<p>nrg, that would make Olin absolutely perfect for my younger S - if it could get anymore perfect!</p>
<p>Susgeek, I am glad to hear that! If you would like to talk more about the specifics, just send me a PM.</p>
<p>Hi, nrg91720, my son just got back from Olin CW. He likes it a lot. Olin now became his top choice. So you like your professors there? Since Olin is a new school, how does it attract good professors?</p>
<p>Hey vyu456. Sorry I’m responding late. I do generally like my professors. As to how it attracts good professors, I frankly don’t really know. I think it’s mostly because open-minded professors see what we are trying to do here and how much we’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time and just get really excited and realize that they want to be a part of something so unique and so innovative. That’s my best guess. If you would like to hear an opinion from a faculty member I’m sure if you call the school it could be arranged for you to speak with a member of the faculty or upper administration.</p>
<p>Since I was at Olin from the beginning (Class '06), I can tell you why some of the original teachers came. I’m sure that the reasons now are related. At most schools which are known for research (most with PhD programs), a professor’s main responsibility is to do research, get published, bring in more grant money to the school. I know some of my teachers left MIT/Vanderbilt, etc. because what they were most passionate about wasn’t research but TEACHING. Olin still expects intellectual vitality from professors, but they don’t have to publish AS MUCH and are expected to be good teachers to undergraduates.</p>
<p>Some teachers came to Olin because there are no departments. This is huge for faculty who want to do something interdisciplinary. Think Rob Martello and Jon Stolks “History of Materials Class”. At schools with departments, interdisciplinary courses are rare because each department is funded separately and departments don’t often interact. At Olin, there are no extra funding hurtles to starting an interdisciplinary class.</p>
<p>The ability to innovate your curriculum and teach it the way YOU think is best is easy at Olin to. I imagine at many schools, if you come in as a younger or new professor, rocking the curriculum boat would be very difficult. Some of our youngest professors came to Olin for the freedom Olin gives them without having to fight the WIEGHT OF TRADITION…which can be quite substantial at more established schools.</p>
<p>I also know that Olin salaries are comparable to other good schools in the area. So while at Olin, teachers must give up the security of tenure, they are paid well and have a lot of freedoms that would be difficult to achieve at many other schools.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. </p>
<p>PS Some Olin teachers come because they are interested in education pedagogy and like using Olin students as guinea pigs to test their theories :)</p>
<p>Hahaha. “History of Materials”. They’ve now changed that to “Stuff of History”. Thanks for the insight. I didn’t realize a lot of what you said. Yes, many of the faculty seem to be interested in general in new ways of teaching and in new ways of teaching engineering.</p>
<p>nrg91720 and joyjoy1321, thank you for answering my question. It makes sense.</p>
<p>My daughter is a hs sophomore who’s VERY interested in Olin. The marketiing materials they have sent really excite and intigue her. I’m concerned about Olin’s newness and reputation. Any insights?
Also, what sort of backgrounds do most accepted students have, academically, I mean?</p>
<p>I’ll take your questions in reverse order (Mom of a rising junior here). I am only speaking from my own experience meeting candidates and son’s classmates, and being around the school, in general.</p>
<p>Regarding the academic backgrounds of the students, you can find a statistical snapshot of each class on the website, but that only tells part of the story. It seems that most of the students have very high GPA’s and high SAT’s, but they come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds; top publics, small publics, private schools, magnet schools, and a substantial amount of home-schoolers.
Virtually all states have been represented (still searching for South Dakota!) along with many foreign countries.</p>
<p>Students have a wide variety of academic and outside interests, like any typical engineering students. What I would say is true of all Oliners is that they have always shown a capacity for self-learning (I’m sure there’s a better term!).
I mean they go above and beyond, either by searching out extra classes, working on research, academic teams (lots of First Robotics), or simply exploring in depth some esoteric hobby. They also show a capacity for academic risk-taking–like doing something they may fail at “just for the experience”. Most seem to demonstrate both left-brain/right-brain thinking, so you have lots of musical mathemeticians, programmer actors and so on—looking at faculty bios, you can see that they, too, have very diverse hobbies! My son says he never gets tired of talking to his classmates–which is a very good thing at a school with only 300 students!</p>
<p>Most importantly, Olin wants students who are interested in the future of engineering education–and who are prepared from day one to be fully immersed and engaged in everything they do, in and out of the classroom. Successful candidates have already demonstrated an interest in forming their own educational experience. Being at Olin means you will be responsible for impacting your own education, as well as that of classes to follow yours.</p>