I was trying to see if I would be a competitive applicant at either harvey mudd or Olin college. I know very little about either of these schools other than that they are very small, and good in the STEM fields.
have a 4.3 weighted gpa which is probably close to a 3.7 unweighted. I have a 32 on my act, and have started the mechanical engineering club at my school.
I have also won some computer science awards (machine learning projects), have about 400 hours of community service (i believe this is a lot), work part time as a machinist, and I’m currently working on starting my own charity. I would be looking to either apply for computer science or mechanical engineering.I think my application is a little heavy on the extracurricular which can make this a very unscientific process.
I think your chances are good at Olin. Both are difficult to get into but I think Harvey Mudd is a little harder.
It’s hard to tell your fit with Olin. Your stats fall in the middle of the prospective Olin candidate pool, but so much of the admission process is about fit, so even those with impressive stats may not be the right candidate. If you can, try to arrange a campus visit and request an overnight stay on campus with the current students. If you are passionate about engineering and it shows, and have the type of cool, nerdy, geeky personality that typifies Olin students, then you may be a good fit. Oh, and being female helps since Olin strives for a 50-50 gender balance in its annual admission class.
Probably a better chance at Olin than Mudd. Your standardized test scores are low for Mudd. I have heard people claim that Harvey Mudd is CalTech without the graduate programs.
Try to take another ACT and maybe some SAT subject tests.
You might be a low reach for Cooper Union. Add that to your list since it’s similar to Mudd/Olin in their approach to engineering.
Olin is a really interesting school…but the admissions process is very different. A few years ago, we were there for an open house. There were 3 things I remember well…
Someone asked a question about graduates struggling with graduate school admissions, specifically some issues this person was aware of with the math curriculum. That may have been addressed since, but it was obviously an issue the administration was uncomfortable discussing.
Besides being multi-phase (apply…if you make the cut attend a weekend program…final admissions decision), I recall there being a LOT of spots that were already filled for the following year. Another issue the administration tripped over in the discussions, by volunteering sibling data by accident. For the class of 2018 (now seniors), I recall there being 15-20 spots that were already promised to deferrals and siblings. That turned a class of 80 into 60, and made the chances pretty small.
The kids, buildings, staff…we’re all very nice. The entire school was there for the open house…literally everyone.
It seemed like a great school for the right kids. They take fit seriously, so I guess that’s a good thing given the size. I was glad we didn’t have to run the admissions gauntlet (ED1 acceptance elsewhere)…but we would have done it if we had reached January without a commitment.
We were at Olin for an open house 2 years ago. I suggest if you are interested you visit. It’s important because the environment is very different than most colleges because it’s so so small. It’s a quirky group of students. The school campus is not big. Almost feels like a high school campus. They do share some facilities with Babson. The two campus are attached by a parking lot. Our first interaction was not that great. The admissions department was rude and condescending when we were registering that day in the office. The staff who gave the presentation was much more welcoming. The campus was clean and the dorms were probably some of the nicest we’ve seen over the years. If I recall correctly, they all had private bathrooms. To be honest, my S knew Olin was not for him… we didn’t even make it until the end of the tour as did some other families. This was the only school we ever did that at. Nothing personally against the school but it wasn’t a fit for our S. if you are able, visit as many schools you think you may want to apply to. Seeing a brochure or a website can not compare to a visit.