@eyemgh I think you phrased it better than I ever could; I really loved GT when I visited, but I also liked Olin and am aware that it’s a rare and amazing opportunity; going to college is a privilege in and of itself, but attending a unique school with unique opportunities is probably worth something as well.
@i012575 I appreciate the encouragement, and am glad to hear your daughter is doing well!
The coursework is voluminous and very difficult. But the students are very smart and can handle it. At orientation, the school stresses how hard it will be, and also stresses how none of you would be here if we didn’t know you can handle it. But your point is true. Many hold after school jobs, and nearly everyone participates in clubs and other activities, on top of seemingly endless hours of studying. And they’re all better for it. They very quickly learn time management, and naturally push themselves to excel at everything they do, as they’ve been doing their whole lives. Employers know this. When they hire GT grads, they’re getting someone very used to high workload and high performance. This is true of many engineers, but especially prevalent at GT.
BTW, as example, my son works for a basketball analytics startup, is VP of the sports business club, plays for GT club volleyball, practices with women’s varsity, plays intramurals, goes to every basketball and football game, watches plenty of sports on TV, is active in fraternity with plenty of partying, and still finds time for all that studying. His schedule amazes me, and he’s pretty much like everyone else there.
I’ll let @colorado_mom speak for her kid at Olin. My son has worked in the IT shop at Olin to earn extra money since his first semester. He works probably about 15-20 hours a week, on top of his classes. He is also in charge of the fundraising for the Baja Race Team this year, and will be going with the team to the annual SAE Baja Race event in Kansas this summer. Last year he also did the Robotic Sail team but dropped it this year as the time commitment for it was too much. He took a class at Wellesley last semeste. He seems to be going to Boston or the neighboring area with classmates about every other week or so. It all depends on the student and what passion he or she has and wants to pursue. There is nothing at Olin to limit students if they want to truly do something outside of class.
Just to clarify, I meant how hard the classwork is at Olin, because if GT is hard and people have that much time, and Olin students are comparable in merit, there may be a difference in courseload.
@Chardo thanks for the comprehensive response; I appreciate it.
@Novadad99 Thanks for the response! Do you have any ideas about how the grading works at Olin? Does this affect how people make decisions about time commitments? Every time I asked anyone at CW (including the professors), they would just laugh. Obviously, the point of school is learning, but grades matter for internships, etc.
There isn’t a school where engineering is easy and everyone thinks their school is hard. In reality, the schools that ate notably harder than the test might boil down to one, Caltech. Their volume and pace are ridiculously high, and probably not to the benefit of the student (side note, two former Caltech profs told my son they wouldn’t recommend it for undergrad). Anyhow, back on track. Difficulty is not a metric that will meaningfully differentiate the two.
It’s true that Olin is a good school and unique. If you apply yourself and do well, you will have opportunities. What’s important to wrap your head around, is that statement is 100%, capital T true no matter where you go. To maximize your opportunity to thrive, fit then is the personal metric you should concern yourself with. If you’re a square peg, don’t pound yourself into a round hole. You won’t be happy.
@eyemgh I appreciate the honest feedback. I visited GT recently (like a week ago) and will be at Olin overnight soon as well; hopefully that will help make things more clear.
My son doesn’t worry about ‘grades’ as probably most Olin students don’t obsess about them. If they do the work they will get a good grade. That’s it. Olin expects their students to work and are capable of doing the work. The students also help each other if someone needs help. It’s a very collaborative and supportive environment, not a cut throat competitive one.
@helpless2017 We can hire people from any college we want. We don’t think Olin students are lacking in technical knowledge. They do tend to have a very hands on approach to problem solving. There are schools that promote a more analytical approach. We like to have a mix of analytical and hands on skills in our team. Both approaches require significant technical knowledge. I just remembered that this is our second year in a row with an Olin intern.
@NoVADad99 I really appreciate the information, thank you so much. If you don’t mind, is there any chance you could tell me how students distinguish themselves then? If everyone has project experience and everyone has similar grades, how do big companies, etc. decide who to hire? Are there one or two students/a “top of the class” that distinguishes itself, or is it more of a case-by-case thing? A lot of my high school success has come from being one of the very few who actively pursues opportunities, and while I know that GT/Olin will both be mostly made up of students who are similar, this level of ubiquity worries me. Thank you so much again.
@nordicdad the hands-on vs. analytical concept makes a lot of sense and definitely clarifies a lot about the differences between the two schools. Thank you so much!
@helpless2017 For the past few years, there have been more companies hiring at Olin each Spring Career Fair than there were graduates. Not to mention that many graduates head to graduate schools so they are not even in the hiring pool. I am not sure there is even a student academic ranking or how they go about selecting a valedictorian. I would think companies hire based on the specific skills and internship experiences an individual student had, and if their area of interest matches the companies, or maybe the connections the students have made with the companies over the course of his/her work, studies, and projects.
@helpless2017 I do not think HP has any direct impact on getting internships or opportunities at hackathons. It is more about close community you will be a part of your freshman year. Hackathon’s logistics/reimbursement is usually managed by organizers, but you can meet a lot of hiring companies reps during those events. At GT your college usually coordinates internship fairs, hiring events, but there are some campus-wide events too. However it is a good idea to add information about HP to your resume. Let us know what you decide to do. Good luck!
@helpless2017 Looking back at your questions and concerns about Olin (about its ‘level of ubiquity’ and concerns about standing out among your classmates, and your desire for research opportunities), I really think you are not the right fit for the school. You will do yourself a favor if you pick GT since it meets all the things you have concerning Olin’s culture. Please don’t take this as criticism. As others have said, it is about fit and culture. You are a much better fit at GT than you would be at Olin.
@NoVADad99 Thank you so much for the honest advice and comments. I’m doing an overnight extremely soon, which will hopefully provide context one way or another: is there any chance I could please ask more questions, if I have any, after that? Thank you so much again.
@RussianMom thank you for the advice! I have really enjoyed several high school hackathons, and am excited to pursue college ones in the future, regardless of where I go.
@NoVADad99 Also, just to clarify, I didn’t mean to portray myself as a cut-throat competitive person with no interest in collaboration - I was just worried about ensuring that I have an education that employers view as valid and having grading that makes sense in the context of where I attend. Thank you again for all of the advice throughout this thread.
Olin comment based on recent questions/discussions above:
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TIME/JOBS - My son did have some minor campus employment (interesting stuff, but he did not earn a lot of money). During senior year he continued his summer gig, a few hours per week remotely (and then went to same place after graduation). All four years he did A LOT of EC, even though the academic workload/projects were intense. However he often sacrificed sleep, not uncommon at engineering schools.
GPA - There seems less focus than other schools, partly because there is high demand for graduates. The good thing is that Olin (and MIT and Harvey Mudd and I think some other engineering schools) have pass/fail first semester. That allows students to get accustomed to college. Also they can learn that collaborative learning is good (and real life!) without worrying about who gets the top grade. You’d think it would make students lazy, but they work surprisingly hard even in the first semeser.
“hand-on” - Olin haslots more project work than my engineering program and more than most other programs today. It is not a vocation-tech kind of thing, w/o mathematical analysis. The technical analysis is often paired with practical uses. I assume there is less probably less problem set kind of learning than I had.
FIT - It is important for a student to be a good match at any school. But it’s especially critical at teeny school, even more so at Olin since the work is so hard. It works best if the student absolutely loves the environment and the learning approach. I often encourage students to put Olin on “the list” to learn more about project-based learning and hone their education preferences. But due to it’s low acceptance rate and the fact that it is a niche-fit, I never push hard on it.
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Another thing I should mention is that small schools have few majors, so opportunity for switching is very limited. If you evolve to a major not offered, you need to transfer. Due to Olin’s non-traditional course sequences, it might be hard to transfer credits. (Not sure - a very high percentage of students stay.)