Were you part of the 66% of Olin students who felt unqualified at some point during your first year at Olin? Have you ever blamed your high school background for not preparing you enough for Olin? Similar questions have been asked by multiple U.S. colleges. Interestingly enough, different studies show extremely different results for these controversial topics. A study published by the U.S. Center on Education Policy found that when comparing students who had attended private and public high schools, there was no difference in achievement tests, college attendance rates, or job satisfaction in later years. Essentially, this study found that the difference between a private and public high school education didn’t matter much in the long run.
Category Archives: 12 (December) 2012
The December 2012 Issue of Frankly Speaking.
Popping the Olin Bubble: December Edition
11/1 Cuban President Raul Castro said that the city of Santiago “looked like it had been bombed” after Hurricane Sandy hit.
11/2 Andrew Lloyd Weber announced he would donate over $600,000 to arts education projects across the UK.
11/3 Cuba accused the US of helping Cuban dissidents access the internet.
11/4 Syrian opposition groups held a first day of talks in Qatar. They hoped to shape the Syrian National Council into a possible government in exile.
Green Space: December
Swarm Theory & Sustainability: What does it take to be sustainable? Top-down political action? Bottom-up grass-roots movements? More electric vehicles? These approaches are all too narrow. As I see it, the direction of the global human society is the weighted sum of each individual decision.
This concept is swarm theory applied to sustainability: like fish in a school, each individual bases actions on a small set of rules, and individual actions move the group. The mass’s direction is determined by initial conditions and the values held by each unit. Embedding the necessary tenets is the role of education, both formal and otherwise.
Staring Contest
Committee Makes Changes
This article is written to let Olin students know about the changes the Academic Facilities Committee has inspired at Olin. Some of these changes evolved from a desire to improve the school and others in response to certain events last year.
A Candid Conversation with Charlie Nolan
Charlie Nolan was the fifth employee of Olin College and its founding Dean of Admission. Though he took three years off to help manage Admissions at Santa Clara University in California (2003-2006), he’s been an Oliner since 1999. He has been working in admissions for more than forty years, and holds a doctorate degree in higher education administration. Although he has worked at Boston College, Washington University, Babson, and other locations, he says his biggest challenge was coming to Olin and starting a school from scratch.
Horoscopes by Drunk Editors
Aries (March 21-April 19): You’re close! Run fast, get through finals and sleep.
Taurus (April 20-May 20): You could use some pizzaz this month. A moustache or bow tie would suit you.
Gemini (May 21-June 20): Don’t despair, there’s always tomorrow. The moon guides your progress this month.
Cancer (June 21-July 22): Your friends are there to help you dig for the treasure. Don’t slack off. This booty be worth it!
The Duchess and the Dominatrix: December
I’m really stressed out by the end of the semester! How can I get my work done but not feel terrible all the time?
— Frazzled Fran
Sometimes it is helpful to work in a group of people to have people you are accountable to. Agree on a few breaks at specific times in advance and if you or your friends get off task before it’s time for a break, slap each other in the face. It can be helpful to do a few practice slaps beforehand so you know how hard to hit.
—Captain Dominatrix
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A Puzzle by Midnight Math: December
You have a wire (of unit length) with a finite number of ants arbitrarily placed on it, each facing an arbitrary direction to start.
Each ant has negligible size and travels at the same, constant speed along the length of the wire.
When an ant reaches the end of the wire, it turns around instantaneously and continues moving.