Duh.. about Engineering

<p>I know this school's pretty new and all but really... how rigorous is the school and its classes?
and is it expensive?</p>

<p>1) Olin is amazing (im getting it out now)
2) as to expensive, read up on the scholarship. Olin is free, you pay room and board.
3) Its hard, I will not lie, but all engineering schools are hard. engineering is not something you walk into saying "oh, this feels nice and warm and fuzzy". not unless you have a four digit IQ that is. There are classes here which are not taught anywhere else, so in that respect its hard. But there is a simple plan to getting help. 1) Find upperclassmen 2) ask for help or 1) email prof or 1) go to office hours or 1) talk to others . every one here works together and is willing to help you. the cut throat enviroment which i saw at many other schools just isnt here. You will have youre Im going to die moments, but all colleges and engingeering programs have that. Olin just has it in diffent ways.
if you have other questions, Im around. Im a frosh there now, and adoreing it.</p>

<p>sorry idiot mistake, never post after just waking up.</p>

<p>Hey tomboy, how do things look 6 weeks after your initial post? Would like to keep up with your adventures at Olin. Must be a spectacular school in many ways!</p>

<p>Olin is still amazing.
I work untill I drop, but there are great people around.
Ive been known not to leave the academic building untill 1 am, but the work here isnt horrible suck it up and do it, its kinda fun in a strage way. Ive had 4 or 5 big projects, and have mostly gotten them done with good sucess. The profs are really amazing. Ive spent 2 hours in John's office once this year and he pleaded with me to understand something. He can now pick out my looks during lecture and just shakes his head.
Its a very personal school, I walk across campus and people know my name. Upperclassmen too. I know seniors, seniors know me. My TA of sorts is a Junior and shes become a friend whos helped me with other problems.
I can sit down at any table for meals and no one will not talk to me. Its a great place. I love it just as much as I did when I stared here. </p>

<p>Im also around on IM.. its in my profile... or if you want my email - pm me. those are normally the best ways to find me. Final time has me busy right now.</p>

<p>Tomboy, how's the food at Olin? We visited and the school seemed to be doing a pretty good job of providing variety, but does it get old?</p>

<p>Do the kids go anywhere on the weekends (Boston?)?</p>

<p>the food is amazing! It never really gets old, and people go out to eat a lot, so if you get bored, go out. We also have money on our cards to use over at Babson and Dominos and recently a Chinese place. Mad Props to the chinese place getting on there this year.
In the mornings you can get omlets made, we also have a waffel maker.
Last night they did a midnight breakfast for us which rocked. (Its finals right now, so they really love us)
Randomly we have a smoothie bar, ice cream bar, milkshake bar, ice youre own cookie bar, and radom other things like that. Food here rocks.
Menus apperantly rotate every two or three weeks, but ive never really noticed. If you get bored, theres dominos and chinese or leaving campus. </p>

<p>and as to weekends, we do get off campus. Boston is 30 min away by T, Commuter Rail or Car. T is 15 min away by car and rides are easily found. Commuter rail is 30 min walk / 10 min drive.
There are people who get off campus a lot, and people who stay on campus a lot. Most, like me, are those in the middle. I get off once a week or so. Run into needham, run into Boston for fun. Go to a concert, go see a museam.
And the outing club has been known to do morethings on the weekends, but im not involved with them so I dont know exactly what. </p>

<p>And now back to project work.</p>

<p>Thank you, Tomboy! Good answers!</p>

<p>I'm sure you'll do great on your finals.</p>

<p>Thank you!
Finals here is an odd word, a lot of classes have final projects so for the big freshmen class we had a formal presentation. Right now all I have between me and the finish line is two big quizes. They were going to be earlier and not during finals, but we got behind and so they got pushed back.
But after this round we have Expo, where outside people come in and see how we're doing. Every one has to give either a poster session talk or a presentation. Its not bad considering I think we give on average one formal presentation a week.
One of my friends made the comment of how we'll be so ready for jobs its not even funny, and Im starting to agree.</p>

<p>There is a Wall Street Journal Article in today's paper (December 20th) about Olin that you might find interesting. It appears on page B1</p>

<p>It went around campus around 1120 pm the night before it should have gone out. </p>

<p>I have PDF that I can send people if they want it.</p>

<p>The article is great: very clear about what the school is trying to become.</p>