Olin or CAS

<p>I visited Wash U last year, and I really liked the campus, and since at the time I was set on going into business, Olin seemed like a nice option. However I've been hearing that Olin doesn't have the best career placement (I don't know if this is true), and that Wash U is known best from it's strong CAS school. During my junior year, I found courses like Biology and Economics to be very interesting as well, (I may consider studying them), and I would now like to pursue law.</p>

<p>What do Olin students generally do after graduation? Do any go to law schools?
Due to my diverse interests, should I apply to CAS? How easy is it to switch between schools?</p>

<p>Sorry for all the questions...thanks for reading.</p>

<p>I’m sorry that I know absolutely nothing about the business and pre-law programs (I’m in the school of engineering), although I can tell you that it is quite easy to switch between schools at Wash U.</p>

<p>And just for the record, we tend to call it “ArtSci” instead of the “College of Arts and Sciences” here.</p>

<p>^yeah I get really confused since all the pre-frosh call it something that’s not a legit WashU acronym. It’s definitely “artsci”</p>

<p>my bad…artsci ;)</p>

<p>Thanks for all the responses…if it’s easy to switch between schools than it shouldn’t be a problem for me…I’m pretty sure I’ll figure out my major early freshman year at the latest.</p>

<p>Can anyone from Olin, or who knows more about Olin, give me more insight?</p>

<p>You can go to law school no matter what your undergrad major is. Political Science and Economics are pretty good preparations, and Wash U also has a minor in Legal Studies. The business school has a business law course for undergrads. I’ve also known a few undergrads (one in art sci, one in engineering) who have actually taken classes at Wash U’s law school. I’m not sure about how that works from a logistical point of view… but, it is possible to take a class or two in one of Wash U’s graduate programs when you are an upperclassman.</p>

<p>Many students majoring in certain Arts & Sciences fields go on to law school. Again, political science and economics would be pretty popular in that regard. In the business school, I don’t know any specific statistics, but most people start a career after graduating from the B-School here. With that said, there’s probably a few that pursue law school right after gradation, and a few more that will pursue law school after working for a few years. If you want to pursue any sort of law related to business (corporate law, tax law, etc), then a business major in undergrad would probably serve you pretty well. </p>

<p>Wash U does have an strong undergrad business program - it’s ranked somewhere in the top 15. Finance, Marketing, and Accounting are the most popular majors from anecdotal evidence, but there is also a great Entrepreneurship major and a new Healthcare business major that the school seems to be stressing a lot.</p>

<p>If you are interested in pursuing an MBA, I know that Wash U has been ranked as the #1 school in the BusinessWeek rankings for “MBA Feeder School” (meaning the greatest percentage of students going on to an MBA at a top ranked school) for the past two years running. Somewhat relatedly, Olin is also the #1 ranked school (beating MIT, Duke, NYU, and other prestigious undergrad programs) for highest SAT score for incoming freshman. All of the big consulting and accounting companies recruit and interview on campus, and several of the big investment banks do, as well. Consulting seems to be a very common thing for Wash U undergrads to do after graduation. The Career Center is always sending out emails about upcoming information sessions and on campus interviews - you’d really have to be living under a rock not to know (at the very least) how to interview&apply for a job/internship at Wash U. Bottom line: people in the business school seem to be incredibly intelligent, and graduate programs and companies are obviously recognizing this. </p>

<p>There is a common phrase at Wash U calling business school students “B-School Pre-School.” I think it mostly stems from the fact that Business school students don’t have class on Friday… and instead of hitting the books to study like pre-med students do, nearly all of the work in the Business School seems to be group work. One of my suitemates is in the Business School and she, honestly, spends more time working on her projects, case studies, and whatever else they do, than our Engineering suitemate. Their workload definitely increases over their 4 years. </p>

<p>Finally, in regards to your one question about what do Olin students do after graduation, I’ll refer you to the Olin school’s website… which posts annual data on job locations, salary, industry, etc. From anecdotal evidence, Chicago and New York are definitely the two most common cities for people to work after graduation. Washington DC is becoming increasingly common, it seems (Wash U has been announcing a slew of our own programs, internships, “study abroad” programs, etc, based in DC over the last year or two). A respectable amount of people stay in St Louis; companies based in St Louis (of which there are, surprisingly, a lot) love Wash U grads. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.olin.wustl.edu/docs/WCC/EmploymentBSBA.pdf[/url]”>http://www.olin.wustl.edu/docs/WCC/EmploymentBSBA.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Sorry for the long answer, but I hope that helped! You’ll definitely find at least a couple of things at Wash U that interest you - and if you work hard enough and know how to be successful, you shouldn’t have any problem either 1) getting a solid job; 2) going onto law school.</p>

<p>thanks vbballl 90, that information was exactly what I was looking for…
I’ve heard a lot of people comment that Olin is overrated, but that 2009 graduating class report is solid and so is Olin’s rankings…so I think I’m going to stick with applying there, since business law is my end goal.</p>

<p>Thank you vbball90 for your insightful response. I’ve been considering Olin as well, and your post only strengthened my interest.</p>