June 1st, 2023
On August 23, 2023, Olin College will welcome 100 new students of the Class of 2027 to campus.
Group of Olin students standing with their SIBBs on SIBB Gathering Day 2022. Kelsey McClung '26, Allison Li '24, Brooke Wager '26, and Andrew Chang '24 pictured left to right.
This class is the largest in recent memory, with a record number of international students and first-generation college students, and one of the College’s largest cohorts of domestic students of color.
The class includes a significant number of aspiring entrepreneurs, students who want to pursue research and work in space travel and in engineering to halt climate change, robotics enthusiasts, musicians and artists.
In keeping with the values underscored in the College’s new strategic plan, Olin has made significant efforts in recent years to reach an economically and racially diverse set of students. The Class of 2027 will represent 27 U.S. states and nine foreign countries (Canada, South Korea, Chile, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Turkey, Vietnam).
“The students joining Olin in the Class of 2027 are exceptional,” says Emily Roper-Doten, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, “and will bring a wide and exciting range of talents and passions as well as intellectual strengths to Olin. I am excited for our community to meet the Class of 2027 in August!”
The Class of 2027 includes:
- 46% are women, 49% are men, 5% are another gender (i.e. genderqueer, nonbinary)
- 62% are students of color and 52% are students of color who are U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
- 20% represent races or ethnicities historically excluded from STEM and 16% are US citizens and Permanent residents who represented races and ethnicities historically excluded from STEM
- 12% are international students
- 14% are Pell Grant Recipients
- 12% are first generation college students
The admission process at Olin begins with a holistic review of an applicant as a complete person: their academic preparation and potential, how they spend their time and who they are in their community. But academics and extracurricular activities are just part of what the Olin Admission and Financial Aid office considers as it carefully evaluates each candidate’s application. Personal essays, recommendations and a demonstrated desire to improve the world through engineering are other important pieces of an Olin application.
After applications are reviewed, a number of prospective students are then invited to participate in Olin’s Candidates’ Weekends. After two years of holding virtual Candidates’ Weeks to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19, Olin returned to in-person Candidates’ Weekends in spring 2023, a series of two-day, in-person events on campus.
This spring, 287 students participated as Candidates (255 in person, 32 virtual). Candidates’ Weekends included several returning events (Design Challenge, Story Slam, Olin Fire Arts Club, Franklin W. Olin Players’ Clue) and included updated interview and group exercise components.