<p>How good is this school compared to say... MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley?
Specifically, if I plan to major in something like EE/ChemE/ComputerE.</p>
<p>I'm a senior and I'm trying to decide if I should apply to Olin or not. This is the list of colleges I plan to apply to:</p>
<p>Olin is small, but great school. I'd recommend at least looking into it/researching the school before applying. Make sure it's a good fit for you; I don't believe they have chemical engineering or civil engineering, so that will eliminate many prospective applicants.</p>
<p>Practically speaking, whether or not Olin gets ranked by USNWR will make little difference for them. If they do get ranked, they'll be placed in the smaller category for institutions where the highest degree is a MS. There are only a few top schools in this category year after year, so these rankings are pointless. You can bet your life that the top four schools will be HMC, Cooper Union, Rose Hulman, and Olin in some order. Would it matter if it were #1 or #4? Not at all. </p>
<p>If anything, Olin will get some more publicity if it does get ranked, since many many people still haven't heard of it yet.</p>
<p>Olin has high standards and from what I have heard, a good program. Not to mention, the tuition is free. It really depends on what you are looking for.</p>
<p>I kind of was turned off by Olin when they took several months to answer an admissions question. In their defense however, they did eventually respond and apologized profusely about it. If I had better stats I would definitely at least consider them. Their high standards means the students will be smart, and unlike most admissions they try to make sure they get well rounded (socially adept) students.</p>
<p>Well, i think one of the most important thing you need to look at is where you end up after graduating from college (i mean, career wise)</p>
<p>they don't seem to have any On-Campus Recruiting (or maybe i'm mistaken) or they simply don't use MonsterTrak. Im thinking this because the site encourages its students to apply to each company on their own.</p>
<p>But they seem to be ending up at amazing Grad schools</p>
<p>Looking back at the comment about how I don't care about USNWR i don't mean to sound like a jerk, but yeah, USNWR can sometimes bring people who just want a name to a school. You don't come to Olin for its name, you come to Olin because its Olin. </p>
<p>We have over a 1,000 apps for 75 spots in the freshman class right now, so we're well known enough to make it hard to get in. Triple that, which might be what USNews exposure would do, and you'd have a better chance of being an astronaut. ( I actually don't know those chances.... thats just what came to me). Add to this we're tiny and dealing with 3000 people applying would inundate admissions. </p>
<p>I know one thing USNews ranks on is Alumni giving, and well.. we have two classes that have graduated... I forget what else they rank on, but a lot of the things we're too small/new/its just not fitting for us to be ranked on. </p>
<p>Olin does use MonsterTrak, or at least it did last year. Olin's career website is <a href="http://careers.olin.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://careers.olin.edu/</a> I don't know what you mean specifically by on campus recruiting but we do have career fairs where companies come looking for interns or new graduate full-time hires once or twice a year. Plus there are many random times when one company will come and visit Olin and sometimes do interviews.</p>
<p>Career-wise, one downside to Olin is that we have a small alumni base (about 140) right now so we have less connections than some people might. However, I was able to get internships every summer I was at Olin and had two job offers with Fortune 500 companies before I graduated (I was part of the first class). And our professors and even President Miller have a lot of connections that they are very willing to use to help us our foot in the door at the jobs we want. That is a bonus of going to a school with a small, tight community.</p>
<p>In general, I believe Olin is academically competitive to MIT and like schools but there are some differences (Check Princeton Review for stats). We do spend more time on projects/humanities/business/other things in the curriculum which usually means we have more breadth but sometimes less technical depth than an MIT student. Our teachers are more concerned that we learn how to learn than we memorize a bunch of theorems (though we do have some of that as well).</p>
<p>Check Olin out, read the student blog and ask lots of questions. If you think you might like being at Olin you should apply. If you make it past the first cut of applicants you will be invited to candidate's weekend in Feb or March or so. That is the best way I know if to know if Olin is right for you, you need to experience it.</p>