<p>Colorado School of the Mines and the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering are currently in my top 5 as a junior, but I still can't seem to find a good take on the prestige and academic quality of either school.</p>
<p>I know that Olin is a risk, since there is no graduating class yet and it is not accredited, but the price is almost unbeatable and when I visited at the open house I seriously felt like I belonged there. However, it does seem very selective even at a young age. What is everyone's take on this small school from Needham, MA?</p>
<p>Colorado School of the Mines might be a safety school for me, but it is still a school I would love attend. The location is great, I like the small-town-next-to-a-big-town atmosphere a lot, and it is in Colorado. The size is perfect except that there are a lot of grad students on campus too (undergrads may not be taken as seriously there from what I hear). Also, at least Mines tells you that their Petroleum and Metallurgy majors are world-renowned. As another plus, I'll be getting in-state tuition at one point because that is where my parents are moving. Is this school to good to be true (are the academics really what Mines says they are, and the prestige)?</p>
<p>Neither of these schools are brought up much on the forums (I ran a search and Olin might have been mentioned once or twice), which makes me wonder if they are schools to be taken seriously. That's all....</p>
<p>If you are ready for "something completely different," try Olin. There are several Olin students and parents of Olin students who frequent this board, and there's an Olin thread in the Alphabetical Listing of schools. I am the parent of an Olin sophomore. After visiting the campus, I felt confident about the school. We've never been concerned about the prestige factor, and my daughter passed up more traditional prestigous schools for Olin's fit. It's a school that you must visit to understand, and you've done that. If you're enthusiastic about it, go for it.</p>
<p>You might be amused to see where these two schools fall on the Princeton Review lists of Happiest/Unhappiest students.</p>
<p>Olin is not a risk, are you crazy? I think the Val at dd's school is applying. But it's very difficult to get in. I think they only admit 75 and 1/2 are women.</p>
<p>You guys are right. It would be a chance of a lifetime to go to a school like Olin, especially because you only pay to live there, not to go there. I am working really hard to achieve this, but I will probably come up short. Which brings me to the question: what do you guys think of the School of the Mines? How does it measure up to schools like Olin, Rice, Boulder, Caltech, Geotech, Rose-Hulman, MIT, Cincinnati, and Purdue (all schools I'll be applying to)?</p>
<p>Be ready to work your butt off if you go to Mines. It's a great engineering school, definitely not in the league of caltech, rose hulman, and MIT, but still with the likes of Purdue. Here in CO, an engineering degree from Mines is more highly regarded than one from Boulder.</p>