<p>My son really, really, really wants to go to Olin. We love everything about this school. I understand why they do the candidates weekend and how it helps them find students that are a good fit but, I see two problems with this.
First, Olin is a very unique school. Chances are, if you've applied there, you are unique, too. If you get invited to the candidate's weekend, you would more than likely fall head over heels and would have your heart set on going there....but you still could be rejected. This seems cruel. My kid would be crushed if this happened. Second, because of the unique selection process, Olin doesn't offer early decision. In my opinion, this has a negative effect on the students. The chances of being accepted with early decision applications is much higher. My son wouldn't apply to MIT, or any of the others early because he didn't want to have to commit to another school if there was a chance he could get into Olin, thereby reducing his chances at the other schools by going regular decision.</p>
<p>Olin is a great school, but honestly, if your kid is accepted to MIT via ED, there are worse problems in the world. Olin is about ‘fit’ and being part of a team. That cannot be evaluated from an application or even an interview. The admissions team (and everybody else in the school) needs to see how the Prospies interact with each other and the students and faculty. I prefer this holistic process over the impersonal application process.</p>
<p>Your son should apply. Olin is looking for engineering students with entrepreneurial ambition. They try lots of stuff and they fail a lot. They handle failure - they learn and grow from it. They persevere. They are determined. Your son should apply. </p>
<p>Thank you for your feedback. My son did apply to Olin. Like I said, he really wants to go there and already has his heart set on it and if he could put all of his eggs in one basket, he would. This makes me worry, though, because it is so difficult to get in.</p>
<p>My son’s obsession with Olin affects his chances with the other schools. For example, he mistakenly said Olin when he should have said MIT during his interview with them. Oops!</p>
<p>I also thought that the Olin admin process was tough on the students. But, if you’re in love with Oin, I’m sure that will come through in your visit. I think my fear for the Olin process is that once they get invited to candidates’ weekend, their application is no longer important. Everything that they worked so hard for no longer counts. Its all about who they are right there and then. I guess the interview allows them to rehash some of their accomplishments, but it’s much more about fit at that point. If you look at some older posts in this forum, you’ll see the Candidates weekend discussed in detail.</p>
<p>Olinwannabe, I think you might be confused about the disadvantages of Olin’s lack of early options. Early Decision schools require you to sign a document that you will go there if accepted. You can only apply to one ED school. Some have restrictions on where else you can apply. Early Action schools, like MIT, allow you to get your results early, but you don’t have to commit until May 1st. You just know that you have a home no matter what else comes down the pike,. Some schools limit who you can apply to EA if you are applying to them EA. As far as MIT goes, Early action is non binding and non limiting so your son could have easily applied there and gotten his results yesterday and still applied to Olin. According to last year’s common data set, last year, if you applied EA to MIT you were actually at a statistical disadvantage over regular decision applications for being admitted by roughly 2%.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification, MuggleMom. (…love the name, btw) I didn’t really realize the difference between early action and early decision. I still don’t understand how an offer can be binding when you don’t know what the financial assistance would be. What if you are accepted to Harvard, lets say, with early decision and they gave you no scholarships and you couldn’t afford it? It seems like you could only do this if you had no problem fully paying for everything.</p>
<p>All schools have a net price calculator on their website. You use that as a best guess for ED options. If you truly can’t afford your ED school you can decline for financial reasons but its mostly for those willing to make it work no matter what. There are tons of urban legends about schools where a student backed out of an ED agreement and no one from that school has gotten in since.</p>
<p>Having watched my daughter go through her own CW and participate in others since she’s been there and having been a parent volunteer at CW, I disagree with some of your premise. Yes, everyone is unique in their own way, but having an interest in, being academically qualified for and applying to Olin does not automatically make a good fit. I have seen poor fits at CW.</p>
<p>I do understand where you’re coming from as I voiced that exact question at the parent panel during her CW. She came home from CW saying “I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t get in.” There are students who have not been accepted from CW who apply again and do get in or wait-listed. Yes, I know someone who applied a second time and was wait-listed and took the 2nd gap year in order to go.</p>
<p>“There are students who have not been accepted from CW who apply again and do get in or wait-listed. Yes, I know someone who applied a second time and was wait-listed and took the 2nd gap year in order to go.”</p>
<p>This is the kind of determination I was referring to in my earlier post. I bet those individuals fit very well at Olin. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info m0mOf3. You are absolutely right, having an interest, the grades, and applying does not mean that you are a good fit. Can you please explain what you see as a good fit? You said that you’ve seen kids that don’t fit. What strikes you about them that gives you the impression that they don’t fit? I know kids who think the school was built with them in mind. Like you said, thinking that and it being true are 2 very different concepts. I was just wondering your take on it. Thanks.</p>
<p>I too would like to hear m0mOf3’s take on why kids are not a good fit.</p>
<p>I’m an old alumni so I’m sure things have changed some but… I interviewed a LOT of students for Olin. There are definitely bad fits. There are also kids who go to candidates weekend and learn it is NOT for them. Not everyone who goes falls in love. When I was interviewing, two questions I kept in my head were
- What can this kid do for Olin?
- What can Olin do for this kid?</p>
<p>I wanted to know what unique interests or skills this student brings. I thought about what clubs the student might join. I thought about what clubs the student might start. I considered if this student seemed at peace with a small school in the suburbs. I considered if they really seemed most interested in a major or concentration Olin didn’t offer or was a bad place to get. If your desire is to be a civil engineer, it might not be the best school for you, etc. My team admitted loud kids and shy kids. Leaders and followers. Sometimes I saw a kid that reflected who I was, a shyer student who would greatly benefit from the small community. etc. It is very individual. There is a bit of randomness to it. There is an indescribable feeling and quality to “fit”. But that’s the downside when you have more qualified students than spots. Once you make it to the weekend you are qualified. It has to come down to something more subjective than grades or a list of activities. My team also admitted plenty of students that I thought “I would never be friends with them but I know they would find a community here”.</p>
<p>Actually Olin’s process doesn’t seem particularly cruel, the admission’s team goes out of their way to try to make sure that invited students are aware of what they’re getting into at Olin by hosting Candidates Weekends. If your student is invited then he/she has a good chance of getting admitted as long as they are a good fit and demonstrate that in the interviews. It’s a two way street and over the weekends students discover if Olin will work for them and Olin finds students that will contribute positively to the community. </p>
<p>The holidays delayed my ability to get back to this site. Some examples I’ve seen or heard about at CW of a bad fit would be (note, I have not participated in any of the interviews or that level, only the public stuff) the student who simply does not want to be there and looks for opportunities to break from their group (during the design build) to go off and text on their phone. Another example is the Olin student leaders would tell the groups to stop their own work and each team had to go work on another group’s design for the next N minutes. (The design projects themselves are not graded but the interactions of students during the build is observed.) Some students were not able to constructively work on another’s project, even knowing it was not graded. Olin is a collaborative environment. Or, on a fun note, Olin students would ask a group to spontaneously break into song/dance/whatever (just at their table, not in front of a crowd or audience). No one cared what it was, but the student who rudely said to their face, “No way, that is just so stupid.” was not a good fit. These are probably the easy ones to identify as poor fits. The majority of candidates are eager and go with the flow with whatever is given to them. I am sure it is a very difficult task indeed.</p>