I've met and talked to Olin kids, and also been to Olin - this doesn't surprise me one bit. They seem to attract the "maker" type, and also seem to be committed to actually teaching kids how to do things rather than picking kids who already know everything. Everything feels super hands-on and project driven, and the goal is to ship things. They even have classes like products & markets (http://www.olin.edu/course-listing/ahse1515-products-and-mar...), integrated product design (http://www.olin.edu/course-listing/engr3250-integrated-produ...). The focus really seems to be industry and entrepreneurship rather than academia. My own school (WPI) also has a similar approach to classwork, and it works, but I don't think is as good as preparing students for business as Olin seems to be.
As a former student of Allen's, I wholeheartedly agree. I actually started learning programming from him before even arriving at Olin, through his free textbooks (available here: http://greenteapress.com/wp/).
We first met when he interviewed me as part of Olin's Candidate's Weekend. I told him how impactful the book had been. An hour later, he found me again and gave me a signed physical copy.
