<p>Obviously I think Olin is an amazing school and anyone would be lucky to go there. I think this article hints at what makes Olin different. Olin is the only engineering school on the happiest students list. But it is also on Students Study the Most and Professors with high mark.</p>
<p>One thing that makes Olin great is the willingness of professors to explore ideas with students, have fun outside of class, etc. Olin professors have a passion for teaching and it is evident. </p>
<p>Olin students study A LOT. And while there are times during a really hard physical problem set where you might wistfully think of how easy some of your high school classmates have it by majoring in something that requires less study time, you remember all the fun you had building this or that project. Olin students play hard and study hard. Whether it's acting in Olin's theater program, juggling fire or building a robot, you will find students exploring their passions.</p>
<p>Design</a> News - Electronic News & Comment - Engineering Schools Dominate 'Unhappiness' List</p>
<p>Therefore, you should apply to Olin :)</p>
<p>bump… now’s the season when students need to finalize college app list. Olin is a great place for the right fit student. </p>
<p>In our case, there were neat music options that I would not have expected at such a small school. If you are a musician, don’t rule out Olin without learning more.</p>
<p>colorado_mom could you elaborate more on “music options”? I play an instrument and I want to keep playing in college which is one of the reasons why I’m drawn to larger schools like UMichigan, Caltech (not really larger but still they have Caltech- Occidental Orchestra), USC, and Berkeley and I thought if I go to Olin I wouldn’t have as many musical opportunities as I’d like so this is great news.</p>
<p>One big musical activity at Olin is the conductorless orchestra. They are very talented and perform at least once per semester. Babson has a few bands/orchestras that Olin students can do as well. I know there is a jazz band. If you talk with admissions they could give you a more complete list of current opportunities. Or you could contact Prof Diana Dabby (Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Music, Music Program Director) and she can tell you ALL about music at Olin. [Olin</a> College | Faculty Bio](<a href=“http://olin.edu/faculty_staff/bios/bio_ddabby.html]Olin”>http://olin.edu/faculty_staff/bios/bio_ddabby.html) Many talented musicians who don’t want to make it their career but want to keep up there skills find a place to do so at Olin. You can even apply to get passionate pursuit funding to help pay for lessons.</p>
<p>The Olin “Wired” elective with Prof Dabby is neat
[AHSE</a> 1122: The Wired Ensemble – Instruments, Voices, Players | AHSE | Olin College of Engineering](<a href=“http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahse_1122/]AHSE”>http://digitalcommons.olin.edu/ahse_1122/)</p>
<p>Olin is not the kind of school where you could join a marching band and go to football games. But as described above, there are music options. The Class of 2015 list showed about 60% had done music in high school… some of them very seriously.</p>
<p>I found there are some youtubes avialable for Olin Conductorless Orchestra - here’s and example: [Olin</a> Conductorless Orchestra Concert (excerpts) - YouTube](<a href=“Olin Conductorless Orchestra Concert (excerpts) - YouTube”>Olin Conductorless Orchestra Concert (excerpts) - YouTube)</p>
<p>I think they do a terrific job…great music from a surprisingly small group. And no conductor ;)</p>
<p>colorado_mom thank you so much for all the information. AHSE 1122- The Wired Ensemble class seems like a dream come true and I really liked the excerpt link as well. I found the full version while searching for more videos it seems like an awesome chamber group to play in.</p>
<p>Passionate pursuit also seems interesting I’ll definitely be asking Mr. Murdoch about all these things when he drops by.</p>
<p>This video gives a nice overview of Olin, including its innovative project-oriented learning approach.
[StrategicVideoAwards's</a> Channel - YouTube](<a href=“StrategicVideoAwards - YouTube”>StrategicVideoAwards - YouTube)</p>
<p>Copied from the Transportation thread - “What sounds so appealing about Olin is that it’s a diversely-interested group of students all working hard together.” - That’s a good point. </p>
<p>Lots of times Engineering students are housed with like peers (due to Engineering dorms or STEM-centric college). There are pros/cons to that, but it certainly helps for the studying and is usually my recommendation. Typically though their interests are less diverse than at Olin. </p>
<p>Of course there are exceptions to all generalizations. I was once at a Parent Weekend event with DD at CO School of Mines, a very geeky place. I figured my D was of few there with IB background, high verbal SATS. All of the sudden I was talking with two of her friends that had IB diplomas - one spoke 4 languages, the other spoke 5 (and had been accepted at Air Force Academy). Sometimes folks just gravitate to others with like interest.</p>