<p>I'm interested in Olin... how is it?</p>
<p>Just2Fitz,</p>
<p>I'm assuming you are asking about Olins academics and how well their graduates are perceived. I have pasted some comments that I wrote on another thread to a student who was considering going to Olin. </p>
<p>"As the parent of an Olin student, I will try to address some of your concerns.
The class of 2006 seemed to have no problems getting into some pretty impressive graduate schools and employment opportunities. Two of the graduates received Fullbright Scholarships and four received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Three of the graduates are attending M.I.T. and three are at Stanford. Other graduate schools that the class of 2006 attend include: Oxford University (UK), Cornell, Harvard Business School, Rice, Berkeley, UC Irvine, Penn State, Michigan, and Tufts School of Medicine. They are employed at companies such as: Boston Scientific, IBM Almaden Research Center, iRobot, and Raytheon. There are four graduates who are interning at the United States Antarctic Program. All in all I think this shows that their degrees from Olin were well respected. </p>
<p>In response to your concern that Olin does not have the "technical equipment and infrastructure comparable to top-flight engineering schools," I think that this not necessarily true. Their facilities are state of the art. In fact Olin just received an NSF grant of nearly $500,000. to purchase a confocal microscope. The grant is a vote of confidence by the NSF, that Olin is providing state of the art education to their students. </p>
<p>Remember that Olin is an undergraduate college only. Most colleges that you describe as "top-flight" only allow graduate students to do advanced research. At Olin, most students do graduate level research or internships at major corporations during their summer breaks. This past summer four Olin Sophomores participated in the 2006 Vehicle Design Summit using facilities at M.I.T. and the Rindge School of Technical Arts. Other research opportunities have included: Brown University, Cornell University Material Science and Engineering, Harvard Bauer Center, Stanford University National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and many more. Olin students have interned at: Boeing, Genentech, IBM, iRobot, SolidWorks, NASA JPL, Central Intelligence Agency, & Intel, and other notable corporations.</p>
<p>In addition, Olin was just named one of the "New Ivies" by Kaplan/Newsweek. I would say the school has received amazing recognition for an institution that is only five years old and is unaccredited. The accreditation is only a matter of formality, and I think you will see in the next few months that Olin receives both the ABET and NEAS&C accreditation." (Update: Olin just received its accreditation on December 7).</p>
<p>As a current MIT student, I have to say I have the highest level of respect for Olin. I did not apply because I did not feel like I would fit in there, but this was by no means an indication of the educational opportunity. Olin is a great school that provides a hands-on education and places students in top flight grad programs.</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>Pretty good.</p>
<p>I'm a Wellesley student. Olin is just a couple of miles from us (Needham and Wellesley border each other) and we have a cross registration agreement with Olin. Olin students cross register at Wellesley all the time and just recently Wellesley student have been able to take classes at Olin. I've taken a two classes at Wellesley offered by Olin professors and enjoyed both of them.
I believe Olin students can cross-register at Babson, Brandeis and Wellesley.
With about 400 students, Olin college is pretty intimate. Everyone knows everyone and their professors fairly well.
I personally know about a handful of Olin students that have been in my classes and just one or two really well. The two I know well I am extremely impressed with.
I presented research with several Wellesley students at a conference this fall. One of the Wellesley students was working at Olin on one of their projects (I won't get into details here), but I definitely think that Onlin students are doing some pretty cool stuff.
Also, I know one of the studnets who will be working at NASA in January (actually part of an MIT program that they are worming their way into). Olin students are definitely going places.</p>
<p>Olin's great! I love it here. Feel free to ask me any Olin-related questions.</p>
<p>-current freshman</p>