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The fall 2020 acceptance rate for Franklin W Olin College of Engineering is 10%. That means, out of _____ applications received in 2020 , _____ students were offered admission. The number of males who applied was _____ vs the number of females which was _____.
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Describe the students at your school.
In one word, students at Olin are passionate, whether it's about academics and classes, sports, hobbies, research oppurtunities, outside jobs, or even spending time with each other; they dedicate themselves to doing what they enjoy and they are always trying to find new ways to do so.
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Here's your chance: Say anything about your college!
Olin proselytizes its innovation and openness to change. This was true back in 05-06 but has largely been forgotten and replaced by the standard academic bureaucracy. The board seems to be less interested in innovation than stats and comparables, the facilities department actively looks to skewer students, and the administration has built up a fair amount of bureaucratic inertia to the point where rapid innovation is largely stifled. Sure, there might be a few inconsequential student groups that "innovate" regularly but the long term goal setters and policy makers at olin have hunkered down and don't appear to be moving anytime soon.
Tuition used to be free. It is now half. I wouldn't be surprised if you were required to pay full tuition in the coming years. The pledge for free tuition was in Olin's founding statement and has been largely ignored as the administration continues to push Olin to be more like MIT or Stanford.
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What are the academics like at your school?
Olin academics are tough. There is an enormous amount of work assigned to you and not a lot of time to do it in. it is not rare for students to fail classes or perform worse then they ever performed in high school. That being said, Olin academics are an enormous step ahead of academics at other schools. You work will largely be team based and exciting. You will be given broad goals and you will have to interpret how to reach them.
Olin's academics succeed where they deviate from pedagogical convention most. There are a couple of standard problem set classes and you are forced to take them due to some of the less innovative faculty digging their heels in.
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What should every freshman at your school know before they start?
Throughout my life, I've struggled to find a place that felt like home to me. Part of this struggle involved finding others with the same interests and personailities as me. Olin is a very unique school, full of passionate individuals, and when I was accepted, I was overjoyed, as I believed that this would be the home I was always looking for. In some ways, I was correct; at Olin, I have met so many wonderful friends that I'm so glad I get to spend my days with. But at the same time, I'm often saddened when I have a hard time connecting with many other students. When I applied to a small engineering school with a focus on hands-on learning, I didn't really expect that there would be a plethora of atheletes or "normal people". Not that there's anything wrong with them, it's just that I have a harder time connecting with them than people who share my interests. If I could tell my high school self anything, I'd make sure that he understood that even at my dream school, I won't get along with everyone.
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Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?
Yes.
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What are the most popular student activities/groups?
There's all manner of clubs on campus. But unlike a club that you might be used to in highschool you can think of these clubs more like mailing lists, stuff happens, someone broadcasts it, and you can join in if wanted.
Organizations which are more comparable to highschool clubs are Olin's student government, Mini Baja build team, Human Powered vehicles build team, and the Honor board.
Olin has only one large proto-frat/party throwing organization. Manhall. Located in a hallway in east hall and started as tongue in cheek reference to traditional frats it has become Olin's sole provider of "large college parties". The parties are well run, safe, packed full of people, and the guys in manhall make sure everyone stays safe and isn't creeped on. Without Manhall Oliners would be likely meander over to Babson's roofie infested frat parties full of over boozed up bros or drinking in small groups in someone or another's dorm room. A big plus for people interested in women, Manhall parties are full of Wellesley women who are there to have a "good time" and who are there in a 5 to 1 female to male ratio.
Dating at Olin (olincest) is fairly common. As the gender ratio is so high your likely to bump into someone who's fairly attractive and worth dating. In fact a large percent of Oliners date within Olin as the population is so accessible and interesting. (And surprisingly not terribly full of neckbeardy kind of people) If you're not dating an Oliner you're likely to be dating a Wellesley student. There are 150+ of them at Olin every other weekend at the Manhall parties so you'll have your fair chance to meet them.
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What is the stereotype of students at your school?
Some common assumptions are that Oliners are really good at math, that they all love engineering, that they go on to really great jobs after school, and that Olin is a really female friendly school. Most of our reputation is very positive thanks to a lot of student [emotional] buy in to the admissions process and our excellent pr department
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What is your overall opinion of this school?
It's a small high pressure school. You will work harder than you ever expected but will have fun doing it. Olin is full of high achieving people doing amazing things.
There are only 350 of us and you are forced to live on campus for four years and because of this you quickly learn how to not be a dick.
Olin is not for standard academics, which is to say, people who create, build, innovate, and push boundaries are what make Olin "Olin". It's not that you wont succeed as the standard pset desk jockey, you'll just not add much to the school, and if you're not going to add much, don't come. Allow someone else who's creativity and drive would be squashed at a large school to take your place.
When you leave Olin you will have a skill set that not many students in the nation have. On the whole, you will not be as good of a "formal engineer" as MIT, Caltech, or Stanford students. However you can beat the pants off them when it comes to working in small high pressure engineering teams or solving ambiguous tough problems. This makes you *very* valuable to companies. Instead of being some sad CAD/code/lab monkey in some large bureaucracy you have the skills to move into the business world and kick butt and take names all the while acting as a creative and effective engineer.
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What's unique about your campus?
The best thing is the electrical and computer engineering program. There are so many resources for students to take advantage of. We have cutting edge technology and amazing faculty for these departments.
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Describe your favorite campus traditions.
It has only been around for 7-8 years, so it is still relatively new. With that, it has a very unusual curriculum for teaching engineering that is refined with every class.
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What kind of person should attend this school?
Someone who is very engaged in their work. They need to be passionate and enjoy hard work. If they do not like to work hard or they don't take pride in their work, it is easy for them to give up and have their grades slip.
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What's the most frustrating thing about your school?
There's always so much to do all the time, but there's never enough time to do it all, since you are probably spending a lot of your time doing academic work (not that that's a bad thing).
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