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(4.1) |
Olin is a great school, amazing infrastructure, approachable and knowledgeable professors and a great administration staff, however what was a boon earlier has become a bane. St. Louis no longer has a lot of large employers that will readily absorb local talent. For domestic students that is not a problem, but for international students the location is a disadvantage, Outside of the Midwest, people have rarely heard about WashU/Olin. So if you don't need work authorization, please apply, you will get the best of faculty and infrastructure. If you need H1B, you are better of sticking to schools in and around larger cities.
Mastercard, Nestle Purina, ABInbev, Citi Mortgage are the regular employers, AT Kearney and BCG are making their presence felt and Amazon has also started recruiting for summer interns as well as full time.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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One of the best business schools in the Midwest region. Classes are well structured and taught by the best professors and experts in their fields. Students also have the flexibility to enroll in various classes and activities (student practicums, Global Management Studies, exchange programs) that match their interests and career goals.
Students do get internship/job offers pretty fast, but some of us just didn't get it until very late summer. Career center is available to help students finding jobs/internships, but then it all goes back to the students' efforts to actually get those offers.
International students PSA: you really need to work hard to get job. It's not impossible, but you have to really understand that not being a US citizen has its downside when it comes to finding jobs in the US.
Professors are great!
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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I'm a recent alum and an immigrant. The Olin family has always made me feel welcome to The US and to St. Louis. Many schools say they have a collaborative culture, and it could be true, but I'd say Olin lives and breathes collaboration every single day. From fellow students, faculty, non-teaching staff to even the Starbucks employees everyone knows you and your story.
Many professors are world class with their research and/or teaching, but there are a few who need improvement. The building and its facilities/equipment are state-of-the-art. St. Louis has a burgeoning startup scene that budding entrepreneurs can take advantage of (no visa support, though). The Greater St. Louis area has many F500 companies that seem to have strong ties to WashU and Olin, but an absurdly high percentage of them do not even look at immigrant students during recruiting.
Student clubs are hit or miss; depends on the leadership in place at the time. Ditto with social life; depends on how outgoing students are.
My favorites: Sergio (Operations), Tom (Accounting), John (Microeconomics), Elfenbein (Strategy), Dirks (OB), Seethu (Marketing).
Some international travel/consulting opportunities seem fun, too, from what I've heard from my classmates who did those.
My biggest concern is that the career center (WCC) doesn't seem to have a Director for 3+ semesters now, and none of the career advisors seem to care whether you have a job or not. They treat the MBA program as if it is the undergraduate program, which is highly ranked in The US. WCC employees are SO far out of touch with reality it's not even funny. They don't seem to maintain relationships with companies, or even current students and recent alums. Yes, Olin has recently placed people into MBB, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, and it boasts that some 97% of the students found jobs within 90-days of graduation, but there's a big asterisk here. They severely undercut the denominator in this 97% metric (sometimes shadily but maintaining the "technically correct" stance), and even if you are included as a successful graduate there's still a catch. I'd advise international students to look towards a lower ranked school on the East/West coast if you're interested in Finance/Tech respectively. The Midwest isn't for you, and Olin won't do you any good.
International students in the past 3-4 years have been facing increasing difficulties finding employment. Even larger firms in the area don't seem to want to risk H-1B sponsorship so forget about the smaller/relatively unknown mid-sized companies around the country. I have, from my personal connections, confirmed information that greater than 50% of the international cohort usually doesn't find jobs even 1+ month after graduation. Which results in people settling for companies/roles/salaries that are beneath a top-20ish MBA graduate, or people simply going back to their home countries - both of which are extremely sad scenarios. Of late, Americans have been facing challenges with recruiting as well and the trend is becoming worse every year from what I hear. I'd urge the Olin hierarchy to overhaul the WCC with a few exceptions, and start taking career advising seriously.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (2.0)
Classmates rating (3.0)
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Cons: This school has a very strong reputation for its undergraduate studies, but hasn't really made itself a name for its graduate program. The career support is really weak here as the career centre does not try very hard to get more companies to hire Olin students. On campus career fair are pretty pathetic as many large companies do not even bother coming over, and everyone has to kiss up to some second class companies that no one outside of St. Louis has ever heard about. As for international students like myself, it is even worse, given the location and lack of awareness of local business. the career centre people seem to be a little bit removed from the current market trends and do not always provide the most useful assistance. St. Louis is also sketchy with lots of crimes (near campus) and unsafe areas which students are advised against visiting in the evening. Going to anywhere from here is hard because no major airlines locates its hub in St. Louis.
Pros: Very helpful student body. 2nd year students are way more helpful than the career centre in terms of helping 1st years with resume and cover letter editing. Given the very narrow understanding of the world people in St. Louis have, they rate Washington University the 3rd best school in the world - Harvard, Stanford, then Washington. People outside of the school treat you with some respect despite your career is probably in jeopardy being in this program.
Professors are not very helpful when it comes to sharing their connection to help students find jobs.
If you are an international student, avoid this school at all cost. You are likely an all star level talent in your own country with easily a 700+ GMAT score, and once you come here you will have the toughest time finding jobs. Olin doesn't have enough jobs postings, and even less for people who do not have permanent work authorizations (ie. US citizenship or green card).
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
Schools contribution (1.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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First thing that one would notice about Olin is its small class size. Is it good? is it bad? Like all MBA topics, answer is 'it depends'. ;)
On the positive side, small class size results in an immersive yet fun experience and accounts for a great culture. Basically you not only have a great time with friends/classmates but also get a lot of exposure/interaction with faculty/administration. On the flip side, small class size would mean strong yet a smaller alumni network. Size of network is partially mitigated by undergraduate classes but still remained a concern for me. Second, small class size would mean that employers have less incentive to visit the campus which especially affects east/west coast employers.
Why I picked this topic to discuss first? Every prospective student I spoke to, gave me same response (including during interviews) that he/she wanted to come to Olin for its small class size, mostly without knowing how it may or may not work for them.
One comment for international students applying to Olin or any other business school in US. Several employers are hesitant about hiring international students primarily due to visa concerns. Situation is likely to worsen at least for next 1-2 years.
Google H1B lottery process and find out related stats for more information.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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So far I have a positive experience. Class size is small which make sure that everyone know each other and professors know you by your first name.
Faculty has lot of experience with industry. Most of the courses have lot of case studies with groups to prepare students for real world.
The school has strong consulting, marketing and finance clubs. The placement record is good for all these concentration. This time we had big 3 consulting hiring on campus for internship and full time employments.
About the location: St. Louis is not that big city. There are not many companies around so sometimes students have to put lot of efforts in networking to find a suitable job.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
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Strength of Olin MBA is in it's small class size, excellent faculty and program staff, Well designed curriculum structure, and various options for real world experience along side classes. For me, MBA is a personal journey, and I wanted a school that has close knit feeling and where you can hide in the big crowd, Olin MBA program fulfils those needs perfectly, there is almost one-to-one attention for every student, everyone knows everyone, it's like a family. Faculty, graduate office, career advisors, and your peers, everyone knows you, your strengths and weaknesses.
Olin Business School has good relations with most of the leading firms, in various industries. There are numerous networking opportunities both on and off the campus. Olin students have great social life as well, there are number of club events, parties and other social gatherings. Few areas of improvement are more strengthened alumni network, bringing even more companies to campus, and better brand image.
Advice to future students, be sure about what you want out of the MBA program, make sure the program resonates with you both professionally and personally.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
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Olin has a great MBA program and it has really pushed me to develop as a business professional. The small class size let's you have the individual attention from both professors and career advisers. Olin selects those candidates that are high on collaboration which is reflected in the peer interaction and team work. The curriculum has been very carefully designed to suit both people who want to specialize in certain fields as well as to those who want to pick and choose what they want to gain from an MBA. The only thing which is sort of a disadvantage for Olin students is the school's location: St. Louis. If you want to get into the tech industry then go to the east coast, if you want to get into finance go to the west coast. Olin falls in the middle and is neither here or there. But still Olin has a phenomenal placement rate of 97%.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
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I came to Olin with the plan of pursuing both Consulting and Entrepreneurship. Consulting stopped being a priority after year one, when I realized that the school doesn't have a solid grounding in the area (both in terms of classes and job opportunities). The Entrepreneurship platform met my expectations, but it could still be further improved. The school is very change averse; I've held a number of student leadership positions, and it's very hard to convince them to do anything, even if you have some data to back up your claims.
Having said that, I would encourage anyone to come to Olin; this is a school where you can learn a lot and have some fun at the same time. The culture is very collaborative, and being a smaller program means that you get to know and make friends with everyone. The school has a good network for Finance, Marketing, and Operations-related jobs. An additional benefit is St. Louis, a city with good public transportation and affordable cost of living.
The most interesting feature is that Olin offers tuition loans for both domestic and international students (no cosigner required). This was one of my reasons for choosing them...
At Olin you can find all types of professors: good, mediocre, and awful. Among the very good ones I can mention Tom Fields (Accounting), John Horn (Economics), and Anthony Sardella (Introduction to Non-Market Environment). The curriculum is generally good, with a large enough number of electives. I can recommend very good classes such as Market Competition & Value Appropriation, Integrated Value Creation, and Introduction to Non-Market Environment.
Olin offers a good platform for your career choices, enabling you to secure the position and geography of choice. There is a large array of companies recruiting each year. Olin is not a core school for the big 3 consulting companies, so landing a job in this industry will require more effort on your part.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
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Finance
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Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
