I am a new member here. My son has been admitted to Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, and Johns Hopkins. Out of these three schools, he has been visited Olin during their Candidate Participate Weekend, but never been visited the other two schools. He likes the curriculum of Olin and the hand-on, collaborate learning environment. But he feels it would be nicer if the school is larger. He is aiming in engineering and mostly lean to mechanical engineering. He feels CMU and JHU do not have as strong mechanical engineering as Olin. Would any of you have the idea how is the mechanical engineering at CMU and JHU? Thank you.
First of all, how much does he love Olin (how does he fit with the students and the culture)? If he already has doubts about it, then it’s probably not for him. I don’t know much about CMU and JHU’s ME reputation, but (I’m an ME) I know they are not best known for their ME program. I’m sure they are ‘good’ as in ABET accredited. But JHU is renown for its med school and CMU for its computer science programs.
He loves everything about Olin besides the size seems a little too small. From his visit, he love the students and faculty there. He love the hand on and collaboration learning environment. So if the size is a little larger, Olin can be the best fit for him. I know JHU is best known for its med school and CMU for its computer science programs, but trying to get a feeling about their ME program. Is there ranking of ME at each school?
Frankly, rankings for ABET accredited engineering programs are meaningless. For pay purposes, every company will pay engineers the same for the same work, no matter what school they went to. For grad school, it may be a factor, but more important is the student’s own work and internship/co-op experience.
I’m 100% every grad school worth considering has heard of Olin and are very impressed by their graduates. Checkout the schools Olin graduates have been admitted to.
I agree with NoVADad99. Olin will be just as well known among engineering graduate schools. I also agree with him that if your son is having doubts, it may not be the best place for him. Even if he likes everything else, the size is what it is and those other things aren’t necessarily going to make up for the size if he is uncomfortable with it. On the other hand, rather than being concerned with the relative rankings of mechanical engineering, does he have any feel for how collaborative vs competitive the other schools are? That’s what I would be trying to assess given that he likes the collaborative aspect of Olin.
They are all good engineering schools. Definitely Olin is a teeny, niche-fit school. DS is at Olin, and it’s been a great place for him. But it is definitely too small for some students. Your son should visit at least one of the other choices to understand the pros/cons. Even if he ends up at Olin, it will be worthwhile for him to know that he went through the comparison process.
Check out the Olin threads. There are some comments about grad school prep. Olin has a different curriculum than most schools and less variety of research. But some Oliners do still go to grad school, including at at top schools.
CMU is know for CS, but when we visited it seemed to have a strong MechE program. We know a MechE that graduated from CMU and later did grad school at Stanford.
Cornell is known for its engineering. Olin is known for its engineering. I would rank Olin and Cornell a notch above JHU and CMU for Mechanical Engineering. Many students would envy him going to ANY of those four schools for Mech E.
Your son has to decide whether he wants to learn engineering or go to COLLEGE. There is a big difference. I am wondering what a student misses out on when a school has only 350 students and only teaches engineering.
Olin is only ranked for ME in the undergraduate sections at #8 just ahead of Rowan, one the less selective NJ state schools.
You should know that Olin is not in great shape financially. Please research that point.
The other schools seem so much better and complete than Olin. I see nothing to suggest that Olin is a better school to be honest.
It sounds like your son has a good group of schools he is interested in. But you and he should do more work together to figure out what he wants in a school. He liked what he saw in Olin and that is terrific, however he thought he might want a school with more students. See if you two can go and visit Cornell or JHU or CMU as a comparison. If he is motivated he can have a good experience and become a Mechanical Engineer and start a career from any of these schools.
I just realized the time to commit to a school has already passed. Did he get off the wait list at Cornell? Is the choice now between Cornell and Olin? Cornell is so much larger. A lot more going on in every way!
Olin students can cross register at Babson, Wellesley, and Brandeis for their courses. It’s not just engineering classes. They have access to all the classes at those schools. As for Olin’s financial shape, while it’s not as good as it was bedore 2008, it’s been stable for the past 3 or 4 years. Look at the lastest Boston Business Journal article.
Congratulations on the WL offer. Have you and he been to Cornell for a visit? Do you have enough time to do that before he makes his decision? (again)
It seems to me that they are such very different schools. Olin is tiny and with a few majors only and Cornell has many more students and more varied opportunities. If for example, he is not absolutely positive that ME is his route, it would be sensible to go to a school with greater exposure to a wider range of subjects to study and more clubs and activities and more of a social life too. I think my bias towards Cornell is showing through.
Also, you should consider costs of course.
Thank you for the input. No. He has never been to Cornell and have to make the decision tomorrow. So we have to do the research on line to find out the best fit school for him. He is very hand-on and collaborate. Olin sounds like fit him well on that. Not sure about Cornell though.
We visited Olin a few months ago. Although it was close to Wellesley and Babson, it was just too isolated and small for dd. However, it is at least close to Boston and its major airport. Cornell is not close to a major airport which was a deal killer for us.