<p>Ok I just heard of this school this morning and it seems really cool. But I had a few questions:
1. Since it is soo new are there still a lot of good teachers, classes, and postgraduation opportunities?
2. What are the dorms/food like?
3. How good is the program REALLY?
4. It's soo small! Does it feel like high school?</p>
<p>That's all...I'm bummed I didn't know about Olin when my mom and I went on our college visit trip!</p>
<p>Ooh, since I'm going to Olin in the fall, I'll field these to the best of my knowledge.</p>
<ol>
<li>Tenure doesn't exist, 100 teachers applied for every spot. Case in point? Olin kids are looking like they will go on to do pretty much whatever they want. I'll leave it to someone else to find the juicy statistics.</li>
<li>Well, I got kidnapped by a man dressed as a ninja in the dorms... and the food is literally the best campus food I've ever had-- huge buffets of many different types of ethnic foods and everything. It was outstanding, and hey, it was heathly too!</li>
<li>I suppose we'll see in another 50 years if Olin is a lucky streak or if it truly is a good program. It's certainly a bet going there, but I maintain the fantasy that in fifty years, Olin will be THE engineering school. Sorry MIT, sorry Stanford... Olin will be reknowned by all over-achieving juniors the nation over. Haha, we'll see though; I am slightly biased.</li>
<li> Don't know because I haven't been there yet. I'd say it feels more like family than even high school, haha. I'm kind of worried about the size.</li>
</ol>
<p>Anyhow, best of luck with your college search!</p>
<p>Hey,
I just graduated from Olin. Mognoose, although you have yet to take a class at Olin, I'd say you were pretty dead on with your descriptions. I came from a highschool with 500 in my class to Olin where there were 66 in my class. I really enjoyed knowing everyone and feeling like a big family. If you want to be able to hide or go through under the radar, Olin might not be the place for you.
Kevin</p>
<p>I thought of another question:</p>
<p>Were you worried about it being sooo new? What did your parents think?</p>
<p>Also, I heard its not "accredited" yet. What does that mean?</p>
<p>To be accredited is to be acknowledged as meeting a particular set of criteria by an independent review board. In the case of a college, it means you are providing a college-grade education, whatever that happens to mean to the review board. The way things are, no college can be accredited without first graduating a class. Olin just graduated its first class, and it will recieve accreditation within the next few months.</p>
<p>In other words, its a stupid technicality.</p>
<p>ok thanks!</p>
<p>I'm a parent of an Olin junior. </p>
<p>The accreditation issue wasn't big, as it seemed a sure thing, sooner or later. After visiting over CW, there was no doubt in my mind about the positive things the school offered. </p>
<p>It is certainly a selective school, but we found none of the attitude at some other selective schools we'd visited. . . . "if you're lucky, we will maybe take you here at Xtra Special U. . . " </p>
<p>The people make all the difference.</p>
<p>Ok, Im a rising Sophomore. </p>
<ol>
<li>Since it is soo new are there still a lot of good teachers, classes, and postgraduation opportunities?
YES. Our Profs are amazing, as Chrisd said, the people make all the difference. Sometimes they care too much and dont know when to go home. We've kicked them out at 2 am and told them to go home to their families. Classes are good, and if they are not profs are responsive to feed back. </li>
<li>What are the dorms/food like?
dorms are very nice. food is amazing. </li>
<li>How good is the program REALLY?
its good. my rear has been kicked in every direction, but its been worth it. When I look at what my friends are doing at other engineering schools, I've learned a lot more in a year. </li>
<li>It's soo small! Does it feel like high school?
I like small, so I really can't comment.</li>
</ol>
<p>"The people make all the difference."</p>
<p>This was the biggest factor in helping me make my decision. I'm 2010, so I haven't actually <em>lived</em> there yet, but when I went to Candidates' Weekend, I immediately felt a strong bond with people. MIT and the others... eh. I was just someone there, and they all thought I was crazy for thinking about any other school. At Olin, it seemed less like, "We have given you this opportunity! Be grateful to us! If you don't take it, then clearly YOU ARE NOT UP TO SNUFF," and more like, "Hey, we think you're awesome! We hope that you like us too!"</p>
<p>As for the size, that was a huge issue for me at first, but then I realized that I liked every single person I met. At any other school, you just have your circle- here your circle is just most of the school. You can still cross-register at larger schools.</p>
<p>Good luck with your college search!</p>
<p>Cross-registering. . . my daughter's taken a class at Brandeis, a class at Wellesley, done a study abroad in Ireland, and a summer program in Freiberg Germany, this summer an internship in Boulder. Olin has been a key to opening the world .</p>
<p>Another question: How do they come up with our olin email addresses? Is it lastname_firstname? And can we alter that?</p>
<p>It's firstname.lastname at students.olin.edu and you're generally allowed to request one alias. Mine was toast at students.olin.edu.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Were you worried about it being sooo new? What did your parents think?
[/quote]
I ended up picking MIT because I wasn't comfortable with the size of Olin, but I loved everything else about the school. My dad's a MechE and during the visit, he kept saying he'd sell his left arm to have been able to go there when he was a kid. Granted, he also liked MIT, but he thought Olin looked like fun because of the hands-on nature and his hyperactivity... AHEM, I mean his learning style. Of course, the biggest deal was probably that we didn't qualify for financial aid anywhere, so the 130k scholarship looked very very nice to them. Olin is the kind of school you DEFINITELY need to visit to know if it's for you (and the fact that visiting is required for Candidate's Weekend anyway will take care of that for you).</p>
<p>Unfortunately I don't think that I will be applying to Olin now. My parents are VERY worried about the lack of alumni and the fact that it is not accredited. However, I will keep Olin on my radar.</p>
<p>alyssieann, from someone who just got out of the college admissions procedure, I think that if you're interested in Olin, you should apply. I was also really worried about Olin's new-ness, and when I was applying, I had no intention of going to Olin... I just thought it sounded cool. But situations surprise us; it's impossible to predict what you'll feel about Olin one year from now, after the letters come in. Remember that you can always turn them down after you apply. :)</p>
<p>My daughter is a rising senior at Olin. </p>
<p>I don't see the lack of alumni (there are about 60 now, by the way!) as a problem. The faculty have great connections, and Olin students benefit from them. My daughter has not had a problem getting summer internships/programs that she's wanted. </p>
<p>She's currently interning in Colorado, and has been surprised that most of the other interns (chem majors, matsci majors) have heard of Olin!</p>
<p>As for connections, I met with an Olin soon-to-be junior the other day. He's working in a new lab at the MIT Strata Center. I saw his lab, and the people in it were pretty excited that I was going to Olin.</p>
<p>Like another poster said- you can always turn Olin down, but if you don't apply, that's it. I was hoping to go to MIT at the beginning of this year. I got in, but suddenly I cared a lot more about Olin. Things change. Also, accredidation is coming up soon, and it seems like it's a pretty certain thing. I'd still apply.</p>
<p>I'm sorry to hear that you're not planning to apply. After choosing MIT, the only school on my list - Ivies included - that I sincerely feel I may someday regret turning down is Olin. I advise you to talk to parents again and reconsider. Olin will be accredited. Nobody doubts it. And none of the current graduates (yes, there actually ARE alumnii now!) has experienced any setbacks because of it. I really think you should apply.</p>
<p>Well, the only setbacks that the graduates had to endure was explaining to any business/internship/grad school why Olin wasn't accredited. I think some schools required extra paperwork to explain about courses, but the administration may have taken care of that.</p>
<p>But kcastelle is right in that the lack of accreditation didn't close any opportunities for the students; it just might have been a hassle at times.</p>
<p>Yes, if you look hard enough we have a nice little letter that says basicly "yes we're real, we're working on the accreditation thing" from the president (I think, Might be the registrar) </p>
<p>A lot of people have used it to solve problems.</p>