Questions + Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Olin College
1

<p>Hi again Oliners ;)</p>

<p>I posted here a few times in the past, but now that its actually time for me to apply I'm super nervous! I was hoping some of you might be able to look at my "stats" and see if I'd "fit" in at Olin. I haven't been able to visit yet, but am trying to save up money to visit (hopefully) in early December. Its been my first choice for pretty much forever, but I've got lots of pressure from family to just stay at home and finish up at UW. Also, I haven't really had a typical high school experience, which I'm afraid might hurt me... Anyway, I'm rambling now, here's my "stats":</p>

<p>White female from Pacific NW
GPA: **3.85 (College), ~3.7 (High School, I think)
**Scores: **ACT = 29 (not good, I know:( I've been scoring 33-34 on practice though and am hoping it will go up <em>crosses fingers</em>) SAT II (Math II) = 750, taking physics and (possibly) chemistry in October... expecting 750+ on Physics and 700+ on Chemistry...
**Courseload: Senior year should be pretty challenging. (Fall quarter finishing up sequences at CC and then winter and spring at UWashington)
Fall
-General Chem III
-Physics III
-Fundamentals of C++
-PE (Last grad requirement, yay!)
Winter
-Calc III
-Spanish III
-Thermodynamics
-Diff Eq
Spring *
-Partial Diff Eq and Fourier Analysis
-Linear Algebra
-Modern Physics
-Elemenatry Math Based Physics
**Extracurriculars*
<em>Taekwondo</em> has been my life for the last 11-12 years. Seriously ;) I usually train 15-20 hours a week; captain of multiple state teams; third degree black belt ; local,regional,national, and international champion. I also trained at the Olympic Training Center for a short while, which was awesome.
*NASA SHARP
This was also an amazing experience last summer (2005). Stayed with 19 of the most amazing people I've ever met and had incredible opportunities to get a "sneak preview" of my dream job. This program totally convinced me that I want to be an engineer.
*Misc (I'm not sure if I'll include this stuff)
-I did XC last year and was on varsity but had to quit because of an injury from taekwondo (shattered pelvis...yes, lamest injury ever ;)).
-Also, volunteered 2-3 hours every Friday in my old 4th grade teacher's classroom because I managed to not have classes Friday (hooray for creative scheduling!).
-In my free time, I like to make random little electronics. Past projects have included a flashlight from a Tic-Tac box, an iPillow (basically, I cut open a space for my iPod in my pillow and made a speaker from an altoids tin, so that I can listen to music through my pillow ;)) and random other projects that really just give me an excuse to "tinker" with electronics.</p>

<p>Questions
1. Does Olin have any opportunities to "place out" of classes? It's okay if I don't get credit for past coursework.
2. Is Olin's taekwondo club still active? I think I saw that Mikell was captain on one of the webpages, but she graduated this year... Also, if its not anymore, is it easy to restart them? I have lots of taekwondo teaching experience and wouldn't mind teaching if there were people at Olin interested. I guess I'm kinda thinking too far ahead...
3. How far is Olin from Boston? I haven't been able to visit yet and am a little curious.
4. Are there opportunities for study abroad through Olin? I'd like to experience another culture and think study abroad would allow me to do this :)
5. Should I avoid taking engineering classes through dual-enrollment? I think I remember reading that the deferred applicants are not supposed to take engineering classes at other colleges and am not sure if this also applies to high school applicants. I've mainly planned out my courseload with an emphasis on physics and math, but I think my main interest is really engineering :)</p>

<p>If you managed to read all of that, congrats and thanks for reading it! You deserve a cookie ;)</p>

2

<p>Hi zpm</p>

<p>Having just visited Olin, I think I can answer some of your questions, but I defer to those who are already students/parents who can answer more authoritatively.</p>

<p>I will add however that the stats from latest class to be admitted are hot off the press, and they are quite intimidating: (Congrats to all those who were offered admission; quite an achievement -- you should be very proud!)</p>

<p>The incoming class is larger than anticipated, as has been noted elsewhere on this forum, because more than expected accepted. And, because Olin didn't go to their WL this year, they now have 10 already defered/committed to the class of 2011. Unfortunately, that means that are are now only 70 spots, not 80 for this next admissions go-round. And, of course, all the great press Olin has been getting will likely bring in many more applications.</p>

<p>Here are some of the stats we were given:
of the 89 students total:</p>

<p>64 AP scholars
2 US Presidential Scholars
34 National Merit Finalists
1 Nat'l Achievement Finalist
5 Nat'l Hispanic Scholars
22 valedictorians
4 salutatorians
avg weighted GPA: over 4.3
mid 50 SAT range: 2090-2350
median SAT 2210</p>

<p>While academics is important, Olin is also very much looking for kids who are actively involved in something(s) outside of school. The list for those activities was also quite impressive. Olin is clearly an extraordinary school, and they are looking for extraordinary students!</p>

<p>Not to discourage anyone, really, but i do believe the admissions has gotten much tougher than it was even 3 or 4 yrs ago when they started out. The students that are there now are absolutely smart and unique, but I think because the caliber of applications has gone up, so too it follows/is likely that the selectivity is getting more intense.</p>

<p>Oh yes, I was blown away that, in addition to the academic achievement and time heavily spent on EC's -- 53% of the class also hold part-time jobs! whew! when did they sleep?</p>

3

<p>I will attempt my best to answer your questions. I won't comment on your scholastic record or your extracurriculars because that's really the Office of Admission's place, not mine, and I don't want to get your hopes up or dash them.</p>

<p>Questions (with answers)
1. Does Olin have any opportunities to "place out" of classes? It's okay if I don't get credit for past coursework.</p>

<p>For some of the foundations classes (math & physics), you can take a test to pass out of it. However, many have taken it and few have passed. Even some of those who passed decided it was in their best interest to take the class because they realized they may not have known certain areas in as much depth as they would have liked. Additionally, many of the professors are happy to help you figure out projects you can do if you're feeling "bored" in class.</p>

<ol>
<li>Is Olin's taekwondo club still active? I think I saw that Mikell was captain on one of the webpages, but she graduated this year... Also, if its not anymore, is it easy to restart them? I have lots of taekwondo teaching experience and wouldn't mind teaching if there were people at Olin interested. I guess I'm kinda thinking too far ahead...</li>
</ol>

<p>Dean Dieker, a senior at Olin, has been very active in leading our martial arts club, SMAC. He is a prize-winning black belt in some form (sorry Dean, can't remember) of martial arts and is a great teacher. So I'd like to say that SMAC will definitely be continuing this coming year. For clubs that have disbanded or kinda dropped out of interest, all it takes is four students and a mission statement to start a club at Olin. The Vice President of Campus Life, Angela Sharer, '09, is very happy to work with students who want to start clubs on campus.</p>

<ol>
<li>How far is Olin from Boston? I haven't been able to visit yet and am a little curious.</li>
</ol>

<p>Olin is about 14 miles SW of the Boston proper. We're about 3 miles away from the nearest T stop (think subway/trolley) and there is a commuter rail line that runs into Needham about 1.5 miles from the school, but that only runs once an hour. I'd say that roughly a quarter to a third of Olin students have a car on campus, and most are definitely willing to at least take you to the T. You can always try and convince someone to accompany you on your trek into Boston, but good luck finding parking. There are definitely students who go into the city every weekend, and then there are students like myself who only went in once a month or so. You'll find that even with a small campus, there is always someone up and always something going on.</p>

<ol>
<li>Are there opportunities for study abroad through Olin? I'd like to experience another culture and think study abroad would allow me to do this.</li>
</ol>

<p>Right now, there is a "study away" program in place that allows you to study abroad for one semester during your junior year. Students have studied in Australia, Scotland, Singapore, Mexico, Budapesh, France, and many more that I'm already forgetting. We have a few partner schools set up where you don't pay any tuition. The Study Away office is also very helpful at trying to get you into the program of your choice, assuming it meets Olin's high standards. You can always also take a leave of absence for a semester and not worry about your grades, and make up the credits by taking 5 classes (instead of the average of 4) in other semesters.</p>

<ol>
<li>Should I avoid taking engineering classes through dual-enrollment? I think I remember reading that the deferred applicants are not supposed to take engineering classes at other colleges and am not sure if this also applies to high school applicants. I've mainly planned out my courseload with an emphasis on physics and math, but I think my main interest is really engineering </li>
</ol>

<p>I'm not sure what you mean by dual-enrollment, but yes Olin discourages you from taking engineering classes before coming to Olin. That doesn't mean you should not be involved with your FIRST team or your science fair project (by all means keep at it!), but don't take a freshman engineering class at your local state college. The Olin courseload is busy enough as it is, they don't want to spend the time having to "unlearn" the methods that you were taught with at other institutions. Math and sciences are generally OK to take at colleges besides Olin. Believe me, you'll have plenty of engineering work to keep you busy at Olin.</p>

<p>I think I've earned a cookie, but I don't think it's worth the trouble of trying to mail it without it melting or breaking into pieces. :-)</p>

<p>Kevin Tostado
Olin College '06</p>

4

<p>Study abroad. . . .my daughter studied abroad for the spring semester of her junior year, as well as taking a 6 week course abroad during one summer semester. When she visited other engineering programs as she was applying to college, some were not as study abroad-friendly as Olin tends to be.</p>

5

<p><em>coughs up</em></p>

<p>***...75th percentile at 2350?</p>

<p><em>checks website</em></p>

<p>where did you get the information?</p>

6

<p>From a letter sent to parents, republished here. Top # of middle 50% range marks the 75 percentile cutoff.</p>

<p><a href="http://rolocroz.com/junk/classof2010.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://rolocroz.com/junk/classof2010.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>Wow, all of these responses were very helpful :) A little intimidating, but I'm still going to apply. You never know unless you try ;) I was able to find SMAC's website which looks awesome! The opportunities for study abroad also sound great. Thanks again, to everybody for their helpful replies :)</p>

8

<p>I wouldn't worry too much about the class of 2010's impressive SAT scores. Olin looks at the whole package, especially extracurriculars, life experiences, and how you can contribute to college life. When my son applied for the class of 2009, Olin turned away 6 students with perfect (1600 at the time) SAT scores.</p>

9

<p>There's a lot of reasons they were rejected haha....</p>

<p>but since I'm asian I like to be comfortably in the top 25% so I can be sure that my scores are at least average.</p>

10

<p>Dude,
I think I speak for a lot of us on here when I say that your jokes go a bit too far and aren't really that funny. And since the Office of Admission occasionally checks on this board, you may want to watch your tone...</p>

<p>Kevin Tostado
Olin College '06</p>

11

<p>Hmmm....my last post wasn't a joke....</p>

<p>and if the office of admissions rejects me for playing around on an unofficial QA forum...then obviously it's not the right place for me is it? It also wouldn't be the place they try to advertise to everyone.</p>

<p>Either way, I'm not worried.</p>

12

<p>Olin "advertises" itself as primarily an engineering college to introduce new ways to learn engineering. It also prides itself on having an effective Honor Code, which I suggest that you take a look at. Perhaps Olin's not a fit for you, and vice versa. The admissions office will determine your admission not only in your essay, but your personality at CW if you get here. The people here are amazing, and with your attitude on this board (I may be judging you unfairly), I wouldn't want you to undermine the great atmosphere at Olin. By all means, do apply and be yourself. I just hope that you are a better person than you seem to be on this board.</p>