Tag: prospective students

Olin’s application process is unique. As part of the admissions essay, we ask students to demonstrate how they will find their fit within the close-knit Olin community. We take pride in the fact that, at Olin, each student is a name, not a number. And one of our major key values is collaboration.

At Women’s Weekend, this sense of community was clear to see. As prospective students who had flown in from around the country eagerly sat in their seats, they witnessed current students, alumni and staff greet each other in what looked like a long overdue homecoming. Through exchanges of hugs and heartfelt conversation, the collaborative connections and sense of optimism was infectious. Prospective students felt engaged and excited to become part of the conversation, often craving more one-on-one time with the career center team, alumni members, and current students throughout the day.

Some of our beloved alumni joined us for an alumni panel where they discussed their Olin experience and how it poised them for their careers at such companies as IBM, AB InBev, and Accenture.

While our time together was brief, we were able to pack a wide variety of programming into the schedule. This included hearing from a number of accomplished women in the Olin family: Mary Jo Gorman, Lead Managing Partner of Prosper Women Entrepreneurs Startup Accelerator, gave the keynote; Professor Hillary Anger Elfenbein spoke about women and negotiation; Cathy Dunkin, Lecturer in Business Management, led a case-based class. This gave the prospective students an inside glimpse into what life at Olin would be like.  Since many of the prospective students had never been to St. Louis, Olin graciously made it their mission to ensure Women’s Weekend would be synonymous with a relaxed, but informative, weekend of learning about Olin, Washington University, St. Louis, and life in the Midwest.

We are confident that our time getting to meet prospective students in person is beneficial to all parties. We are proud of our campus and our community and we enjoy sharing our school with talented people like those we met at Women’s Weekend.

Guest bloggers: Heather Reinhardt and Erin Ilic, both MBA ’17

I can’t believe that it’s April.  I can’t believe that this is Admitted Students’ Weekend.

Where has time gone?  I remember exactly where I was last year when this weekend occurred and we weren’t in St. Louis.  No, we couldn’t attend the festivities because one of my dearest friends was getting married and we were attending her wedding.

I remember being anxious that we couldn’t attend.  What will we miss?  Will everyone meet great friends over the weekend leaving us trying to meet people when everyone else has their group of friends?

WAIT A MINUTE.  Am I missing an MBA admitted students weekend or missing my first day of middle school?

As much as I was able to rationalize how missing this weekend would not be the end of the world, I was still anxious that we would miss something that everyone else would discuss when we all gathered together again in August.

My husband, Turner, would have a chance to meet fellow students during orientation and in classes, while I sat at home and looked for a job in my new city.  SO in many ways, this was one of the few times (I thought), I would have to meet other partners.

Then I realized something else, we were moving to St. Louis in July and Turner was attending Olin no matter what.  So while a lot of prospective students were attending to see if Olin was the right fit for them, Turner had already decided that it was where he wanted to earn his MBA.

So now you might be wondering why all of these things are so important to me and if my husband was attending Olin, why is it so important for ME to attend this weekend.  Truth be told, I was hoping to meet another partner who was already locked into Olin to be an email buddy with (an new age pen-pal, if you will), someone that I imagined would also be moving from a big, east coast city and adjusting to the midwestern lifestyle and we could swap transition stories and maybe even meet for coffee before Olin officially started in August. This way,  I would already know one person and have one friend.  But as you already know, that didn’t happen.

The good news is that I have since met many fellow partners, like myself, who are new to the area and together we go on many fun adventures exploring St. Louis.  But more on that later…

For now, as my calendar fills up with Admitted Students Day weekend activities, I am so excited to meet with potential students and their partners who may not be enrolling at Olin, but will be supporting their partners as they begin their MBA.

My friends are all excited for the weekend, too, and we hope that we have a chance to meet you.  There will be so many opportunities to see if Olin is the right program for you and rumor has it that some of the 2014 MBA class made their decision to attend Olin based on this weekend.

If you can’t attend the weekend and you are even a fraction as anxiety-driven as I am, do not worry.  You are not alone, many soon-to-be Olin students can’t make it.  There are MANY opportunities for you to meet other Olin partners later this summer.  Even though we haven’t officially met yet, I very much look forward to meeting you.