<p>My son slept over at Olin and attended classes the next day. He loved the school and the quirky, smart kids. He was up until 2 hanging out with others on the floor baking bread, and working on problem sets. It seemed like a real match for him.</p>
<p>But, Olin is nearly impossible to get into (although my son will try...he has relatively high stats).</p>
<p>As he finalizes his college list, I am wondering if anyone could recommend a school with a similar vibe as Olin?</p>
<p>Olin is very unique - nearly impossible to match but Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, and Bucknell might be added to the list. A few years back S attended Candidate’s Weekend so we know the allure of Olin.</p>
<p>Got me there Dad’o’2! Of course since Olin is unique, what is similar to something that is unique?</p>
<p>I listed a few colleges that kids at CW and others I knew that were applying to Olin had mentioned also applying to, though I do agree that they aren’t similar to Olin. Other schools were: Case Western, RPI, RIT, Rutgers, UT Austin, Columbia, MIT, Cal Tech, CMU, Stanford, Cornell, Tufts, Boston U - all over the place. I guess that is because there really is nothing similar to Olin.</p>
<p>Now I understand why he and I are struggling to find something similar. We will check out some of the others that were recommended. He enjoyed the quirky, nerdy, non-alcoholic scene where everybody hung out and did homework and had fun. I remember my college days as more of a boozefest. (more so the students on my floor than me of course!)</p>
<p>He has rice, williams, mit, lawrence, carnegie mellon (maybe), university of rochester, and we might take a look at bucknell and/or lafayette. Preference for either physics or engineering. Music a plus so the conductorless orchestra at olin was the only drawback.</p>
<p>“He enjoyed the quirky, nerdy, non-alcoholic scene where everybody hung out and did homework and had fun.”</p>
<p>That describes at least 80% of the Carnegie student body and is why my S and D are both at Carnegie and absolutely love the school. D visited Olin in 2008 – but thought it was way too small and lacked music and liberal arts electives. </p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Case and he loves it. The kids there are quirky, nerdy, and still have fun. They all study hard and understand each other. They seem to spur each other on with friendly competitiveness but help each other out too.</p>
<p>Not sure if your son would like Bucknell. It’s very preppy and the social scene revolves around drinking and greek life (this is what I’ve been told by the parent of kid who attended).</p>
<p>Caltech is definitely quirky and kids there know how to have fun when they aren’t drinking from the fire hose. It’s also really small like Olin. My kids both loved it, but we didn’t look at Olin because it seemed more engineering oriented than comp sci oriented - and it had only just graduated it’s first class. My younger son wanted a humanities/social science school that was “like Caltech” for a long time. My older son’s social life (at Carnegie Mellon) seems to revolve around the Linux cluster where a regular bunch hangs out. He’s found kids to play board games with which was about all the social life he’s ever wanted to look for, but I know there’s lots more out there, including plenty of music.</p>
<p>Another thumbs up for looking at Case. A good friend had 2 that did undergrad at Case and both are now at Ivies for grad. Case is clearly a contender in that regard. Neither of us are fans of the town, there’s good and bad there, but the school is a good 'un for the OPs type of son. If the OP’s son is on point of Olin, MIT or Cal Tech, then there might be a very good finaid package at Case if that is a consideration.</p>
<p>Case gives large merit scholarships for high stats. I was surprised by how much music was available… bands, classes, minors, double majors. I heard that engineering/music is their most common double major. I posted details in Case threads in Jan/Feb 2010 timefream.</p>
<p>I tossed out Bucknell because a very quirky/nerdy kid on our Case tour was applying to Olin and Bucknell as his top schools. He recommended it to S, also quirky/nerdy kid. Otherwise I know zero about the school - so random suggestion completely withdrawn.</p>
<p>Case was on the final short list for S - really liked lots about it. Also very generous with merit. Also wanted to note that Case does have a good music and theatre scene - I think being in the museum complex brings an art vibe to the school that is great.</p>
<p>Olin was my son’s first choice as well, head and shoulders above the other schools on his list. He was accepted at Johns Hopkins, CMU, WPI, Case Western, Rutgers, waitlisted at Columbia, rejected at Olin and MIT (to give you an idea of other possibilities). He is now a happy junior at Case Western, on track for a masters in EE in a bit over 4 yours. Second much of what others have said–social life is not drinking-centric, lots of quicky/nerdy kids, lots of music opportunities, lots of merit money for high stats. More balanced with regard to gender than some of the other tech schools, partly because of its nursing school. Undergrad research is readily available if you want it.</p>
<p>My kids both toured Rose Hulman and both really liked it. I know it’s in Terre Haute, IN and not on the east coast but I think that a kid who liked Olin it would be a good fit.</p>
<p>I second, third the opinions of Case Western. CMU was also great but a little bigger than the others. </p>
<p>I’m not sure I would recommend Bucknell for this kid. My D really liked it and it was her second choice but it’s not really the school for the quirky/nerdy engineer kid. Honestly that was the reason she liked it. They do have good music options though.</p>