@Waiting2exhale, I think it was a mailing they sent in response to being added to their mailing list for prospective students.
Does The Ohio State University admit by major or division? If so, are these seeming anomalies explained by the major or division applied to?
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1807 indicates that “Financial need is not a consideration in the admissions process” at The Ohio State University.
Son was admitted directly to The Ohio State University engineering program. (College of Engineering)
Older daughter goes to Davidson College. Almost no one has heard of it (unless they’re a Stephen Curry fan). I get blank stares and “where’s that?” comments. I usually say something to the effect of “its a small liberal arts college in North Carolina” and get a polite “oh, okay” back. Occasionally I’ll list some other comparable LACs for context, but most people have never heard of any of them either.
@rayrick, the die-hard engineering kids definitely heard of Olin. That was my son’s dream school, maybe a tag higher than MIT on his list, didn’t get in to either. He was sad over MIT but totally heartbroken over Olin. My DD looked at it seriously too, so we visited Olin 3 times, loved it each time. She withdrew her Olin application after accepted ED from Columbia SEAS. there’s no guarantee she would have gotten into Olin either.
Olin is a great school, very small and extremely selective, especially with the in-person interview via candidate weekend. Congrats to your daughter.
When I was in HS in the 70’s, and I would guess even until maybe 15-20 years ago, most students attended college locally and the majority of the country was not familiar with many schools outside their area. While that has changed more recently, those who do not have college aged kids have no reason to be familiar with regional schools. We are in So. Calif. and while most people we know are familiar with the Claremont Colleges, I can totally understand that people in other parts of the country would not be.
As far as our son, UCSD elicits the response " who wouldn’t want to live in La Jolla?" (Very true) or, one parent, “too bad he didn’t get into UCB” ( after visiting, he refused to apply).
Clearly this is the one corner of the world where one can regularly encounter people who have heard of Olin. Warms my heart! My sympathies to your son, @y2kchicks. Hope he’s been happy wherever he ended up.
And I love Davidson, by the way @foosondaughter. My family goes way back with that school. My grandfather went there, my great-grandfather taught there, and my great-great uncle was actually president. I remember visiting it 30+ years ago when I was looking at colleges and there was a little form to fill out that asked you to list any relatives who had connections to the school. I remember the very charming interviewer disarmed me right away when she looked at my sheet and asked as her very first question “Alright, be honest with me – did you really want to visit Davidson or did your relatives drag you here?”
Visited with D (the one at Olin) and was very impressed. It’s also now my favorite example from all of my college touring of the seemingly trivial reasons kids will rule out a school – their only dance studio was in the basement of the gym and had no windows. That was a deal-killer for my daughter.
Where I grew up in blue-collar suburban Philadelphia, most of my neighbors and classmates didn’t know the difference between Penn and Penn State, the former of which was literally just ten miles away.
When I lived in San Diego about a decade later, almost nobody I met had heard of the Claremont Colleges.
The Average Joe only knows the schools with good sports teams or where they or their neighbors’ family members went to school. And even then, they confuse one with another.
I always dreamed of my older son going to some obscure little SLAC, and he ended up at a big state flagship known for its football team. The fact that most folks know of it doesn’t give me any special thrill. I regularly read parents complaining about the negative reactions they encounter when they tell people that one of their kids is headed there, and how upsetting it all is. I’ve honestly never experienced that. A few raised eyebrows by parents of his private school classmates? Maybe. But they’re far too mannered a bunch to say anything negative–to my face anyway!
@LucieTheLakie brings up an interesting question … does anyone ever wonder what those who ask where your kid goes to college really think about your kid’s school choice after you’ve told them?
It’s human nature to want to understand other people, so I imagine a little story going on in people’s heads that confirms what impressions/biases they already have about the kid/family/school – like, “that Snowflake is such a gunner but not so smart, so I bet the grandparents’ big shot friend called in some chits to get the Snowflake into ivy X” or “I always knew that kid was more interested in partying than studying so no wonder they picked Big State U”
I currently live about an hour away from Claremont, I have 2 kids there now…I encounter PLENTY of people who don’t know the Claremont Colleges (or even the town!).
^^^ we lived in Claremont in the 80’s/90’s and DH attended Claremont Grad school, so maybe I’m not being realistic. Now that we live in Ventura County i would say my S2’s friends from HS know of the Claremont Colleges, but several applied to one or more of them and 2 are attending. You are probably right that the general population is not aware of them.
@GnocchiB:
“It’s human nature to want to understand other people, so I imagine a little story going on in people’s heads that confirms what impressions/biases they already have about the kid/family/school -”
Gosh, that is really giving other people space and time in your head rent-free. I don’t know, Gnocc. Kind of thinking people don’t really think about the next person all that much. And I’m a people-watching-back-story kind of person.
But I don’t know. We’ll see where this goes.
My daughter is going to Georgia State University in the fall. I always get oh why not the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech. She should got there.
I get it,@waiting2exhale. I’m a big people-watcher so I do analyze, and I realize that others don’t. I guess for the non-analyzers the “story” is really just their opinion or judgment in categorizing people they meet.
Another proud Olin parent here. Yes, it is a bit obscure, especially for folks in our neck of the woods. (Many of the applicants come from the coasts, especially CA). However if they do try to look it up, they will probably stumble across the very many other college “Olin” entries at other various campuses (usually an engineering building or a library or a school of business)… lol, They all go back to the F.W. Olin Foundation … Olin may be a familiar name if you’ve had a pair of Olin skis.
^ The science building at my college was named Olin.
As is the arts building at mine.
I live in a Boston suburb, and even here, in Olin’s backyard, if you were to ask the average college educated adult which college is in Needham you’d get a whole lot of blank stares. Olin is just too new to be widely known, despite its stellar reputation in academic circles.
Olin is going to have an admission rate of under 10% this year. Frankly, they don’t need more exposure for people who are only in it to chase prestige.
“@LucieTheLakie brings up an interesting question … does anyone ever wonder what those who ask where your kid goes to college really think about your kid’s school choice after you’ve told them?”
Lol!
No. If they haven’t heard of it (common with my D’s LAC) that’s entirely their problem.
Yes. But they don’t meet financial need either, not by a long shot.
Last year Olin had 983 applications, this year it’s up to 1,293.
http://www.olin.edu/news-events/2016/olin-college-receives-record-breaking-number-applications/
With and enrollment of about 350 students, Olin “parents” are way over represented on CC. 