<p>What type of envelope does a Candidates Weekend invitation/rejection come in? DS has an important competition right around the time these are due to arrive. If it's bad news, I'd prefer to keep it from him until afterwards, and I hope I will be able to tell without opening it. Horrible Mom, I know, but---it will be a crushing blow if he doesn't get invited :(</p>
<p>You might want to direct this question to Admissions in an e-mail (I'm not sure how often they check this board). It generally changes from year to year, so at this point, I personally have no idea. I can't promise you that they'll actually tell you because this is often a sensitive issue, but it can't hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>-Molly '09</p>
<p>Well, I'm not sure myself, but according to this</a> thread from last year, the invitations come through overnight mail (UPS or FedEx?). I'm so nervous!</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing! I'm banking on a UPS/other overnight-type carrier since that's what they did last year. I'll be crushed if I open my mailbox and get a tiny Olin envelope. I also hope they send rejections before invites!</p>
<p>Last year they came FedEx(I think it was FedEx) Overnight! I think that is how they have done it the last few years. It was very exciting. I was at school when it came, and as I was only going to be home (after school) for about 5 minutes before I had to head out to my Harvard interview, my Mom hid it(she didn't want it to affect my interview). When I got home from the interview, it was waiting for me by my placemat. I jumped about 4 feet in the air when I saw the overnight envelope. I can honestly say that I was more excited about getting it than I was about the April 1st acceptances! Olin was always my 1st choice, and I was so happy to be going to CW. BTW, CW is every bit as good as you can imagine. Olin is fantastic and very unique! Good luck to all!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone--it sounds as if we will know, either way. Can't stop the nail biting, though!</p>
<p>When, exactly, do we get notified?</p>
<p>I received the CW invitation on Feb.2 last year. I amagine they are aiming for the same time frame.
Anyone from Olin Admission out there?</p>
<p>Admissions blog says they are trying for Feb. 1, but you never know.</p>
<p>Haha, I might even keep it from your son even if it was an invitation!</p>
<p>It was an invitation...to CW</p>
<p>Actually, aurona, that is exactly what we have decided--to keep it from him either way. If it's no, he'll be crushed, if it's yes, he won't be able to focus on anything else! We'll just tell him it hasn't come yet...maybe tomorrow...
If it's mail--no problem, but if it's FedEx, sometimes that comes after school, sometimes in the morning--let's hope the truck is early that day so we can feign ignorance when he comes home!</p>
<p>Overnight mail can be a problem for me: First, the UPS driver is lazy. Often the tracking says that they could not deliver because nobody was home even when I saw him just drive around the building. They only attempt 3 times, so that eliminates the first "attempt". Next, they don't deliver on weekends, so if you don't get it on Friday, you have to wait until Monday.
As for FedEx, I live in an apartment building which has key entry to the building. So they might not be able to get in, or they might leave it at the apartment office (which closes early), or they might leave it with a neighbor who forgets to bring it over. This has happened before. Another problem is my building is at an intersection in which the zip code changes around the corner and the addresses change to the cross street. So the other buildings in the apartment complex have a completely different address. Sometimes even the US Post Office can't understand it if there is a substitute driver on the route and mail has been sent back multiple times with the claim that the address was wrong (it wasn't). I think FedEx has had the same problem. When things are addresses with a full 9 digit zipcode it usually arrives ok. I wish they would email us a tracking number, but I suppose that would spoil the surprise.</p>
<p>I think that last year the people in MA got the envelope in the morning.
DS's got here (Midwest) late afternoon/early evening (after 5PM).
I remember, because people were posting on here that they had gotten their invitation and none was here yet. I was concerned that DS would be getting a "thanks, but no thanks". It turned out we just had a driver that was running behind schedule!
If you do get the CW invitation, try to have your parents go with you. Olin does a great job with the parents. A lot of questions that they might have get answered at CW.</p>
<p>...and you'll probably get to meet my mom. :)</p>
<p>-Molly '09</p>
<p>Some questions:</p>
<p>Is the invitation sent out differently from the rejection letter, in terms of packaging, posting service, arrival time, and etc?</p>
<p>will I get notified the decision earlier by email, or online (apply.olin.edu)?</p>
<p>So, Molly, your mom works at Olin?</p>
<p>Basically, here's what I can tell you:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>We mail invitations to CW via UPS overnight for domestic students and USPS International Express for overseas students. Yes, sadly, it is not unusual (due to things beyond our control) that the packets don't arrive the next day. :(<br>
That said, see #3. :)</p></li>
<li><p>All other decisions are mailed via standard US Postal Service.</p></li>
<li><p>Decisions will also be available online through your application account, 2-3 days after we drop the letters in the mail.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Oh and by the way, we will be sending an email announcement to all applicants early next week with the target dates for mailing and the online decisions.</p>
<p>Hope that helps a little. I must get back to the grindstone...
Allison
<a href="mailto:allison.bahme@olin.edu">allison.bahme@olin.edu</a>
AIM - OlinAdmission</p>
<p>Thank you so much Allison!</p>
<p>@ melmen: she doesn't work there, but for the past year or two has been a volunteer at candidate's weekend and has been on the parent panel.</p>
<p>-Molly '09</p>