<p>Hey All -
I was just thinking that by mid June my S will be an official 'rising High School Junior' and maybe a few college tours would be a good thing. Is there anything to see the week of June 11th or will all the students be off campus for the summer?</p>
<p>Thanks in Advance
Parent Sparkle</p>
<p>I would contact admissions. They tend to have reduce hours for tours in the summer. Some Olin students will be on campus doing research for professors or working for Olin (library, admissions, etc.) but don’t be surprised if it looks a bit like a ghost town.</p>
<p>Thanks for the warning - we have plenty of time, S is just finishing his Sophomore year of HS.</p>
<p>We did many summer college tours “back east” with both kids when doing summer vacations to visit our families. We learned a lot about college factors in general as well as specific info. </p>
<p>We toured Olin when DS was a rising Junior. It was nice to see the campus and learn info (I didn’t know about CC back then). But to be honest there was not a lot going on when we visited. It did not even make a lasting impression on DS. He applied at our urging, but it was not really until the senior year Candidate Weekend that he got “hooked” on Olin. They do have some fall hs weekends… that might give a more comprehensive taste, with students on campus.</p>
<p>We first saw Olin in the summer when DS was a rising junior in HS. It is extremely quiet, but they do a really complete presentation, tour and Q&A, so you get a very good feeling for the school and see all of the campus. There are quite a few students doing research etc., and they are unhurried, so the opportunity to talk to them is very good. And, remember, even though it may seem like a ghost town, it’s not as if a campus of 350 students is every really a hub of activity! I think summer is a great time to visit if you have the chance. Graduation is next weekend, so the majority of students will definitely be gone.</p>
<p>I realize this is a scheduling luxury that many will not be able to pull off, but the thing that really launched D’s fascination with Olin was an overnight while school was in session. The info session was fine but the tour was, to be brutally frank, pretty poor (training, people–all I ask for is a bit of training). But, thanks to the overnight, Olin vaulted to the top of D’s list nonetheless.</p>
<p>To be fair, we went on another tour during CW and it was excellent. But Olin’s doing itself no favors by allowing that much variability in the competence of the tour guides. The tour last fall must have been both the guides’ first one–it went on far too long and was filled with awkward pauses and lack of clarity on where to go next. Painful and distinctly un-Olin-like. Thankfully, due to a scheduling quirk, D and I went on it after she’d already done the overnight, and she was already too in love to let the shaky tour kill her buzz.</p>
<p>I should mention that our summer tour guide was excellent. Same for the info session they held for just 4 families. </p>
<p>If travel logistics are simple (close to home or vacation), a rising Junior visit might be helpful. Also maybe a larger campus visit somewhere, just to start getting some initial datapoints on fit factors.</p>
<p>Unless things have changed, many students are trained to give tours (all volunteers) and many are available during the school year. So it would depend who happens to be free at the time you want a tour. In the summer you will probably just have a few students (who probably work for admissions) so they are very consistent at it. During the school year, you would get a lot of variability in the experience of the guide.</p>