<p>Currently, I am supposed to be moving into RPI this weekend. However, I was also given the option of attending Olin College next year. </p>
<p>I like both of these schools, for different reasons. I feel like the social life at RPI would be better, due to more students, more clubs and a larger campus. But I think that academically, Olin would be stronger. Olin also has a history of having the hardest working but happiest students. I am a bit weary of RPI's academics, because I have been told by so many that they are near impossible, and test averages can be expected to be in the 20%. At the same time, Olin is very small, and it might be too confining. I have no idea about which one to pick. </p>
<p>I have been reading every post I could find about RPI or Olin on CC, but I didn't find one where they were compared to each other. Please help!! I only have 2 days left to decide...</p>
<p>I know nothing about RPI but my son was faced with a similar choice last year: wait a year for Olin or go somewhere else right away. He had some good options and it was a tough choice, but … he’s psyched to start at Olin in a couple weeks! For his gap year he got a job, took a few classes at our local junior college and state university, and had an overall good year. It was a good decision. </p>
<p>One thing you might try is go to RPI fully prepared to get your degree there, but accept a spot on Olin’s wait list. You will find out during your year at RPI where you belong. </p>
<p>Well, my son has a place in the Olin class of 2019. He’s currently at the University of Alabama during his gap year. I told him to experience life in a big university and then, if he decides to enroll at Olin next fall, to compare what it would be like at Olin. I love both schools, so I would be equally happy which ever school he chooses to settle in. You have until January to decide if Olin is the place you want to be at. I would say go ahead and give RPI a try. If you think RPI academics are ‘impossible’ because of the low test scores, I think you will find Olin to be equally, if not more ‘difficult.’ It’s just how the students go about learning, studying, and absorbing their lessons in class.</p>
<p>@jeffgordon I hope your son has a wonderful time at olin!</p>
<p>@NoVADad99 I completely understand that olin’s academics are difficult, however, they are more project based, an I find that an easier way to learn (just ordinary preference). </p>
<p>There have been times when accepted students turned down Olin to go somewhere else, and then, near the end of the first semester realized they made a mistake, called Olin and became gap year students for the following fall. I also know of students who were rejected after Candidate’s Weekend, attended elsewhere and applied again the following year as a gap year because they wanted to attend. Lots of gap year students attend other schools during the gap year.</p>
<p>I think the major difference is not the difficulty in the academics with RPI, and not only that it is project-based, but that it is team-based and academics at Olin are not set up to be a cut-throat competition with fellow students for grades.</p>
<p>If you have any thoughts that you want to be possibly do a gap year, get on the waitlist. Then try to arrange an overnight visit to Olin in late fall, it is less than 3 hours from RPI, and try a day of actual classes there for comparison.</p>