<p>Clearly, college admission process is not an exact science. Anyhow, I agree with dadofcw, that the interview process with different interviewing panels is questionable. </p>
<p>For those candidates who have a strong desire to be part of Class of 2011, the CWs were set up for high expectations. Visions of walking the hallways, working in the wonderful labs with fellow students and professors, and living in the dormitories, were dancing in their heads for at least two weeks. Indeed, it was a crushing blow for these 78 young, talented, high achievers when they received either a waitlisted or rejected letter. One can argue that it?s part of life lessons, but admittedly, it?s a harsher admission process than any other colleges. </p>
<p>Perhaps, it?s time for Olin admission office to evaluate the process. Granted that it has its own merits, it is with hope that future students will be better prepared. </p>
<p>To those admitted: CONGRATULATIONS. And, those waitlisted and rejected: Hang in there, it's a setback but make the best out of it. The four years ahead is the BEST yet to come no matter where you'll be. I know - I have been there once.</p>
<p>I'm sorry that you felt the Olin admissions process was cruel. If you come up with any suggestions on ways it could work better, I urge you to email admissions and tell them so. Olin values continuous improvement and knows the candidate's weekends aren't perfect. They are just the best way we have found yet to ensure that the students admitted to Olin are the best possible fit for the school and the school for the students.</p>
<p>Candidate's weekend is intense. But it also serves to help students find out what life at Olin is like...very intense. And it is helpful at giving students an idea of it they would fit in and feel comfortable at Olin. Unfortunately, not every student who thinks they fit in will get in. However, some students who thought they would like it at Olin realize they would not because of the weekend. I think that is a huge benefit, as I have seen students struggle at Olin when they learned it really was a poor fit. And I can imagine how much more often this would happen if students did not have the chance to visit Olin. Additionally, some students who only see a glossy, advertised version of Olin (though Olin tries to show what it's really like), think that they are a fit when they are not. The interviewers are good at finding out who really would not fit in, because the interviewers know what Olin is really like.</p>
<p>As for normalizing the interviews, I don’t know all that goes on after the weekend, as I have only ever been an interviewer and never part of the actual decisions (students do not decide who is accepted or rejected). I do know that at two other schools I applied to with panel interviews that both schools also had multiple panels. It is just unrealistic to expect the same 3-4 people to interview such a large number of candidates. However, I have had the privilege of interviewing many times and with many different combinations of faculty and staff. Before the weekend, all the students (and maybe faculty and staff…I don’t remember) go to a short class where they are walked through the questions they should ask and suggestions for other questions. They are given tips and tricks for the interview. Most (if not all) of the panels have at least one person who has interviewed during a previous year. Having interviewed multiple years, I can say that it not as difficult to “normalize” as one might think. Probably about half of the candidate’s are either clear fits to Olin or clear mis-matches in my experience. The other half are trickier, but often the group interview helps to clear things up. Each interview panel generally has a faculty, staff, and student so many different interests and perspectives are represented when considering candidates. Over the years my interview teams have been very consistent in their evaluation of candidates. Obviously, as the school ages and the process matures, it will become easier to normalize and to understand what types of students will do best at Olin. However, this is an imperfect system made of imperfect people. Yeah, it really stinks when you don’t get in where you wanted (I know because my first choice didn’t give me the scholarship I needed to attend), but I believe Olin is working hard to be as fair as possible.</p>
<p>So I guess, in conclusion, Olin is obviously trying to be sales oriented in the brochures and mailings. We want people to want to go to Olin. But at candidate's weekend we really want students to understand what Olin is really like. The students all work hard to not just show the happy side of Olin at the weekend when they talk to candidates. But please forgive us if we are also very excited, as most of us really enjoy(ed - since I graduated) being at Olin. So I'm sorry your child was hurt, but that was never the intention. And please consider sending Allison or another admission person your feedback and ideas for improvement (if you come up with any).</p>
<p>Joyjoy: Wow! What a thoughtful and detailed outline of the process. I had hoped and figured that the process had been well thought out. There seem to be more and more of the multi-interview multi-panel setups especially for some big scholarships. I was told recently by a committe from the time your kid starts on a visit until 48 hours later every discussion and interaction with faculty, staff ,and students can be considered part of the interview--then she followed by saying relax and be yourself. After that explanation--yipes I am glad it is not me. As I said earlier, Olin tries -with the blogs etc- to be very personable. You have to try to "sell" the place. You want people to like it. But the more personal, the more personally attached people, especially young ones, become. Allison warned people over and over again to be prepared for setbacks. We, from the start, downplayed any chance of getting in and even getting to CW. It was an 8 month detachment attempt, trying to get S to learn if it was a place he liked and to learn about the students there etc. Even when he liked CW, we kind of played it down as a real long shot--nice if you get it, but do not plan on it. I don't know if it would have worked had he been rejected. I hope it would have dampened the sting. He, like many others, has other options he likes. I think anyone who does not get in should feel better than if they get/got a rejection from most shools. At least you can say it was about fit and that they tried----nothing to do with capabilities. Unless they accept everyone someone is gonna be hurt.
Nothing anyone says can change the fact that it will take time to get over it. I am sure Allison et al would look favorably upon any constuctive feedback.</p>
<p>I know someone who was put on the waitlist with the option of deferring to the next year. What makes the admissions committee decide to give someone the option of deferring a year and being accepted next year versus offering acceptance to them this year? Is it because there is not enough room in the class or is it due to other factors, i.e. they don't see a strong commitment to engineering, the person may not be "ready," etc.?</p>
<p>Vpl,
It is almost always due to the fact that Olin does not currently have the infrastructure to accept every single great student that applies to Olin. While we'd love to have every bright and talented student who comes our way, the campus and endowment simply can't support much more than the ~75-85 per class right now. There's been talk down the road of increasing enrollment size once the endowment has grown significantly, but for now the school offers a deferred year option for those who still want to be a part of Olin, even if they have to wait another year to be a part of it. They also can't offer the deferred year option to every waitlisted or denied student because otherwise the following class would be full before even accepting applications for that year. </p>
<p>I hope I answered your question, but I'm sure other people can add to it.</p>