5 candidates, and several Olin people. I believe the interviews were the only evaluative part of the weekend. Do remember that if you've made it to C. Weekend, they've studied all your test scores, grades, transcripts, etc and found those to be satisfactory--no need to talk or worry about that stuff at this point. A lot of it is about "fit." You might want to read past issues of the school paper to get a flavor for current news.

http://www.olin.edu/franklyspeaking/

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 09:36 pm: Edit

Thanks for the link. Especially enjoyable since I'm an editor for my school paper.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 09:55 pm: Edit

I think another issue is due out soon. You can sign up on the Frankly Speaking site to be notified by email when a new issue is available.

Last year, after the Candidates Weekend, a candidate posting group was started on this site

http://xforums.net/ib/index.php?showforum=24

I see a few new 2008 Candidates have posted there, you others might like to meet there.

By Mike2008 (Mike2008) on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 03:23 pm: Edit

Chris

What was the main reason for your daughter attended Olin?

My daughter is coming for this year candidates' weekend.

We appreciate if you can give us tips on the interview and group design projects.

Mike

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 04:12 pm: Edit

The main reason was her interest in the hands-on, small class structure. She was also very attracted by the attitude of the administration, faculty, and students.

Tips on the interview and group design projects.....The group design project was not evaluative last year. It is a preview of the team and project based learning at Olin. Be relaxed, work with the group, and apply your ideas to the project.

The interviews--they were evaluative last year, maybe the same this year. Best tip is to be relaxed, express yourself, ask questions about the school to which you've given some thought. They have already reviewed application materials, test scores and all that--those numbers are not important at this point. Being articulate, interested, and thoughtful are important.

Your daughter might want to check out the above posted site, as there are current students posting there and they are more than happy to answer questions. Olin people love to talk about Olin, do not be shy. She might also want to look at the student paper, which has a new web address

http://franklyspeaking.olin.edu/

How did your daughter decide to apply to Olin?

By Mike2008 (Mike2008) on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 05:03 pm: Edit

Chris

Thanks

By Beck86nj (Beck86nj) on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 08:18 pm: Edit

Has anyone that RSVPed gotten an email back confirming? I haven't, and since the deadline is tomorrow I'm wondering if I should call and make sure they got the email.

By Chrisd (Chrisd) on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:07 pm: Edit

I wouldn't hesitate to call, if you have a concern about it. By the time my daughter got to Candidates Weekend, she'd talked to nearly everyone on the admissions staff with one question or another.

She will be helping at the first weekend; the second one conflicts with a FIRST program.