This is, by far, one of the hardest parts of our jobs.
After
spending the last 3 weeks poring over essays and transcripts, recommendations
and resumes, DVDs and newspaper clippings, we had to narrow the field down to 270 Candidates.
There are hundreds of truly deserving candidates.
There are hundreds of students who could be amazing contributors to the Olin Community.
You are all talented and incredible people.
As
trite as it may sound, we wish we could bring you all to Candidates'
Weekends. But being the tiny institution that we are, we can only bring
about 270 to campus.
We know many of you would like to know the EXACT
reason why you were not invited to Candidates' Weekend. And yet, as
unsatisfying as it may be to you, it ultimately boils down to the
numbers... 270 spots waiting to be filled by hundreds of talented,
extraordinary people. We agonized over these decisions - there were fights and arguments, and even some marathon team meetings. Please know
that there was nothing "lacking" in you or your application. The letter
from us should have no bearing on how you see yourself as a student or
a person. In the end, it isn't about what you "didn't do" or could have
"done better" but that there are just too many terrific students
applying for only a handful of spots.
We hope that others are telling you this as well: you will have plenty of great college options this year.
Next August you will be schlepping your laundry basket and your
computer into a dorm room somewhere, and you will embark on a fun and
exciting four-year journey. You will stay up late having philosophical
discussions about crunchy Cheetos vs. puffy Cheetos and you will learn
the true meaning of the "all-nighter." It will be fun, and you will be
happy. It's hard to picture it now, but take it from us...your
determination and hard work are what make you successful in life, not
where you go to college for four years.
Take the same passion for learning that you shared with us, and carry it with you, no matter where you go in life. It will serve you well, and in the end, that's way more important than a letter from a college.
Stay well, and best wishes from the entire Olin Admission Team.
~Charlie, Caitlin, Emily, Laura, Susie and Jessica
Great news! We are extending the application deadline until Monday, January 4th!We
realize that you are scrambling to complete all your college
applications in time for the January 1st deadline, and we don't want
this application to add stress to your New Years holiday. Plus, now
that you have time to spare....
Play outside!
Take a nap!
And don't forget to submit your application and Olin Supplement through the Common App online by midnight on January 4th!
We realize that the remaining pieces of your application will continue to trickle into our office over the next week- and that's fine!
It will probably be several days between when your mail is received in
the mailroom and when it is opened. Please keep this in mind when you
receive "missing items" emails from our office. We are working very
hard to complete your application files, and taking time away to answer
individual emails slows down the process. When your application is
complete, you will receive a confirmation email from us. (likely next
week, as we are auditing all the files before sending out the
confirmation emails)
Good luck, and enjoy the New Years holiday!
Sincerely, The Olin College Admission Team (Charlie, Emily, Caitlin, Laura, Susie and Jessica)
Many
of you received an email this week that informed you that you are missing one
or more items that we need to complete your application file. Here is the
rundown on each item, and some additional information that might help you.
Current Senior Grades
This means
that we need to have something from your school with current grades. If you do
not have grades from the first semester yet, please have your teachers estimate grades for you.
School Profile
This is a
document from your school that gives us information on what your school offers.
It is very important in order for us to put your school performance in context.
HS Transcript
This is
probably the most important item! We need to know what grades you received in
your classes. We cannot evaluate your application without this.
Additional Transcript (if applicable)
Please note
the "if applicable". You need to submit this ONLY IF you have
attended another high school or college AND the grades do not appear on your
regular transcript. Most students will not need to submit this.
Secondary School Report-Guidance Counselor
Recommendation
This item is
vital! If you are quite sure your GC sent it in, please check with them that
they included both a form AND a letter. We need both.
Math or Science Teacher
Recommendation/Teacher of Choice Recommendation
Again, if
you are sure that your teachers submitted this, please check with them that
they included both a form AND a letter.
American College Test (ACT)
We need EITHER the ACT OR SAT. If you submitted your SAT Reasoning scores we don't need
this. However, if you think you have submitted your scores but we don't
have them, please check with ACT.
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
We need
EITHER the ACT OR SAT. If you submitted your ACT scores we don't need this.
However, if you think you have submitted your scores but we don't have them,
please check with College Board.
Scholastic Aptitude Test - Math and Science
Subject Test
We need the
scores to these tests IN ADDITION to the SAT Reasoning OR ACT tests. If you
haven't taken them yet please let us know so we can evaluate your application
without them. The January 23rd test date is too late for submission. If you
think you have submitted your scores but we don't have them, please check with
College Board.
If you have
any additional questions, please email apply@olin.edu
and Caitlin, Laura or I will get back to you. Please note that we are currently
on winter break. We will get back to
you, but it might take a day or so. Please be patient with us, we are a
small office.
I'm back!! I haven't written a blog in FOREVER, mostly
because I was busy having a baby! Baby Moscol is the newest addition to the
Olin Admission extended family, and she will probably be helping out with some
mail processing and some reading this winter (she's very advanced for her
age!).I have to check on the child
labor laws, but 3 months old doesn't seem too early to be able to file,
right??? ;-P
Welcome to Admission Processing, our busiest time of the year! We have been
getting a lot of your mail, and we expect more to come in the next couple of
weeks. Don't forget, January 1 is our HARD deadline this year, and ALL of your
recommendations and transcripts, etc. have to be in by that date. Last year we
were more lenient, but this year we moved our deadline, so we can't wait
around. We are going to be working over the holiday break to make sure that
everything is processed in a timely manner so that we can start reading!!
Here are a few FAQ's:
Q: I am saving my materials until everything is together.
They may or may not be complete by January 1. Is this OK?
A: You don't have to wait to send in everything at once. Send us your materials
as they are available. We prefer to get things on time in drips rather than all
together and late. In a perfect world scenario we would get things together and early, but that almost never
happens!!
Q: I have an art project/Eagle Scout project/music
performance DVD/really cool funky thing that I want you to see. How do I get it
to Olin?
A: If you want to send us supplementary materials like artwork or a special
project you may. Please keep these materials within reason. Something that can
fit within a normal sized file folder is your best bet. We don't accept
electronically sent attachments, because they could contain viruses. Please
mail anything extra. Please keep in mind that additional materials are NOT
required or expected!
Q: I have a third teacher/coach/music director/family friend
letter of recommendation. The Common Application says you only accept two and
they have to be from teachers. How can I send in this additional letter?
A: If you want to send additional letters of recommendation, that's fine, just
print out the form and give it to your teacher to mail it in. Please keep in
mind that additional recommendations are NOT required or expected!
Q: My friend applied last year and she told me she sent in
her materials January 9th and it was OK. I'm planning on doing the
same!
A: Because of our new deadline and compressed reading time, we are going to
start reading applications on January 4th. If your materials aren't
postmarked by January 1st, we might evaluate your application
without them. This is likely not in
your best interest.
Q: I didn't know about the December SAT. I'll take it in
January and send you the scores then.
A: If you have missed the December SAT let us know so we don't wait for scores
that won't arrive on time. The January test is too late for us to accept. All test scores need to come
to us on an official score report from the College Board or ACT (and the
December scores should arrive any day now). If you haven't had your
scores sent to us yet - contact the College Board or ACT as soon as possible
and request that they be sent to Olin College; you may have to pay for a Rush
Report.
Q: Do you take SAT or ACT "superscores" (combining your highest scores
from each section of a standardized test)?
A: Yes, we do take your
highest individual scores! And yes, even on the ACT. If you choose to go
the Score
Choice route, that's fine. We'll evaluate whatever you send us.
Q: How the heck am I supposed to know what I am missing?
Can't you just check for me?
A: We will be sending you emails with what you are missing soon. We are a very
small office, so please be patient with us.
Q: My school is on a semester schedule. How do I send you
grades I don't have yet?
A: If you are currently taking a class and won't have grades by January 1st,
please have your teachers estimate a grade for you. Have your transcript sent
to us with your official grades ASAP.
We do not need a Mid-Year School Report! As long as we have some kind of
documentation of your academic performance in your senior year - by using your
own first quarter/six weeks/trimester report card or some other document from
your high school - that's all we're looking for. Oh and be sure to send
all of your transcripts to us, including those from any college courses you may
have taken.
Q:
Do I need to send an official AP score report?
A: We do not need official AP Scores since AP tests aren't required. Just
fill in the appropriate section on the Common Application and we're good to
go. If you'd like to send a photocopy of your AP scores from the College
Board, that's perfectly fine.
If you have any questions about the application process, please email the office at apply@olin.edu. Laura, Caitlin or I will get back to you.
Thanks, and good luck!!
Emily Moscol
Asst. Director of Admission, Olin College, Needham, MA
Greetings from the Admission Office! Now that Fall Open House and the other major fall events on campus are over, we are focusing full-time on processing your applications. We will be honest: this is the first year that we are using the Common Application, and because of that, we have to process your applications differently than we have in the past. We are using a different database system, and while we have COMPLETE confidence that we will be able to track your application materials effectively, we do not have a web page where you can view what we have received. (Class of 2015- hopefully this will be another story.) We will be sending you emails starting in December that will detail what we are missing from your application. You will also get an email from us when your application is complete.
The deadline is January 1st- there has been some confusion about this, because for the past two years, our deadline was December 1st. To make it easier on you, we switched it back to January 1st so that we are on the same schedule as other Regular Decision schools. Of course, we would love it if you submitted your application and materials prior to January 1st, since we have a very short amount of time to process and read the applications. Thank you to all of you who have already started mailing us your materials! We appreciate it. :)
We are a tiny admission office: it's made up of me, Susie, Jessica, Charlie, Laura, and Emily, once she gets back from maternity leave. Other admission offices have things like "processing centers" and "operations staff." We have...each other. As such, we are spending the majority of our time opening mail, entering your credentials in our system, creating folders, filing your credentials, and oh yes....keeping track of all the other things our office does. We would very much appreciate it if you do not call or email us asking if we have received your materials in the mail. We know it's hard, but please bear with us! We WILL get in touch with you if you are missing something! In the meantime, you are welcome to ask us questions about the application process by emailing apply@olin.edu. You are also welcome to leave comments here on the blog, and I will answer them in the comments section. Thanks! -Caitlin
Caitlin Clark Assistant Director of Admission 781-292-2212 caitlin.clark@olin.edu
We are hosting our annual Fall Open House this Sunday, October 25th. You should come! It's a great opportunity to meet Olin professors, talk to students, learn about our curriculum and see the campus. Our students have planned several activities that we know you will enjoy. Since we will be closing the RSVP system on Wednesday, you need to RSVP now! In the meantime, here are a few random pictures of Olin students that I like, because they display the spirit of adventure that makes our campus so much fun!
California Day (ask a student about this when you get here)
Our Mini Baja team is awesome and competes nationally.
Class of '08 grads Nina, Connor and Avery out geocacheing.
One of the highlights of Candidates' Weekends: a Fire Arts performance
The class of 2013 faced steady rain and strong wind courtesy of Tropical Storm Danny, but they still managed to move in to their new homes at Olin. Move-in day can be an emotional roller coaster for families, especially for parents who are sending their first-born children off to college. Olin's R2s (Resident Resources) and Student Life staff were on hand to hand over tissues and help move boxes, suitcases, lamps and rugs into West Hall.
In the evening, parents and students said their good-byes and headed off to separate orientation activities. Parents attended Parent Orientation, which was run by our one-woman Parent and Alumni Relations Office. Krissy Raposa introduced them to the resources and communication tools available to parents, while the students gathered for their "First Night of College" orientation activity. By the end of the evening, the rain had stopped and Sunday dawned as a beautiful, clear day. We're looking forward to seeing the first years as they settle into their new surroundings and make this place their own. Here are some stats about this amazing new class of Oliners:
86 students, 46 women and 40 men 48 are in the top 2% of their high school classes 31 National Merit Finalists 2 U.S. Presidential Scholars (4 Semifinalists)
1 Intel Finalist; 1 Intel Semi-Finalist
Middle 50 percent of SAT scores: 2100-2320
Middle 50 percent of ACT scores (Composite): 32-35
75 participated in community service
53 members of athletic teams (24 captains)
52 musicians
40 academic team captains
39 held part-time jobs
24 have passion for robotics
23 theater buffs
21 researchers
Welcome Class of 2013, we're glad you're here! -The Office of Admission
I want to let you know about a couple
of new developments that should make applying to Olin easier. Olin's
application deadline has been moved to January
1, giving you more time to complete the application and send in
credentials. In addition, beginning this year, Olin is participating in the
Common Application, which will also help facilitate the application process.
There has been an important change in our scholarship policy that I wanted to point
out to you. Olin was founded on the premise that financial considerations
should not stand in the way of an excellent engineering education. That has not
changed. Olin is committed to providing a merit scholarship to every student we
accept. However, due to the ongoing economic downturn, Olin must reduce its
full-tuition scholarship by 50 percent beginning in the 2010-11 academic year.
This decision was reached after much
soul-searching and careful consideration of the long-term financial outlook for
Olin. Our priority in these deliberations was maintaining the quality of Olin's
academic programs. At the end of the day, we felt that the kind of reductions
we were facing in our endowment-dependent budgets were simply too great to
address through cost cutting alone. Under this new policy, we will be able to
retain and extend our innovative programs, which are garnering national and
international attention for their ground-breaking reforms to traditional
engineering education.
The good news is that our admission
process will remain need-blind, meaning that family finances are not considered
when making admission decisions. Moreover,
Olin is committed to meeting the full demonstrated need of families seeking
financial aid and to restoring the scholarship to 100 percent as soon as
financial conditions allow. The Class of 2014 would be able to benefit from
this change if it comes to pass while they are here.
Under our new policy, the Olin
Scholarship, which is granted to every admitted student, would cover half of
our annual tuition costs, making it worth nearly $80,000 over eight semesters
of study. We know you will not make your college decision solely on financial
considerations, but we hope you will feel, as we do, that an Olin education is
still an affordable choice for families and students seeking a world-class
education.
Sincerely,
Charles Nolan, Ph.D.
Vice President for External Relations
and Dean of Admission
Sometimes we forget how confusing and unclear the admission process can be. I thought it might be good to talk a little bit about what it means to be admitted or waitlisted.
You've been admitted...
First of all, congratulations! And I mean that with regard to all of the schools that sent you the "fat envelope." And if you're planning on joining the Olin family in the fall, head to your application account to let us know and pay the enrollment deposit. If you're still on the fence and have questions for a current student, a faculty member or an alumnus/alumna, please email me and let me know! I am happy to provide email addresses or phone numbers to members of our community who can help you make this important decision.
You're on the waitlist...
...Now what?
Since the letters dropped, we've been trying to give you all some space to let your decisions sink in. Regardless of your decision, you have a lot to think about. Please know that our staff is here if you have any questions. Feel free to contact me or any other admission officer if we can be of any assistance to you or your family.
No surprise, there are usually questions about the waitlist. I completely understand. When you're on a waitlist you do feel a little like you're in limbo. I'd like to try to clear up some confusion about our waitlist.
All waitlisted students must let us know (email Dean Charlie Nolan at charles.nolan@olin.edu) if you wish to remain on the waitlist; if we did not hear from you we must assume you are no longer interested in Olin College.
Staying on our waitlist means that you will likely need to make a commitment to another college/university, especially since we probably won't be able to make any offers until May 1 or soon after. Consequently, you may lose that deposit to the other school if we have a spot for you in the Class of 2013 and you accept our offer!
Historically, we have gone to the waitlist so there is a good chance that we will need to do so again this year. I wish I could give you a more definite answer, but unfortunately the waitlist is, well, about waiting. :(
If you like, I can put you in touch with current students who can answer your questions about Olin. Please email me at caitlin.clark@olin.edu if this is of interest to you.
I hope this helps clarify some of the fuzziness surrounding the waitlist.
By now you should have all either received your decisions or been online to check. While the best part of our jobs is getting students excited about Olin, the worst part is knowing that not everyone that we want will get in. Every single person who came to Candidates' Weekends is amazing and multi-talented.
Please know that getting letters from colleges can be really exciting, stressful, exhilarating, and saddening, sometimes all at once. It's a really difficult process to go through, but it becomes easier when you keep in mind that you will end up at the right school and that soon you will be so excited to finally go off to college it won't matter what other schools you did or didn't get into. Also, it's a good practice for other hard decisions that you will have to make as an adult, like what job to take, what career to follow, who to marry, where to live, what house to buy, and all the things you will be worrying about in no time.
Plus, here's something about being an adult that people often neglect to mention: no one who really matters cares where you went to college. They care that you do a good job, that you are a good person, that you do the right thing and are kind to others. Those are things that you don't learn in college. You are, essentially, already the person you will be in 4 years, and no school will make that any different.
We invited each and every one of you to Candidates' Weekends because we knew that you were phenomenal in some way. Wherever you go, that won't change at all.
Good luck, and all of our best for a wonderful future.
-Emily and Caitilin
Emily.Moscol@olin.edu
Caitlin.Clark@olin.edu
Next August you will be schlepping your laundry basket and your
computer into a dorm room somewhere, and you will embark on a fun and
exciting four-year journey. You will stay up late having philosophical
discussions about crunchy Cheetos vs. puffy Cheetos and you will learn
the true meaning of the "all-nighter." It will be fun, and you will be
happy. It's hard to picture it now, but take it from us...your
determination and hard work are what make you successful in life, not
where you go to college for four years. 
