Disappointing Olin college recruiter

RememberTheAlamo
Sun, 30 Sep 2018 22:38:32 +0000
Olin College of Engineering

My son is a junior and has narrowed down that Olin really was the only US based college that he even cared about. He already goes to a PBL Engineering high school, so the style of learning is something to which he is drawn. We have not visited the campus, just lots and lots of online searching.

Today there was a college fair, in which Olin was in attendance. It seemed to be clear that the recruiter may not have actually known much about Olin. He spoke about its partnership with Babson & Wellesley, (?? - honestly not something that drew us) but not much about the PBL methodology. My son had detailed questions, but the gentleman just talked about the 3 degrees they have - couldn’t talk much about the PBL approach within the core vs. non-core classes (are non-core classes a thing?). My son will come in with 4 years of engineering + digital design with CAD, Laser Cutting, 3D Printing & Imaging, a total of about 15 strong cross-curricula projects and when he asked how to communicate to the school his background - again - the gentleman just repeated what we already knew about the school (the number / type of degrees).

It was not a great impression to us. Upside is we ended up meeting a few other schools he is willing to look at (Rose-Hulman / Belmont / WPI) before he gives up and applies overseas.

1. He has an interview scheduled (these are prospective student interviews, not part of the application process)…we are wondering whether it will look bad to cancel it - it will be with the same person. 30 minutes to talk in detail, but he had no idea.

2. Is this recruiter indicative of Olin? Are they really project based focused - working in teams to build solutions versus sitting in classes lecture style?

Research told us Olin was the school perfectly matched for our son’s learning style, but we now are wondering (and happy he has found other choices to be honest).

22 posts - 13 participants