<p>Great article in Boston Globe about this year's Candidate Weekend. It will give perspective students a better idea of what Olin is all about.</p>
<p>Olin</a> College?s application process stresses teamwork - Boston.com</p>
<p>Nice article. It bugged me a bit that they made it sound as if the design challenge was part of the evaluation process, when every Olin student had a T-shirt on that said “The design challenge is not evaluative! O RLY? YA RLY!” Still, nice to see Olin getting some pub.</p>
<p>Were the current Olin students who were singing ‘Little Mermaid’ songs hazing the prospective students? Or is that just more drama to sell papers? Or something else entirely?</p>
<p>Cool that they are allowed to Rollerblade on campus, though.</p>
<p>Smiles,
PS</p>
<p>PS - Olin is all about teamwork, collaboration, working together and helping each other. They take the Honor Code very seriously. There is no hazing. When we Skype with our son on Sunday afternoons, his room generally has 3-5 students in it working on homework together, helping each other. It is the Olin way.</p>
<p>Since I was not at CW, I cannot address this specific issue, but I can assure you it was not hazing. That would not be tolerated by anyone, students and staff alike.</p>
<p>I would say from past experience that the “Little Mermaid” songs were not meant to haze the perspective students. This was just Olin students trying to lighten up the moment and have a little fun. Maybe students that attended the Candidate Weekend can give their perspective. Olin is definitely a non-judgemental, cooperative environment. Hazing is unheard of at this college.</p>
<p>We were at CW3 on Saturday when the Boston Globe reporter was there. I did not see any hazing and my DS did not report anything like that. In fact, it seemed incredibly warm and collegial. DS said his team decided that they would all support each other during the group interview!</p>
<p>Keep in mind my original point–the design challenge is mainly for a bit of fun, a bit of what it feels like to be an Olin student, and a bit of getting to know your team, with which you’ll be participating in the evaluated group exercise later. It’s all kind of a goof (people singing to win rubber duckies to incorporate into their design, etc). Being serenaded with little mermaid songs would be entirely in keeping with the mood of the design challenge, methinks, and not mean spirited in the least.</p>
<p>It was an interesting article. I sent the link to my parents because we had not been keeping them up on the many varied details during our college hunting days. And DS didn’t become high on Olin until after CW.</p>
<p>I echo what Rayrick said… Design Build is really just a big fun icebreaker for Candidates Weekend. Singing would just be to lighten the mood and throw something unexpected at the teams. The exercise is not evaluated, but the teams later go through a group interview, so they need to get to know each other through the Design Build.
I thought the article focused too much on the singing and cape wearing rollerbladers, but it was pretty cool that it came out right after CW. Nice pictures!
Good luck to all the Candidates!</p>
<p>The admissions staff referenced the Boston Globe article in their most recent blog post and felt compelled to make the same clarification about the Design Build:</p>
<p>"Our one-of-a-kind admission process is highlighted in the Boston Globe*, and the reporter includes quotes from some of the Candidates on my interview team from this past weekend!</p>
<p>*One quick point of clarity: the Design Build, which is an essential component to Candidates’ Weekend, is not an evaluative activity. It is meant to be fun and build team dynamics among groups of students who just met the day before."</p>
<p>[The</a> OLINformer](<a href=“http://blogs.olin.edu/olinformer/]The”>http://blogs.olin.edu/olinformer/) Good point Rayrick</p>
<p>For those who haven’t been keeping up on the student blogs, check them out here [The</a> OLINsider](<a href=“Blogs | Olin College of Engineering”>Blogs | Olin College of Engineering)</p>