The OLINformer

• So maybe you read the letter we mailed to you after the PSAT…
• We think there’s a pretty good chance that our “duct tape” prospectus in the very cool (and reusable!) anti-static bag may have caught your attention…
• If you’re reading this, then you’ve likely been keeping an eye the blogs…
• And there’s even a small chance that you haven’t immediately deleted all our spam-y emails…

You may have already noticed that there is a new name for the blog…

Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to formally announce that Allison’s Blog had now officially become The OLINformer (it’s a nice play off of our student blog name, The Olinsider, don’t you think?)

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Andrew from North Carolina for his winning submission! Besides all the glory and fame he’ll receive for naming the blog(?!?), he is also the proud owner of a snazzy Olin t-shirt. Nice work, Andrew!

We’d also like to send a hearty and heart-felt THANK YOU to everyone else who submitted their ideas. It was a tough decision for us, but in the end, we could only pick one (although the idea of a rotating title ever-so-briefly­ crossed our minds!).

Contest or not, it’s students (and parents and…) like you who help shape what appears in our blog so we are also excited to see that you all have been checking it out. Please continue to offer suggestions and comments – we really do want to know what’s on your mind, so don’t be shy!

Enjoy the long weekend!
Allison, Caitlin and Emily

Hi!

If you’ve already read my “about me” page, you know that I am a relatively recent addition to the Olin admission office. I started working here in June, and spent the summer learning as much as I could about this place. I was surprised to learn that we would not be traveling extensively this fall. Normally, admission officers spend weeks at a time on the road, visiting high schools and attending college fairs. This is a great time to get to know prospective students and get a feel for high schools, but it is also very expensive and exhausting. We’re not traveling this fall for a variety of reasons and instead we hope that you can manage a visit to campus. We think that you can’t really get a sense of what Olin is all about until you come here and talk to us and our students.

So, here I am, sitting in my office on Thursday, October 4th. Am I just twiddling my thumbs, you ask? Far from it. We have a number of big community events coming up, including Career Initiatives Day and Family Weekend, that I am helping to organize. Our big Fall Open House is also approaching on October 28th, which is a great opportunity to chat with students, faculty and alumni, and let’s not forget the daily info sessions and tours. I am also the staff contact for our student blog, the Olinsider, which I encourage you to read. We have some new bloggers this year, including a senior, four juniors, and two freshmen. There will also be “guest blogger” opportunities for alumni and current students. These posts will give you a sense of the variety of experiences that students have while they are here, as well as the variety of personalities. So, rather than having a five-minute conversation with one of us admission officers at a college fair, you can check in with our student bloggers throughout the semester and post comments when one of their posts resonates with you. If you can swing it, we’d love to see you on campus this fall, either at our Open House, or at one of the info sessions. My favorite part of my job is talking to prospective students, so come say hi!

-Caitlin

781-292-2212

caitlin.snow@olin.edu

HI! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Emily Moscol. I have worked at Olin since 2004 in Campus Services, and made the move to Admission in August. I love working over here, it’s really a wonderful feeling being able to be part of this admission team as well as this blog, as a new Assistant Director of Admission at Olin.

A little bit about me: I am a native Bostonian, born and raised in Roslindale. I went to UMass Amherst for my undergraduate degree, where I was an RA (Resident Assistant) and majored in Legal Studies. I was all geared up to go to Law School when I decided that it wasn’t the path that I wanted my life to take. I went to UMass Boston instead and got my Master’s degree in Dispute Resolution, which encompassed negotiation and mediation. I worked for a while at a group home for adolescents in Jamaica Plain, and then I decided that I needed a change. Olin College was exactly what I was looking for, and coming to work here was one of the best decisions I ever made. The community here is really quite unique, and getting up and going to work each day to a place where you are excited to be is one thing that I have come to value very much.

I am still learning a lot about Admissions in general, and I have been so surprised by how intense the process has become since I went to college (not THAT long ago!). The young adults that I have met in info sessions seem to be experts by the time they are juniors in high school! Part of my job includes planning events for our division, including Fall Open House (which is coming up, RSVP on our website as space is extremely limited), Career Initiatives Day, Family Weekend, and Candidates’ Weekends. The entire community gets involved in these events, either through the planning process, volunteering, or running sessions. It makes the culmination of the event that much more satisfying when you know that so many people were part of it.

Another part of my job here is that I am the staff advisor to the Honor Board. This has been a really interesting experience. I have learned a lot from the students by being a part of this process. The fact that it works so well is a testament to the intelligence and maturity of our students.

If you have any questions for me you can either comment or you can email me directly. I look forward to hearing from you!!!!

Ciao!

IT’S OFFICIAL!!

We have decided to leave the name of our blog in your hands! Send in your suggestions and we’ll select our favorite from all the entries.

Contest begins: Sunday, September 23, 2007 (that’s today!)