My SATs aren’t very high (2130 super score: 700 w 670 m 760 w) and my GPA as listed on college board is around a 3.9 unweighted and I go to an urban private school and I’m female. Yet, I’ve been getting several letters from Olin referring to a special invitation I will be sent to apply there are well as multiple emails. I’m clearly not within Olin’s score ranges so I was wondering if anyone knew if Olin is trying to low acceptance rates like UChicago or John’s Hopkins or if there is a shred of legitimate interest?
Thanks!!
It used to be that 2100 (“triple 7s”) was considered “high enough to apply anywhere,” though now some ratchet that up to 2250 or so (conventional wisdom, or urban legend, or gossip- totally unreliable sources). In any case, 2130 is very high. Generally girls are URMs at technical schools. And 3.9 unweighted is very high!
So, why would you not see yourself as a legitimate target for Olin? Their 25-75 was listed in 2008 as being something like 2110 - 2330. For girls, acceptance rates may be higher (though scores likely will not be).
what does “personal invitation to apply” actually mean?
yeah so I can’t figure it out! I listed Computer Science as my prospective major but other than that I can figure out why they’d be so interested in me. I got another follow up email after the letter today that said “we are very interested in seeing your application” and “I’ll send you a personal invitation to apply when the 2016 Common Application is available”
so yeah I’m not really sure what a personal invitation means…As well, I saw that Olin’s current male female ratio is 53/47 so I can’t imagine they’re that desperate for women?
I did not find a common data set (CDS) for Olin. Look at MIT. Their male/female ratio of students is similar. The acceptance rate for men is about 6%; about 12% for women. All schools would like to have their pick of who they accept. Your stats put you well into territory for being accepted at Olin. They are encouraging you to apply so they (not you) can decide. Once again, the standards are not any lower for women, but there is more room for women who meet those standards than for men. They likely have the pool to draw from because of outreach. If they did not do this sort of outreach, perhaps fewer women would apply.
A personal invitation is simply an advertisement. It has no weight and really means nothing. As you get older American Express and other credit card companies will send you “personal invitations” from a vice president in recognition of [nothing] so that you can join the “elite ranks” of cardholders that carries some color-coded version of their brand. It is just a form of “feel good” marketing to make you aware of them and make you feel like they are elite, and, by extension, so are you.
It’s an advertisement. My D got many of them from Olin before the application deadline then they stopped cold. Apply if you are interested, it’s a great school and you have as good a shot as anybody if you have a well-demonstrated interest in engineering.
First off, a 2100 on the SAT puts you in the 96th percentile. So just wanted to erase the perception of it “not being very high.” And you’re right in the 50% for Olin.
2nd, as others have noted, a lot of colleges send 'personal invitations" to apply…they’re trying to up their numbers. That said, you really do sound qualified for what they are looking for and Olin is truly unique and worth a serious look.
(accidentally posted this to the wrong thread and I can’t find the delete button)
My daughter is at Olin, class of '18. If you are female and interested in computer science, you are their target audience, and your scores don’t rule you out, in my opinion. She had the same math score; we joke that with Olin’s small class size, she dropped them ten points for their average math score for her class. But she had other accomplishments, so they looked past poor test taking. Olin looks for people who are going to use their engineering education to make the world a better place. If that is your passion, and you can communicate that to them, you have a chance, I think. 
angelami, saw your daughter was interested in computer science. I have a son who is interested in Olin because of the environment and leans to the technology side…would love your feedback on how Olin prepares graduates for technology jobs, especially software. Your feedback is appreciated
RedbirdDad, there are a lot of opportunities, particularly for software leaning students. My daughter is '17 E-CompSci at Olin. She has had a fantastic internship both summers and many other opportunities that she turned down because you can only pick one. The career fairs often have 100+ companies in attendance, which is far more than the number of graduating seniors. There is both the career fair sponsored by the PGP office and the start-up career fair sponsored by a club/group (whose name escapes me at the moment).
Here are the majors - http://www.olin.edu/academics/programs-majors/. Our was ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering), but his new job relates to software.
Olin is a great school, but small/limited. It is all engineering, with no straight “Comp Sci” major. So compare with other program course listings etc.
RedbirdDad, I’ll second m0m0f3 in that my D is a '16 E w/ Computing major at Olin and appears to be extremely well-positioned for post-graduate success as a software engineer. She will probably not have had as many pure CS courses as a straight-up CS major would get at another school (Olin has no Algorithms class, for instance, which is a bit unfortunate), but it seems to be enough for her to thrive in industry. She was choosing among three quality internship offers for this summer (and, frankly, could probably have generated more if she’d accepted all her interview offers), and is now at Microsoft and feeling very well prepared for the project she’s working on. And it really can’t be emphasized enough how awesome the PGP office at Olin is in bringing great companies to campus and coaching students in how to successfully navigate the internship and job hunting process. They’re nothing short of spectacular, in our experience.
And of course the full Olin experience gives its students a set of skills beyond their specific discipline that I think are of great value. We have zero regrets.