Someone sell me on Ohio State! (Columbus, Cleveland: crime, high school, university)

[SuzanneinOhio]

My son is about to enter his freshman year in college and has to make a decision within a month between 3 colleges. Lee University which is a small Christian college in Cleveland Tennessee, Miami University (Oxford), and Ohio State. He has always attended a small private Christian school, so has been very sheltered his whole life. He wants to attend Ohio State because of its great academic reputation, but is very nervous that he won't have friends unless he submits to the high party life. He has received great academic scholarship offers from all three colleges, and is a varsity tri-athlete at his high school, so is very sports minded. Please help us someone!

[OSUGUY87]

Originally Posted by SuzanneinOhio

My son is about to enter his freshman year in college and has to make a decision within a month between 3 colleges. Lee University which is a small Christian college in Cleveland Tennessee, Miami University (Oxford), and Ohio State. He has always attended a small private Christian school, so has been very sheltered his whole life. He wants to attend Ohio State because of its great academic reputation, but is very nervous that he won't have friends unless he submits to the high party life. He has received great academic scholarship offers from all three colleges, and is a varsity tri-athlete at his high school, so is very sports minded. Please help us someone!

OSU is one of the largest campuses, he won't have any problem finding friends that have similar interests!

[jmargaret]

Miami is a nice- sized school. The students there appear to be more academically-focused, although that may just be a perception. OSU is somewhat zoo-like and although they are being more selective with their students, there still appear to be many there that probably should not be.....I know this because I precept many college students. But this is just my perception. I would recommend Miami.

[ulnevrwalkalone]

Originally Posted by SuzanneinOhio

My son is about to enter his freshman year in college and has to make a decision within a month between 3 colleges. Lee University which is a small Christian college in Cleveland Tennessee, Miami University (Oxford), and Ohio State. He has always attended a small private Christian school, so has been very sheltered his whole life. He wants to attend Ohio State because of its great academic reputation, but is very nervous that he won't have friends unless he submits to the high party life. He has received great academic scholarship offers from all three colleges, and is a varsity tri-athlete at his high school, so is very sports minded. Please help us someone!

Finding new friends will not be a problem, for every party animal there is an equal if not more amount of students who prefer to do other things. I would argue that he would be more pressured into the party scene at smaller schools because he would not be in a city like Columbus which offers so many other things to do. and when it comes to sports nobody can match OSU for its excellence (not just talking football here ) I believe OSU has the largest athletic budget in the country. The only drawback to all these things is the size of the school (probably the main reason a lot of students choose other schools) but if he takes the tour and doesn't feel the size is going to be an issue than OSU would be a solid choice.

[HuskerDu]

Miami

/thread

[TJSellsHomes]

OSU might be a bit overwhelming to a frosh who has only been in small environments. Have you considered bringing him here for a weekend on campus?

[Tenzo]

Is he intending to stay in a small town all his life or might he want to see the world?

Are you more worried about preparing him for school or life?

[HuskerDu]

I realize this is the Columbus forum but anyone (even the biggest buckeye fan) familiar with such things will tell you that Miami has a much better undergraduate program than OSU. If your son has been accepted to Miami University, you should be pretty darn proud of it.

[wrightflyer]

It depends. If you are looking for a more research oriented university, then OSU will offer more of that than Miami. However, if you are looking more at a typical, small college town university, then Miami would be the better pick. Both have its share of partying hooligans. I persoanlly chose OSU over Miami because of its scholars programs and I felt too pressured into joining a frat at Miami because they are such a huge part of life there.

[SuzanneinOhio]

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments! I honestly think he is leaning towards O.S.U. over Miami because he has always loved the Buckeyes (sports is a big part of his life) and with Columbus being so close there is much more to do outside of class compared to Oxford. Since the academics are comparable to Miami, O.S.U has the slight edge. I lean slightly toward Miami - love the small town college atmosphere. At Miami he was accepted into the Honors program as well as the School of Business. I feel this opportunity would be alot to give up. At O.S.U. he received the Provost scholarship which is great too, and was given an opportunity to apply to the Scholar program, but did not want to live in a Scholar dorm. I'm more concerned about crime at O.S.U. compared to Oxford as well. He is planning to visit both campuses again in April to make a final decision.