Issuu

Curious Creative Collaborative Consequential Courageous These are Olin Lives

Who We Are

• 373 Students

• 48% Women

• 24% Underrepresented students of color

• 46% Domestic students of color

• 9% First gen

• 41 States + 17 countries

Why We Come Here

U.S. News and World Report

Ranked #2 for Undergraduate Engineering programs

Center on Education and Workforce

Ranked #6 for ROI in bachelor’s degrees

The Princeton Review:

• Top 50 Best Value Colleges

• 20 Best Schools for Internships

• #1 Students Study the Most

• #3 Best Student Support and Counseling Services

• #4 Great Financial Aid

• #8 Best Classroom Experience

Olin College is transforming how engineering is defined, how engineering is taught, what an engineer looks like and how an engineer can serve people and the planet. Our curriculum is centered around providing students with real-world experiences that create authentic impact and drive meaningful change.

Our alumni go on to recognize and meet our planet’s most pressing needs, create solutions and leverage technology to improve our lives. We call it “Engineering for Everyone.”

And they learn how to do it all right here.

In the Action From Day One

Your academic experience at Olin is in your hands… literally.

We believe in learning by doing, in projects and experiments that teach through trying (and failing), and in the power of human-powered, human-focused collaboration to discover and drive solutions.

Beginning in their first year, Olin students explore the arts, humanities and social sciences (AHS) as well as entrepreneurship and user-centered design as core parts of their education.

You’ll have choices every step of the way in deepening your knowledge—in your major, AHS, entrepreneurship or design—by creating an individualized educational journey either at Olin or in conjunction with one of our nearby partner institutions, Babson College, Brandeis University or Wellesley College.

These courses and experiences will help you grow as a critical and contextual thinker, thoughtful creator and persuasive communicator.

Pauline ’26

A main factor that influenced my decision to choose Olin is the college’s project-based learning curriculum. The classes teach students how to collaborate with team members to develop projects related to the course concepts. Through this style of learning, I have developed management and cooperation skills, which have directly helped me navigate working on teams in the workforce as an intern.”

What is the most important

thing we can tell you about

Olin College?

Well, it’s that there isn’t just one Olin.

The Shutterbug

Timur Gray ’28

Stoneham, MA

MAJOR

Mechanical Engineering

ORBITAL + Olin Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing (OSCOM) Photographer

In fact, there are more than 1,900* Olins.

We say that because every single student at Olin creates an experience that’s entirely their own.

Almost all of my projects at Olin are in groups, and it makes it easier to get rapid feedback, as well as to learn from people or teach other people to solidify your understanding.”

We bring our personalities, backgrounds, cultures, multifaceted identities and passions—everything that makes us, us—to our path as learners, our lives as members of our tight-knit community and our futures as engineers-in-the-making.

We each create our own Olin— and no two Olins are the same. Just like no two humans are the same.

That’s why the majors and concentrations we pursue here only tell part of the story of what interests us and lights us up as engineers.

That’s why there’s no one-size-fits-all outcome that defines our post-Olin lives.

That’s why the best people to tell the Olin story are the people who make it the dynamic, collaborative, buzzing beehive of activity that it is—with actual beehives **

And that’s why we’re going to introduce you to a few people on campus who can share what an Olin education looks like through their eyes.

* And counting! This figure assumes that everyone at Olin just gets one Olin: theirs. But we wouldn’t put it past some Oliners to have more than one.

** Yes, real ones. With real bees and real honey and real student keepers.

with

Yet now, more than

through my first

I believe I know more students and faculty members better than my peers at larger colleges.”

The Shutterbug Timur Gray ’28

Stoneham, MA

MAJOR

ORBITAL + Olin Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing (OSCOM)

Almost all of my projects at Olin are in groups, and it makes it easier to get rapid feedback, as well as to learn from people or teach other people to solidify your understanding.”

The beauty of Olin is that it allows you to explore and try so many things

The Caffeine Ambassador Alyssa Aranda ’28 Tustin,

MAJOR Mechanical Engineering

Acronym + (H)ola + The MIX

I came to Olin not knowing what I was super passionate about, but interacting with my classmates has pushed me to work harder and find what I am truly interested in. It has pushed me to explore new topics and to not be afraid to fail.”

We each create our own Olin— and no two Olins are the same. Just like no two humans are the same.

That’s why the majors and concentrations we pursue here only tell part of the story of what interests us and lights us up as engineers.

That’s why there’s no one-size-fits-all outcome that defines our post-Olin lives.

That’s why the best people to tell the Olin story are the people who make it the dynamic, collaborative, buzzing beehive of activity that it is—with actual beehives **

And that’s why we’re going to introduce you to a few people on campus who can share what an Olin education looks like through their eyes.

* And counting! This figure assumes that everyone at Olin just gets one Olin: theirs.

But we wouldn’t put it past some Oliners to have more than one.

** Yes, real ones. With real bees and real honey and real student keepers.

Academics at Olin

No matter what major you take on at Olin, you won’t find yourself stuck in a lecture hall for hours a day, pining for the moment when you’ll move from thinking to doing. From your very first year, you’ll work on project-focused teams in real labs, using what you’re learning to take on problems and iterate toward solutions.

Olin students have the opportunity to follow along a well-guided path toward a particular specialty or to blaze their trail. Our most popular areas of focus are:

• Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

Electrical and Computer Engineering focuses on designing and building computing and communication systems, applying the principles of linear systems, circuit theory, microelectronics, computer architecture, software engineering and signal processing to understand and engineer these systems.

• Mechanical Engineering (ME)

Mechanical Engineering delves deeper into designing, building and analyzing mechanical and thermal systems, applying theories of energy, heat and fluid flow to systems ranging from microfluidic devices to jet engines. Students develop tools to design and analyze the mechanical strength of structures and the motion of mechanisms.

• Engineering: Computing (E:C)

The Computing concentration integrates the study of computer science and software engineering within a broad interdisciplinary context. Students learn about software design, theory and software systems, with highly flexible requirements.

• Engineering: Robotics (E:Robo)

Robotics is a highly interdisciplinary engineering concentration that prepares students to design, construct, operate and apply robots and computer systems to challenging automation problems. Students learn about robotics ethics and the fusion of electrical, software, artificial intelligence and mechanical engineering.

• Engineering: Design (E:Design)

Design is an interdisciplinary concentration emphasizing synthesis, processes and methods of practice that blends engineering and arts, humanities, social sciences, and entrepreneurship (AHSE). E:Design prepares students to address important societal and environmental needs through design thinking.

• Engineering: Sustainability (E:Sust)

Sustainability is an inherently transdisciplinary field, drawing on engineering and science as well as social sciences, humanities, business and the arts for various aspects of sustainability practice. E:Sust prepares students for a wide range of personal and professional pathways.

• Engineering: Bio (E:Bio)

Bioengineering or biomedical engineering prepares students to approach problems important to biology, medical research and clinical studies through a strong engineering foundation and connection to biological sciences.

• Engineering (E) with a self-designed concentration

Engineering is a flexible degree program that lets students explore an area of concentration. Working with a faculty advisor, engineering students choose courses that, along with college-wide requirements, make up a directed plan of study. Prior students have created concentrations in systems, mechatronics, math, entrepreneurship, and more. What path might you create?

Alyssa ’28

Passion. That’s the one word I would use to describe Olin. Every person I have met, whether it be a student, a professor or other staff, has passion. Passion for not just engineering but everything they do. I came to Olin not really knowing what I was super passionate about, but interacting with my classmates has pushed me to explore new topics—and to not be afraid to fail.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR MAJORS AND CONCENTRATIONS AT

Carter ’26

It’s incredibly gratifying to watch the first years adapt to college life and learn from my experience and years at Olin embodied in the lessons I’ve designed. The lessons I’ve created range from discussions with professors about what it means to be an engineer to a fair, highlighting sustainability opportunities at Olin.

There’s a ton of variety, and I learned so much about creating lessons about difficult topics that encourage students to engage with an open mind.”

Corrina Kraemer

Hall Director for East Hall

“OFYI helps new students transition smoothly into Olin’s unique academic and social atmosphere, fostering community, belonging and the skills they need to navigate our project and team-based learning environment. Carter’s firsthand student perspective was invaluable to our goal of keeping OFYI both relevant and engaging.”

Thriving in Collaboration

From their first year onward, we ensure that every student receives the guidance, support and input they need to be successful, both in their studies and as part of the dynamic community at Olin.

• The Academic Resource Co-Design program (ARCaid) is an academic support resource where trained peers can assist students in learning behavior tasks and skills. Topics that ARCs might be able to assist with include time management, study strategies, organizational skills, processing teaming situations, effective communication with faculty, taking notes, project scoping and planning, and more! ARCaid is a service where ARCs are available to work with students on a walk-in basis throughout the week.

• Olin First Year Introductory (OFYI) Experience serves as an introduction to different aspects of life and resources at Olin and a general first-year experience course. Students experience and examine different aspects of Olin’s culture, and tools are provided to assist with the transition to college. Teaming and feedback, professionalism, space stewardship and ethics, mental health, financial literacy, identity formation and diversity, academic support, post-graduate planning, and curriculum and registration are some examples of topics that are covered in this course.

Disciplines Work Better Together

We’re big on the power of interdisciplinary learning and experimentation to make engineering education more effective, impactful… and fun.

Math, Science and Engineering

Coursework in these disciplines is fundamental to each Oliner’s engineering education, but with alwaysevolving options like Nonlinear Dynamics & Chaos, Emerging Technologies in Cancer Research, Diagnosis and Treatment, and Robotics Systems Integration, students are encouraged to dive deep into what interests them most as they pursue their major.

Carter ’26

Alyssa ’28

One class that stood out to me was Modeling and Simulation of the Physical World. I came to Olin with little to no code experience, and this class helped me think like a programmer. The interesting topics we modeled in class kept me engaged and made me want to learn more.”

One of the first courses you take in ECE is Software Design. I love this course because I think it does an amazing job of both teaching technical skills and giving students the confidence that they can create amazing things. I created two real programming projects: one that scraped and analyzed the lyrics of Broadway musicals and one that was a choose-your-own-adventure style game. After SoftDes, I had the confidence to tackle some of my projects in computing I never would have thought about before.”

Design & Entrepreneurship

We believe in a definition of entrepreneurship that focuses on developing people over products and sustainably creating positive impact in the real world. Throughout the curriculum, students are encouraged to put creating real value for real people at the forefront of everything they do.

Pauline ’26

With Collaborative Design, you work with a people group to design a product or service that will still be viable in ten years. The goal is to learn how to design with a group of people and not just for them. My team was paired with firefighters, so we conducted a series of interviews with firefighters from local departments. Understanding their perspective was critical to coming up with a product proposal that would be useful outside the classroom.”

Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

We believe arts, humanities and social sciences (AHS) are essential for engineering students as they offer insight, purpose and direction to their educational experience.

These courses help students think and understand more about others, as well as society, the planet and themselves.

• Democracy and Media

• Engineering for Humanity

• Digital Photography

• Six Microbes That Changed the World

• Iterate

• Introduction to Urbanism

Olin students also have the opportunity to cross-register for classes at nearby Babson College, Brandeis University and Wellesley College.

the world to address challenges endemic to poverty and to democratize opportunity. Together, they create new products and social ventures to reduce burdens, increase yields, expand education, improve health and generate income.

Now, in DJS’s tenth year, students have benefited from immersive trips to meet

Timur ’28

Olin has great relationships with schools like Babson, Brandeis and Wellesley, where we can take classes in arts and business that help us apply what we’re learning about engineering much more broadly.”

• Tech Venture Capstone (TVC) enables students to gain professional experience undertaking an authentic, team-based engineering project in the context of a prospective new venture. TVC participants learn how to identify major user pain points and the value of a solution; how to understand the market they want to serve; and how to get from a prototype to a manufacturable product for a specific customer. By the end of this unique capstone experience, students will be prepared to face the challenges of productizing prototypes to match market needs.

Experimentation

At Olin, we’re always exploring better ways to support student learning and personal growth.

We believe this work must happen collaboratively with students. Students have opportunities to participate in this process by sharing feedback throughout courses (not just at the end), serving as course assistants to support their peers and grow their skills, and even helping to design new courses.

• The Olin Conductorless Orchestra (OCO) This student ensemble (minus conductor!) features instrumentalists in leadership, communicative and collaborative roles. Dedicated to orchestral performance in the concerted spirit of chamber music, the orchestra forges individual participation, active listening and group-motivation into performances that have established it as the only conductorless orchestra composed of engineers…in the world!

EYES ON OLIN

Building Energy & Operations Optimization

is an impact-centered experimental learning experience in which students combine campus data with foundations of different engineering specialties—such as data visualization and interpretation, machine learning, thermodynamics, and software design—on various projects around sustainability at Olin. “By introducing students to the ways in which different kinds of engineering are all a part of driving sustainability, we’re helping them shape their identities as engineers and how they can impact the world,” says David Shuman, professor of data science and applied mathematics and one of the course’s co-instructors. “In the process, they’re also learning about the complexity of getting things done in the real world, which is incredibly useful when they start internships and jobs after graduation.”

Carter ’26

I’ve enjoyed getting to learn a little bit of everything at Olin. Now, I’m interested in exploring the systems engineering and integration space further. I’m also really passionate about working on big projects with lots of moving parts; infrastructure and transportation are my jam. I’m also interested in exploring the project management world, which I’ve had the unique opportunity to experience at Olin.”

Real Solutions to Real-World Problems

All Oliners complete a yearlong Capstone Experience that applies what they have learned to develop creative solutions to real-world problems. Olin offers three capstone alternatives.

EYES ON OLIN

SCOPE Alumna Comes Full Circle

Laura Christakis, ’11, has a more multi-faceted relationship with Olin’s SCOPE program than many—as a former student and as a current SCOPE sponsor. Christakis followed her older sister’s footsteps and attended Olin as an undergraduate to pursue a hands-on, project-based education.

• Senior Capstone Program in Engineering (SCOPE) is a unique industry-university collaboration and the culminating experience of an Olin College student’s education. Over the course of a full academic year, seniors work in multidisciplinary teams to provide innovative solutions to a company’s real-world problems. Projects are sponsored by companies and organizations that bring us problems that require engineering solutions. Examples include medical equipment design, automated farm equipment, software development for mobile and social applications and electronic communication systems.

She concentrated in bioengineering (BioE), focusing on tissue and cell engineering and taking additional biology classes through Wellesley College. Now, as the principal R&D engineer at Boston Scientific, Laura is the company’s liaison with Olin for this culminating senior project. Christakis’s project was on designing solutions to keep endoscopic stents in place within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Beyond the technical challenge, a big part of the project that stuck with Christakis was seeing how the Olin and Boston Scientific mentors guided students to approach the problem through their own lens.

/DISCOVER

Laura Christakis ’11

Early on, my professor helped set the expectation that even though this was a mechanical engineering issue in addition to a bioengineering one, we as students needed to apply our area of expertise to make a positive impact on the project and the company. Part of the point of Boston Scientific joining forces with Olin on SCOPE projects was to obtain these kinds of different, fresh perspectives that the students bring.”

• Design Justice Studio (DJS),* students work with people in communities around the world to address challenges endemic to poverty and to democratize opportunity. Together, they create new products and social ventures to reduce burdens, increase yields, expand education, improve health and generate income. Now, in DJS’s tenth year, students have benefited from immersive trips to meet collaborators in a range of communities, including Ghana, India, Zambia, Morocco, Mississippi and closer to campus in Massachusetts. DJS is also an anchor program in the Weissman Foundry, a maker space on Babson’s campus right on the edge of Olin’s, with a mandate to engage across Babson, Olin and Wellesley (BOW) to produce maximum collaboration and impact.

Experimentation

At Olin, we’re always exploring better ways to support student learning and personal growth.

EYES ON OLIN

* formerly Affordable Design & Entrepreneurship (ADE)

Building Energy & Operations Optimization

“By introducing students to the ways in which different kinds of engineering are all a part of driving sustainability, we’re helping them shape their identities as engineers and how they can impact the world,” says David Shuman, professor of data science and applied mathematics and one of the course’s co-instructors. “In the process, they’re also learning about the complexity of getting things done in the real world, which is incredibly useful when they start internships and jobs after graduation.”

FULL STORY AT → OLIN.EDU /DISCOVER

Olin Know-How Is Transforming Industry

Olin has a diverse curriculum that strives to prepare students for the real world, and there’s no better way to learn how to do meaningful, real-world technical work than to jump in and do it.

That’s why we ensure that our students have all the resources they need to access internships, from career fairs and workshops to alumni mentorships and summer research opportunities.

100% of the 2024 graduating class participated in two or more high-impact technical learning experiences, such as an internship or a research experience.

The Compan(ies) We Keep

Olin students are sought-after interns at top local, regional and national companies.

• ABL Space Systems

• Avalanche Energy

• Caterpillar

• Google

• Medtronic

• Microsoft

• Semtech

• Tesla

• Zipline

Industry-Supported Curricular Experiences

Many partners engage with Olin through semesterlong lab projects and other curricular experiences. By sponsoring projects with Olin students, companies gain a fresh take on challenges facing their business and can explore important new areas of development.

These sponsored projects engage students to apply engineering skills to real-world problems and learn what works and doesn’t work in industry settings. Both sponsors and students benefit by working together on something that matters to others.

A Cross-Coastal Collaboration on Sustainability Sustainability Initiatives Research Collaboration (SIRC) is a pilot course sponsored by two partners, the town of Wellesley’s Department of Public Works, as well as Bainbridge Island, Washington-based Green Mountain Technologies. Inspired by Olin’s yearlong senior capstone, SCOPE, SIRC projects run for one semester and allow Oliners to tackle meaningful, realworld engineering challenges. Over the semester, Olin students partner with external organizations for analysis and design for their sustainability challenges.

“SIRC creates a great opportunity for sponsors to meet talented engineers who are passionate about sustainability. Building connections between the sponsor and students early in their engineering studies helps companies recruit the best-fit students for internships and full-time positions and gives sponsors solutions to their sustainability challenges.”

Lauren Palmer ’09, Associate Director of Partnership Development

The Olin Experience— a World Away

One of the founding principles at Olin College is that each student should have the opportunity to have a learning experience “away” from the College. This idea was articulated early in the creation of the College with the expressed objective of having students learn to be citizens of the world.

The Olin “Study Away” program was created to deliver on this principle and provide students with the opportunity to broaden their perspectives and views of the world. We explore different opportunities for our students each year—but it’s a can’t-miss opportunity to take Olin on the road.

EYES ON OLIN

Jackpot in Edinburgh! Olin embarked on a special chapter in its global engagement with a unique, facultyled study abroad program in partnership with API Study Abroad and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2023. Sixteen sophomores spent the semester immersed in Scottish culture and academics, all while continuing their Olin education. This onetime opportunity provided an exceptional blend of Olin coursework and integration into a Scottish academic environment, creating a memorable and impactful experience for all involved. To commemorate their stay in Scotland in an unforgettable way, students participated in the creation of a Welcome to Scotland pinball machine, designed and built by four students as part of their first Principles of Integrated Engineering (PIE) assignment.

Carter ’26

Beyond fitting the requirements of having significant mechanical (all the mechanism and playfield), electrical (solenoids for mechanisms, lights and sensors) and software (scorekeeping) components, we thought it would be a fun challenge to try and reverse-engineer a lot of the common pinball mechanisms— flippers, slingshots, knock-downs, rollovers—on a smaller scale using the resources available to us at Heriot-Watt.”

Global Impact Starts Right Here

From our beginnings, Olin has sought to make an impact beyond our campus, of which undergraduate research is one example. The breadth of research at Olin ranges from student-initiated efforts to faculty-led work on topics such as robotics, sustainability, engineering education and public policy.

As a student at Olin, you will have the opportunity to do research with Olin professors on established research projects or even conduct independent research with a faculty advisor.

Here are just a couple of examples of Olin’s research transforming lives in the world.

EYES ON OLIN

Undergraduate Research and Hands-on Learning on Display at 2025 AAAS Annual Meeting

A delegation of Olin students and two faculty presented their research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, held in Boston in 2025. Georgia Van de Zande, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, mentored two students on two research projects, including Peter Sapiro-Mitten, ’27. Peter ‘27 studied a farming approach called reducedtill organic agriculture (RTOA) that merges the benefits of no-till and organic farming to improve soil health while minimizing artificial inputs. Despite the benefit of RTOA, the lack of suitable commercial-scale equipment poses a challenge to adoption. To address this, he built a network of ten small to medium-scale farmers practicing or interested in RTOA, conducting interviews, farm visits and discussions to understand their needs. Findings revealed that farmers rely heavily on hand tools due to cost and concerns over soil compaction, though this becomes impractical at larger scales, and outlines the initial stages of codesigning such tools with farmers.

Dan ’27

This was the first conference I’ve ever attended, let alone presented at. It was an amazing experience. It felt as though people understood it and cared about the effort we put into our work.”

Georgia Van de Zande

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

“I work closely with research students to shape projects that meet both their interests and mine. For example, I have experience designing efficient irrigation systems, and one of my research students, a resident of Maine, has long been interested in the local environment. This shared interest has led us to begin investigating ways to improve sustainable agriculture on small farms in New England.”

EYES ON OLIN

Student Researchers Invited to Design New Harvard Workshop After Successful FIE Trip

Each year, Dr. Zastavker, professor of physics and education at Olin, brings students to Frontiers in Education (FIE)—a major international conference focusing on educational innovations and research in engineering and computing education. Students co-present papers and research they’ve developed with Zastavker to the global FIE audience. In addition to presentations, Oliners attend sessions relevant to their scholarship and career goals, broadening their knowledge of engineering education. This year five students from Zastavker’s Learning Journeys research team have been invited to join the Harvard-Olin venture, called Engineering Hope, after a Harvard member, in the audience at FIE, saw the presentation of their paper, Meta-Analysis of StudentResearchers’ Learning Journeys Through a Reflective Practice. The Olin students were then asked to codesign and implement their workshop idea “Hacking Identity to Hack Justice” during Hacking Injustice—a student hackathon this spring at Harvard University.

FULL STORY AT → OLIN.EDU /DISCOVER

A Small College… With Endless Possibilities

At Olin, we encourage students to pursue their personal artistic, humanistic, philanthropic and technical interests to make their education a true reflection of who they are, and what inspires them most.

Alyssa ’28

Students choose a semester-long project we call a Passionate Pursuit, set their own goals, and develop their interests with the guidance of a faculty member and, in many cases, funding from the college.

Additionally, each semester, we offer a variety of co-curricular opportunities. Co-curriculars allow students to explore non-credit activities combining fun and intellectual awareness. They are typically led by staff or faculty members or by a student working in concert with a faculty/staff member and are funded by Student Affairs and Resources.

Co-curriculars differ from curricular offerings in that they are not graded, and attendance is not strictly enforced. They differ from extracurricular activities in that they have an intellectual component, faculty/staff leadership, and limited life span.

I enjoy working in Formula because I have learned valuable information about design, engineering and manufacturing that I would not learn in a classroom as a first year. As a mechanical engineer in Formula, I had my own project that I designed and manufactured. ¶ My project involves designing and manufacturing the mounting that connects the car battery to the chassis. To be trusted with such an important project as a first year has been an exciting and challenging experience.”

CO-CURRICULAR SPOTLIGHT

Growing Edible Mushrooms (GEM)

Growing Edible Mushrooms is one of Olin’s most popular co-curriculars, open to students, alums, staff and faculty.

Participants learned the basics of growing edible mushrooms like Lion’s Mane, Oyster and Shiitake this spring, from working with liquid cultures to myceliating substrates to pinning and fruiting. Participants in the co-curricular share their harvest, build community and become self-sustaining. Students interested in completing research on fungi who are new to cultivation themselves are encouraged to enroll.

FULL STORY AT → OLIN.EDU

PASSIONATE PURSUIT SPOTLIGHT

Maya McKone-Sweet ’26

The unexpected sight of Maya and her collection of giant handmade wooden gears at the Olin Shop got everyone’s gears moving— what were they for? The answer? Art!

Maya was inspired to create an installation as her Passionate Pursuit after a conversation with a friend who urged her to think of ways to add joy and color to campus. According to Maya’s artist statement, “In mechanical systems, gears are highly specified and designed for maximum efficiency. They take on a homogeneous and purely functional task. As a mechanical engineer and an artist, I challenge this idea… Every day, hundreds of our community members gather here in the dining hall to sit, eat and connect. Yet, despite this, many of us feel alone and invisible. Everyone who walks into this space deserves to feel seen and appreciated.” After almost a year of planning, coordinating with community members and creating, Maya unveiled her art to the community, and the bright colors—and indelible metaphor—resonated immediately with students, faculty and staff.

“There are so many aspects of who we are—we are all slightly different and we bring those unique traits together to make the Olin community. When we all feel valued, we are able to fully power that gear train. I want people to be able to see that everyone is needed to support each other and make the gears turn.”

FULL STORY AT → OLIN.EDU /DISCOVER

Current Co-Curriculars

Arts & Crafts

Fondue-it-Yourself

Growing Edible Mushrooms (GEM)

Music of Our Lives

Relaxing With Singing Bowls

Rings, Pins, Earrings and Other Things a Crow Might Steal

The Science and Art of Smoking Food

Studio Art Foundations & Explorations

Sustainable Beekeeping

We Are on Native Land

Zinemaking!

You do what for fun?

Unicycling. Fire juggling. Flying origami. Long-form improvisational comedy. Beekeeping. Milk drinking. Mushroom growing. No, it’s not the most interesting circus in the world; it’s just a day in the life at Olin.

This is what happens when deeply creative people take a break from solving the world’s biggest problems. If you can dream it up, you can start a club for it, and someone is bound to join in.

Mind and Body

Student Clubs

Pauline ’26

I learned how to ride a unicycle at a club in elementary school and haven’t stopped riding since. When I saw a unicycle club that used to exist at Olin and there was a closet full of wheels, I knew I had to get it rolling. I started the club back up and have taught lots of students how to ride or, at least, experience sitting on one. I love teaching the sport because it relies on the help of others when you are starting.”

At Olin, we believe there’s a direct correlation between one’s well-being, learning and regular exercise. To support these relationships Olin has established a variety of programs and resources that are intended to promote short-term and long-term opportunities for staying physically active.

East Hall Gym

There’s always a new club or activity popping up around here, but here are some examples of how we stay busy on campus at Olin:

• Babson / Olin / Wellesley Rock Climbing Club

• Blacksmithing Club

• Cheese Club

• Flight Club

• Franklin W. Olin Players

• Milk Club

In the lower level of East Hall, we have a small gym for all students. East Hall has a gym with several cardio machines a weight stack machine and free weights. Across from the gym, we have our recreation equipment room home to the Bike Share, Unicycle Collection, Punching Bag area, and a ton of outdoor recreation equipment.

• Olin Cyclists

• Olin Dance Ensemble

• Olin Fire Arts Club

• Olin Electric Motorsports

Club Sports and Teams

• Powerchords

• Rocketry

• Acronym

At Olin, we like coffee; actually, we LOVE coffee, we also LOVE acronyms. That’s why a group of students started a weekly popup coffee bar called Acronym. Equipped with espresso machines, free supplies from our Student Activities Committee, and tea kettles (because, you know, some people prefer tea), the pop-up also features sweet treats. Students, staff and faculty gather at Acronym to do work, catch up or just grab a cup of joe.

Olin has two competitive sports teams, the Soccer team and the Ultimate team. These teams have regular practices, tournaments and games. Olin students also participate in certain Babson and Wellesley club teams, including Babson’s rugby team. Olin runners regularly participate in training runs and races including the Boston Marathon.

•

Intramural Sports and Babson Facilities

• Olin Collegiate Amateur Radio Club (OCARC) OCARC is for radio enthusiasts at all levels and coordinates all amateur/ham radio activities at Olin. This group specializes in volunteering for public service events, where members act as the “eyes on the course,” providing important communications for event leaders. When the International Space Station passes over Olin, OCARC even talks on its radio repeater from the Great Lawn.

• Running Club

The Running Club brings together a community of runners that helps Oliners get and stay in shape, find training partners, and share running tips and information. The group also participates in races through NIRCA, the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association.

Olin’s close relationship with Babson and Wellesley includes access to Babson’s athletic facilities and Babson’s and Wellesley’s intramural leagues. Babson’s athletic facilities include indoor and outdoor basketball courts, an indoor swimming pool, an indoor track, an indoor ice-skating rink, exercise classes, cardio equipment, free weights, weight machines and other exercise equipment.

• Glass Club

The Glass Club was created to provide students with the opportunity to work with molten glass. Glassworking is an amazing fusion of concepts that takes knowledge from chemistry, physics and art to excel.

You do what for fun?

This is what happens when deeply creative people take a break from solving the world’s biggest problems. If you can dream it up, you can start a club for it, and someone is bound to join in.

Pauline ’26

Student Clubs

Timur ’28

• AERO

Olin AERO is a team of undergraduate students who have traditionally developed highly specialized electric RC aircraft for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design-Build-Fly competition.

• Baja

There’s always a new club or activity popping up around here, but here are some examples of how we stay busy on campus at Olin:

• Babson / Olin / Wellesley

Rock Climbing Club

• Blacksmithing Club

• Cheese Club

• Flight Club

• Franklin W. Olin Players

• Milk Club

• Olin Cyclists

• Olin Dance Ensemble

• Olin Fire Arts Club

• Olin Electric Motorsports

• Powerchords

• Acronym

Olin Baja competes in the intercollegiate Baja SAE design series, which involves designing, building, testing and racing an off-road vehicle. Students get to work on design, manufacturing, testing, fixing and even racing their vehicles.

Coming from a background of very little engineering experience, I was scared that I would feel behind or that I wouldn’t get to do work I wanted because of my lack of experience. However, when I got to Olin, I was faced with the option of joining all these different project teams for various engineering projects. All these teams would spend some time onboarding new students and making sure they had the tools to succeed, and then they would assign them to a big part of the project, helping them whenever they asked for help. This let me get specialized experience early, learning complex concepts on teams that I hadn’t even learned in classes yet.”

• Formula Formula SAE encompasses all aspects of car manufacturing, including research, design, construction, testing, development, marketing, management and fundraising. This experience develops highly skilled undergraduates with direct experience in engineering, organization and management. The Formula SAE competition is one of the world’s most rigorous academic motorsport competitions.

• ORBITAL

The Olin Research for Biomedical Innovation and Technology Advancement Lab focuses on biomedical innovation and technology advancement. Students work on projects that solve biomedical challenges for users, such as designing and prototyping Braille e-readers.

• Rocketry

• Running Club

• Glass Club

The Oval Never Sleeps

Well, it does… but only when it absolutely has to.

Our main buildings curve around a welcoming central green space, forming what we call “The Oval.” This thriving living and learning hub is defined by its communal spaces, where students, staff and faculty engage in hands-on, team-based experimentation and fun-filled community-building activities. From our design studios to the robotics labs to the library, every learning facility is optimized for interaction and exploration.

We are a close-knit community by design: nearly all Olin students live on campus in one of our two residence halls, both of which offer exceptional amenities and ample opportunities to get to know classmates.

Affinity Groups at Olin

Olin is a place where everyone is welcomed, seen and accepted for who they are. We encourage students to connect in meaningful ways to build both community and understanding.

• Chinese Student Association

• FGLI at Olin

• Girls Who Code

• (H)ola: Olin Latinx Association

• Indian Club

• Japanese Student Association

• Jewish Organization at Olin (JOO)

• OPEN: LGBTQ Student Association

• Siblings: Trans, Nonbinary and Questioning

• Society of Women Engineers

• USB-C: United Students of Black Culture

Pauline ’26

Olin is a place where you can go to the dining hall and sit down anywhere. The inviting atmosphere enables collaboration between students of different class years. At Olin, students look out for each other. They hold the door open and check in.”

Community: Engaged

The following activities are just a taste of the buzz of energy and activity on campus— and once you experience it, you’ll want to be a part of it.

The MIX

The MIX (Multicultural Innovators Experience) aims to celebrate and empower the diversity of the Olin community. Diversity to us is the rich variety of cultures, identities, beliefs and backgrounds that make us who we are. The MIX strives to promote a culture of mutual respect, acknowledgment and empathy for all members of the Olin community.

SLAC

Alyssa ’28

I enjoy working with both (H)ola and the MIX because it has proven to be a place where I can connect with people on campus whom I might not have met otherwise. As a freshman, I was able to attend the SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) 2024 National Conference. This opportunity given to me by the MIX allowed me to interact with the 200 companies that attended the conference in workshops and a career fair.”

Every Wednesday at 8 p.m., you’ll find the Olin library crawling with students for SLAC (Stay Late and Create). A typical event includes workshops, activities, music and food. Think Super Smash Bros. tournaments, an active game of fishbowl, an improv workshop, paper arts, a movie screening or an alumni talk on “How to get the computer science job of your dreams.” Workshops and activities are run by community members (students, staff, faculty and alumni) and external groups (outside speakers, companies, etc.), and the event itself is open to all members of the Olin community.

SERV Auction

The SERV (Support, Encourage and Recognize Volunteerism) Auction is one of Olin’s oldest traditions. Community members donate everything from baked goods to haircuts to birthday messages for life to a fivecourse gourmet dinner or a sushi lunch. On SERV Auction day, students emcee a live auction featuring the top 10 most-coveted items. There are sure to be some rowdy bidding wars, and—the best part—all the proceeds go to a charity the community chooses. Olin has raised as much as $10,000 at a single SERV Auction.

CORe and SEOs

The Council of Olin Representatives (CORe) is Olin’s student government, which works alongside our four Student Experience Organizations (SEOs).

The purpose of each Student Experience Organization is unique, as they individually have their missions and functions. However, each of these organizations is deemed vital to the education and college experience of the student body as they all address aspects of Olin’s central philosophies, founding precepts and goals. The four Student Experience Organizations at Olin include the Honor Board, the Student Activities Council (SAC), the Committee for Clubs and Organizations (CCO) and the organization to Support, Encourage and Recognize Volunteerism (SERV).

Looking at Life After Olin

No two paths through or after Olin are the same, but we love how our alums are making their mark by carrying the Olin culture with them as they tackle the

Tiny College. Outsize ROI.

Our alumni success stories are a big part of why Nasdaq.com named Olin College one of the “Top 10 Colleges for Return on Investment (ROI)” from a bachelor’s degree. This means the money you invest into your Olin education will see an exceptional return as your career progresses— even just a decade out from graduation.

The Center for Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University analyzed data on the cost of attendance and median earnings for enrollees at 4,600 different colleges and universities across the U.S. They found that Olin alumni were earning a return of $483,000 after 10 years and $4.2 million after 40.

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Seeing the World Through an Olin Lens

Long after their time on campus, Oliners continue to live out our mission, values and passion in the careers they choose and the valuable contributions they make to the world around them.

• 85% of Olin alumni love their job • 97% of Olin alumni feel valued in their workplace • 88% of Olin alumni identify a particular course or project experience as making a major difference for them

Alum Founds Nonprofit Building Pipeline of Diverse Math Students

Alumna Ilana Walder-Biesanz ’13 is continuing Olin’s vision of engineering for everyone with her nonprofit National Math Stars, dedicated to ensuring mathematically extraordinary students from all communities have the resources they need to reach the frontiers of math and science.

“At Olin, I got to do a lot of things that spoke to all my different interests, from building a cakefrosting robot to acting in and directing theater performances.”

Alum’s Vivant Cycleworks Aims To Be Key to a Greener, More Connected Future

Since graduating from Olin, James Nee ’15 achieved his dream of creating and launching an electric cargo bike with a mission to reduce the environmental impact of personal transportation, putting us on a path toward a safer and more sustainable future.

Exploring Earth’s Final Frontier: The Ocean

Amy Phung ’21 is an expert at using engineering and robotics to increase access to and knowledge of one of the world’s most mysterious environments—the world ocean. Amy completed her master’s work while enrolled in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, where she worked to enable better remote underwater exploration through shared autonomy between human pilots and robots.

“My Olin education gave me the strength-of-will [when creating Vivant Cycleworks] to recognize that every failure was a step toward success, and the fundamentals necessary to properly assess what went wrong, how to fix it and then to execute correctly the first time.”

“While at Olin, my taste for discovery developed a whole new facet! During my SCOPE project I worked with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) to design a virtual reality system to help remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pilots. It was already so cool to be able to test our system in a water tank on campus—it was even cooler to explore like that in the deep sea.”

Alum Designs Affordable Assistive Devices in Tanzania

Alum Speaks on Benefit of WorldChanging Civic Tech Roles

Jessi Murray ’10, a member of Olin’s fifth-ever graduating class, was struck by the camaraderie and instant connections that she made with other students during Candidates’ Weekend.

Eamon O’Brien ’21 put his leadership skills and concern for ethical responsibility into action by co-founding Kyaro in 2019, with the goal to produce cost-effective, sturdy, appealing assistive devices for East African people with disabilities. Most recently, this work has resulted in being asked to join a groundbreaking program for business students and early-career professionals. (FASPE) “At Kyaro, we want to make design decisions that move assistive technology away from a scarlet letter to being a cool thing that people want to use and show to their friends and families.”

“I gravitated to classes like UserOriented Collaborative Design, where you can imbue a sense of empathy into engineering and learn to think about the problems that you are solving versus making something that you’re just trying to push on users.”

Seeing the World Through an Olin Lens

Long after their time on campus, Oliners continue to live out our mission, values and passion in the careers they choose and the valuable contributions they make to the world around them.

Alum Founds Nonprofit Building Pipeline of Diverse Math Students

“At Olin, I got to do a lot of things that spoke to all my different interests, from building a cakefrosting robot to acting in and directing theater performances.”

Alum’s Vivant Cycleworks Aims To Be Key to a Greener, More Connected Future

Alum Speaks on Benefit of WorldChanging Civic Tech Roles

Jessi Murray ’10, a member of Olin’s fifth-ever graduating class, was struck by the camaraderie and instant connections that she made with other students during Candidates’ Weekend.

Now the chief product officer for the MA Department of Early Education and Care where she works in civic tech, Jessi is using her engineering, technological and problemsolving skills to make people’s lives tangibly better. “I gravitated to classes like UserOriented Collaborative Design, where you can imbue a sense of empathy into engineering and learn to think about the problems that you are solving versus making something that you’re just trying to push on users.”

Alumna Tackling Women’s Health in India Through Science-Backed Supplements

Ananya Agarwal ’12 credits the design thinking approach and entrepreneurial spirit she honed at Olin for helping build the foundation she needed to found Nyumi, an India-based vitamin company that produces high-quality, clinically proven gummies for women. “My father and I attended Candidates’ Weekend at Olin, and it was 100 percent clear that it was my dream school. I knew that I’d learn more and gain more skills as an independent person here than I would anywhere else.”

Changing a Billion Lives A California native with an affinity for hands-on learning and building things like LEGO sets, Kate Garrett ’06 comes from a family of entrepreneurs and engineers. Fast forward to her post-Olin career, Kate is now building early-stage medical technology companies and making a difference in the world through healthcare innovations. “I was looking for an engineering program, but I was also interested in extracurriculars, sports, creating—all kinds of things. My counselor told me about Olin and its really alternative approach, and it was love at first ‘website.’ I knew that this is what I was looking for.”

What will Your Olin look like?

Carter ’26

I end every tour I give with the same pitch: if you listen to nothing else I say, know that Olin can be anything you want it to be, but you have to be willing to put in the work. Olin is unique in the freedom, trust and autonomy it gives students to make their experience their own. Make your own major, class or club. Use class projects to explore your passions. Create some cool new social traditions in the dorms. However, you have to be willing to put in the work. Olin won’t force you to do anything or motivate you with grades like high school, so you have to be motivated by doing amazing things and a passion beyond just academics.”

You Can Afford Olin

The merit-based Olin Tuition Scholarship benefits all admitted students. Offered for eight semesters of required full-time study, this scholarship recognizes achievement inside and outside the classroom and represents our confidence in your ability to succeed in this unique academic environment.

Our goal is to attract talented students committed to making a difference in the world and partnering with them to make an Olin education a reality. In 2024:

• An Olin Tuition Scholarship was awarded to every enrolled student

• We are committed to meeting full demonstrated financial need

• 51% of students qualified for need-based assistance

Alyssa ’28

I was extremely nervous to visit Olin, and was worried about how the social environment was going to be. However, once I showed up to campus, all my worries went away. I loved the small school feel where everyone knows each other and is extremely friendly. My mom describes that first day as the most she has ever seen me talk to strangers. ¶ That comfort I felt within the Olin community is what really sealed the deal for me.”

Come See Olin Through Your Eyes

The Office of Admission and Financial Aid hosts on-campus visits spring through fall. For in-person visit options and details, check out olin.edu/admission/visit.

If you can’t make it to campus, please connect with us virtually at olin.edu/virtual-tour.

1. Students apply using the Common Application— the deadline is December 15.

2. From this pool of applicants, we invite roughly 230 students to attend one of three Candidates’ Weekends in late February / early March.

3. In late March we offer admission to 130-140 students.

Start your Olin application today:

While the information provided here is current at the time of printing, programs and details about the academic experience at Olin College are subject to change, and this content is not binding.

Way, Needham, MA 02492-1200

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