<p>Just for one year, which I believe was the class of 2010.</p>
<p>Harvard’s okay. 
I don’t really feel like I go “to Harvard”, though – I feel like a part of my lab rather than a part of Harvard as a whole. (And my PI and several of my labmates went to undergrad at MIT, so I think our culture is more MIT than Harvard.)</p>
<p>
Which is not a lot, in absolute terms. On the other hand, it’s a significant number relative to Olin’s small class sizes. The implication is that some 10-15 % of the Olin students in that class turned down the opportunity to attend MIT. There can’t be too many other schools with such a high percentage of MIT cross-admits (perhaps Caltech or Mudd).</p>
<p>I don’t know what kind of conclusions you can draw from that though, I’m almost willing to bet that 90% or so of Olin’s applicants also apply to MIT, though of course not the other way around. I think a significantly smaller percentage of applicants to the other schools mentioned also cross-applied to MIT (especially Mudd).</p>
<p>The question is what percentage of cross-admits turned down MIT for Olin. But no matter how you look at it, 10 is a significant number, specially considering that was 2 years ago. Does any one by any chance have the number of cross-admits for Caltech and Other top places. I suspect similar numbers.</p>
<p>I would say that Olin would certainly have less applicants if not everyone got free tuition. I also know, however, that many years there are students that turn down Olin because they can’t afford it compared to other schools. Olin still costs about $14,000/year when you count room, board, books, etc. That’s a lot of money. The specific cases I know were women who got more complete “full-rides” at other top schools and couldn’t justify the extra expense of Olin. Even I, who was part of the first graduating class and therefore also received a room scholarship, ended up paying more to go to Olin than another very good engineering school. At that school I would have received room, board, laptop, everything. I also know of students who came to Olin because they were pressured by their parents to go to the cheapest good school they could find. I know of at least one student who left after 1-2 years because she was pressured by her parents because of the money and ended up hating it.</p>
<p>So money is a factor but not always in Olin’s favor. I think more than choosing to go to Olin, people choose to look at Olin in the first place because of the tuition scholarship. But once people visit (at Candidates Weekend for instance), it often comes down to fit. But of course, money still can be a factor.</p>
<p>That being said, I know that both Olin and MIT (where some of my friends went) are great schools. Any student would be lucky to attend either.</p>
<p>Although they’re both engineering schools, I don’t think they are looking for the same student. I was deferred from MIT, yet invited to Olin’s candidate weeked. Although it is still up in the air that if I’m accepted to either. I do know the schools have different priorities and are not necessarily comparable.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone has brought up this point yet - maybe Olin wants to admit people that will actually choose Olin. I mean, they clearly have no shortage of those. Maybe Olin figures that someone who got into MIT EA is unlikely to choose Olin.</p>
<p>Jessiehl,</p>
<p>That is not the indication I get. If you research it, there are many people, with respect to Olin’s class size, who Chose it over MIT. I still do not know how many of cross-admits choose MIT.</p>
<p>jessiehl has the right point here. After I talked to one Olin admission officer, even the officer did not admit that this was true, I definitely think admit people that will actually choose Olin plays an important role there. Among the cross-admits who chooses Olin over MIT, generally financial support is the reason. If a cross-admit is poor enough and can get almost free ride (tuition plus room and board) at MIT, he is likely to choose MIT. Olins free tuition is attractive for those cross-admits, who have to pay significant EFCs.</p>
<p>I liked Olin but decided it would not be able to
support my UG goals and involved an unecessary level
of risk avoided at MIT/Caltech.
Here are some questions that I asked ;)</p>
<p>How many MIT course 20s would be happy studying at Olin
versus at MIT/Caltech Chem E/Biomolecular track?</p>
<p>What if there is only one professor in the specific area you like
at Olin and he/she wanders off? Is there enough depth to
offer a plan B/C without rethinking my career choices? </p>
<p>Am I going to be logging hours travelling back and forth to
Wellesley College and Babson to take courses when I
could be doing something useful?</p>
<p>hmmm…I do not get any advantage financially going to
Olin over MIT/Caltech given my income bracket…:(</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Olin is being ranked high for the obvious benefits
it offers its matriculants. In my limited research, I did find Olin is a great
place for training to be an entrepreneur but then so is Babson…</p>
<p>Arwen, did you attened Olin? Or you decided all of what you said because they did not accept you.</p>
<p>Susan, How would they know who would attened? As you know there are many cross-admits. I like to know if there are ways to convay to them that I will attened if they give me a spot.</p>
<p>
Although you’re correct that we only know how many people chose Olin over MIT and not the reverse number, my gut feeling (from those on CC that year who were admitted to both schools) is that more than 10 students turned down Olin to attend MIT.</p>
<p>To answer your question a few posts earlier, that year 20 people turned down MIT for Caltech. In comparison, 150 people turned down MIT for Harvard.</p>
<p>Kaman…I am just a HS senior who has been somewhat lucky in
being accepted EA to both MIT and Caltech. </p>
<p>I did not find Olin inferior or superior to MIT or Caltech but I found it did
not fit my needs hence I did not bother to send in an application. There are
a number of folks where I live however who were deffered/rejected at
MIT who are pursuing Olin at this point wholeheartedly. </p>
<p>Would an alternative hypothesis for the orignal question raised be that there
are a lot more people unsuited to Olin who are applying to Olin
comparable to bad-fit-applicants applying to MIT/Caltech?</p>
<p>molliebatmit.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. One thing you have to consider however, especially since you really do not have the actual numbers and also considering the small size of Olin, is no matter how you look at it, Olin must be offering something special. Unfortunately, no one from Olin has commented on what that is, may be they have more important things to do. I suspect It is more than just free tuition. One thing might be their method of teaching. They do have some of the best professors, including some X-MIT faculty.The other may be the readily available research opportunities for undergraduates. I really do not know. That is the reason I asked the original question. I will definitely apply to several universities including Olin and MIT. What I am trying to do here is to get an idea as how to increase my chances of getting accepted. Also, I like to understand the differences between the two. I already know there are projects Olin and MIT partner on. By the way, I am totally aware that acceptance to either place is nothing short of a miracle, at least for me. I really do not have many special talents to put down on my application. I am just dreaming.</p>
<p>arwen15,</p>
<p>Congrats on your ea admission to two great schools. You must be special. No school can offer everything to everybody. I understand Olin is not really a good choice for your major. And good luck to everyone who works hard, no matter where they pursue.</p>
<p>Although both are technical/engineering schools and both enroll very high caliber students, MIT and Olin are in fact very different. Here’s our impression after S looked at both in 2005/2006:</p>
<p>Olin: Free tuition is a big deal for those of us who don’t qualify for need-based aid. Innovative curriculum, more general multidisciplinary engineering education, but due to small size and limited number of faculty, not particularly deep in any field (I would describe as “pockets of expertise”). Only undergrad courses.</p>
<p>MIT: Large size, deep in many fields, undergrad and grad courses. No/little merit-based financial aid. </p>
<p>If a student already knows what field he/she wants to major in, has become advanced in that field during high school, etc., I would worry about running out of related courses to take at Olin. Best for great all-around students who want to major in engineering but perhaps don’t require access to grad level courses and research profs as an undergrad. (I’m sure many Olin grads go on to grad school where they can specialize more in a particular field).</p>
<p>I realize that I’ve generalized a bit, but this was what we thought. S is now at MIT.</p>
<p>^^I don’t really agree with this characterization. It seems to me that you’re almost comparing Olin to like Harvey Mudd or something (which is designed as purely an undergrad place and research isn’t a focus.) I know of one MIT prof in electrical engineering that moved to Olin. </p>
<p>I am sure that Olin doesn’t have the same course breadth in technical areas at MIT, because I doubt any school on earth does. Caltech might be a close second. Also, the selection of research is not quite as broad. But I would say that the Olin faculty are really quality researchers.</p>
<p>I don’t know that much about Olin. I would say that that’s true for sure is that you have to know you want to be an engineer (and not a scientist or mathematician) and that the free tuition often has an impact on people’s decision to choose the school.</p>
<p>I did say I was generalizing. I’m sure the profs at Olin are good researchers. I just don’t think they can perform as much research with 4-year undergrads as they could if they had grad students, who do the “heavy lifting” for most university research.</p>
<p>Since 2005/2006 the number of Olin’s applicants has gone up more tha 100%. Perhaps this explains why.<a href=“http://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/tech_talk/2007/10/the_best_engineering_school_in.html[/url]”>http://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/tech_talk/2007/10/the_best_engineering_school_in.html</a></p>
<p>My understanding (from one of my Design for Demining profs, who is an Olin prof) is that at Olin (at least for students; I am less sure about profs) the focus is less on research and more on projects, and on the process of designing/engineering a product. Also note that Olin doesn’t have different engineering majors. It doesn’t allow for as much specialization.</p>
<p>Anecdotal musing from the parent of a cross-admit here.</p>
<p>My son was admitted EA to MIT and was also admitted to Olin a couple years ago. His final decision was between them, and he chose MIT, with a number of heavy sighs, even though we are a full-pay family at MIT. He loved the people he met at Olin during Candidates Weekend, and the spirit was contagious. But he knew that in addition to something engineering-y, he wanted to go deeper into mathematical studies than he’d be able to at Olin, and he didn’t want to be so far into the suburbs and isolated as he felt the Olin campus was. Since that time, he’s had a directional change and is now in the Architecture dept. at MIT. This change, which has been great for him, would not have been possible at Olin; he would have had to transfer. </p>
<p>The people and the hands-on environment at Olin were very attractive to him, he couldn’t say enough good about them as pluses. (Honestly, the free tuition was just a bonus, it did not make or break his decision… obviously.) But if you’re not 100% certain you want to go heads-down into engineering, or if there’s any chance you might change your focus, it might be better not to commit to Olin.</p>