[4] The trustees were concerned about perpetuating Franklin W. Olin's donor intent indefinitely, so the foundation's president, Lawrence W. Milas, proposed creating a college.

And sure enough, in the late 1940s, at two or three board meetings shortly before his death, he expressed the idea of starting a new institution.”[5] By 2005, the foundation had donated most of its financial resources to the college, providing Olin with an endowment of about $460 million.

[6] Olin's campus was designed by the architecture firm Perry Dean Rogers Architects in the postmodern style.

[citation needed] Future plans include an academic building that would contain additional machine shops and project space.

[citation needed] Olin shares many campus services, including health, public safety, and athletic facilities, with Babson College.

Freshmen take integrated course blocks that teach engineering, calculus, and physics by exploring the relationships among the three subjects.

About 225–250 applicants are invited to participate in the second phase, Candidates’ Weekends, for them to learn more about the Olin community, curriculum, and culture.

All applicants who reach the second phase of the process are required to participate in Candidates’ Weekends, as the information gleaned provides the basis for final admission decisions.

[20] Olin also allows students to receive funding and non-degree credit for "passionate pursuits," personal projects that the college recognizes as having academic value.

The mascot, sometimes unofficially called Frank, represents Olin's willingness to reinvent itself, just as the phoenix is reborn from its ashes.

[27] As of 2014[update], The Princeton Review ranked Olin College second for classroom experience, third for dormitories, third for amount of studying, fourth for student opinion of professors, fifth for ease of getting around campus, eighth for LGBT friendliness, 11th for financial aid, 11th for quality of life, 12th for science laboratory facilities, 17th for career services, and 19th for student happiness.

[32] The Globe pointed out that despite the abandonment of full-tuition scholarships, Olin's spending remained relatively constant, and payroll costs rose 16% between 2009 and 2011.

It also noted that Olin's administrators received "significantly more than the median salaries of executives in comparable positions", and that Moody's had downgraded the institution's bond rating.

In an open letter to the Olin community, President Richard Miller defended the decisions of the administration and rebutted several of the points made in the article.

[citation needed] The college successfully petitioned the Globe to release an official clarification, which stated that the article had "failed to include the most recent financial information available".

[33] The Boston Business Journal also challenged the Globe's assessment of Olin's finances, reporting that revenue and enrollment had "rebounded smartly" in 2013 from recession lows.