Questions about Columbus & Ohio State (Cleveland: crime, school, campus)

[HuskerDu]

Originally Posted by MitchArk87

Thanks for the information about Ohio State's quality of undergraduate education and its surrounding crime-ridden slums.

I was surprised because I was told that the surrounding areas were excellent with its diverse and liberal population with nice Upper Arlington and Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff areas in splitting distance along with gay-friendly areas such as Short North, German Village, and Victorian Village.

Which bad, slumy areas surrounding OSU Campus should I avoid?

Anything between 5th avenue and and Lane Avenue...especially on the east side of High Street. The further east from High Street you go, the worse it gets. The worst area is around the new Campus Gateway project. Students go missing and get mugged there all of the time. There are constantly crime alerts and violence in that area.

Once you go south of 5th on High Street, it gets much better in the Garden District with places like Skully's and Surly Girl Saloon (my fave) and it only gets better as you travel south into the Short North/vic village. SN is very gay friendly and really is the only area of town for 20something to 30something single professional/grad student types. It's almost too trendy now but is still one of the only neighborhoods in Columbus I would be excited to take a new visitor.

North Campus past Lane avenue on High is marginally safer but still kind of a craphole until you get up to Arcadia where Clintonville starts. From there it is nice. Upper Arlington really doesn't fall into the Campus area catagory as it is out west with the agricultural fields of the university.

Oh, and to sum up OSU... Young applicants who don't get accepted to Miami University, Ohio University or their first 10 choices out of state usually end up there. I remember even my grandfather used to say "you only need a pulse to get in"

[MitchArk87]

Originally Posted by HuskerDu

Anything between 5th avenue and and Lane Avenue...especially on the east side of High Street. The further east from High Street you go, the worse it gets. The worst area is around the new Campus Gateway project. Students go missing and get mugged there all of the time. There are constantly crime alerts and violence in that area.

Once you go south of 5th on High Street, it gets much better in the Garden District with places like Skully's and Surly Girl Saloon (my fave) and it only gets better as you travel south into the Short North/vic village. SN is very gay friendly and really is the only area of town for 20something to 30something single professional/grad student types. It's almost too trendy now but is still one of the only neighborhoods in Columbus I would be excited to take a new visitor.

North Campus past Lane avenue on High is marginally safer but still kind of a craphole until you get up to Arcadia where Clintonville starts. From there it is nice. Upper Arlington really doesn't fall into the Campus area catagory as it is out west with the agricultural fields of the university.

Oh, and to sum up OSU... Young applicants who don't get accepted to Miami University, Ohio University or their first 10 choices out of state usually end up there. I remember even my grandfather used to say "you only need a pulse to get in"

Thank you very much for giving me the boundaries of bad area surrounding OSU. I respect your opinions about how OSU ranks among other universities in Ohio. Personally, I prefer OSU than other universities because it has so much to offer especially with its location being in Columbus. Since I was born and raised in small southern town, I really want city living for a change. I don't feel that way with either Dayton or Athens where other universities are located plus with the economy of these cities being cynical, according to many sources.

[MGbuckeye]

MITCHARK87, remember that HuskerDU only has an openion on Ohio State. If you do some reserch you will find that it is only his opinion. Ohio State has good and also some not so good undergraduate courses. At one time Ohio State being a land grant college did accept all Ohio high school graduates.

[MitchArk87]

Originally Posted by MGbuckeye

MITCHARK87, remember that HuskerDU only has an openion on Ohio State. If you do some reserch you will find that it is only his opinion. Ohio State has good and also some not so good undergraduate courses. At one time Ohio State being a land grant college did accept all Ohio high school graduates.

Dear MGBuckeye:

I will definitely do more research on Ohio State. Of course, I know it's only HuskerDU's opinion on OSU, but I respect that person for sharing it with me. According to my research, undergraduate school in History major at OSU is about average but in general, Ohio State is considered to be one of Public Ivies with highly ranked graduate school in History though. These facts including with OSU being in Columbus makes it attractive to me. What about you? Although it is entirely on me to choose which university to attend, I still would love to hear your personal opinions on Ohio State.

[MGbuckeye]

As an Ohio State graduate I found that Ohio State’s education gave me a good start in life. So I will speak up when someone tries to put it down. The University is as safe as any University that you will find in a large city. I was always told that the class sizes were all too large but found that it was only my beginning classes that were in large lecture halls. The professors were more then willing to discus things after class or set up a time in their office. One of the issues that I hear people complain about is that Ohio State entrance standards are getting to tough for some incoming freshmen.

As I am not liberal, I feel that Columbus and Ohio State is slightly left of center. I think most of the Liberal politicians’ are more of the moderate Democrats. If you live in the Worthington area which has become more liberal that past decade you will be close to the Bus line. Good luck on choosing your college. You have been accepted to some great universities.

[bgfalcons86]

It is true. Ohio State's admissions policy at the main campus has become much more selective in the past several years. It is no longer the open admissions 'as long as you have a pulse' policy of the past. The university (which already had some very good programs) has made even more strides forward in the past 5 years.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by HuskerDu

Oh, and to sum up OSU... Young applicants who don't get accepted to Miami University, Ohio University or their first 10 choices out of state usually end up there. I remember even my grandfather used to say "you only need a pulse to get in"

No disrespect, but this is simply not true. It may have been the case about 15 years ago, but not so anymore. Ohio State is now, without a doubt, the best public institution of higher learning in Ohio, and one of the best in the country. It's not on par with Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, but it is legitimately only one step below.

[streetcreed]

Oh, and to sum up OSU... Young applicants who don't get accepted to Miami University, Ohio University or their first 10 choices out of state usually end up there. I remember even my grandfather used to say "you only need a pulse to get in"

Seriously this poster is entiled to their opinion, but it can be summed up in one word "dated."

OSU is now the hardest public university in Ohio to get into. Things change, 10 years ago Miami was harder, now it is not. OSU's freshman class, now, enters with the highest GPA and test scores of any public university in OHIO.

Now Mitch please read my post earlier in this thread. Also, the neighborhoods around the university are a diverse, happening, and complex place. The actual University District is made up of many smaller neighborhoods.

Some of the properties have a "bohemian" feel you might say. Some may call this slums, but many many landlords have renovated their buildings and homes. I just attended grad school at Ohio State and can attest to existance in quality housing around the university. Now not every place is nice, but some are.

Generally, the area just east of the university is actually pretty safe until you get to 4th street. Once you go east of 4th there is more crime.

The area south of the university, west of high st., is actually well-kept and safe, with a diverse population. This poster refered to south campus as very dangerous, it is the city. The south campus gateway has given a great retail mix to the south campus area. However, there is a mass of clubs there, sometimes, yes sometimes, clubs attract people who might fight when they close. These are crimes between people who know each other though, and have never made me feel unsafe when I lived in the south campus area (west of high st.)

The area west of high st, south of campus, is nice all the way to downtown. As the poster said it just keeps getting nicer the closer to downtown you get.

Now, the only area to really watch out for, around OSU, that is agreed on as a crime ridden area is the Weinland Park neighborhood. The neighborhood starts south of 11ave and continues to 5 ave. This is just EAST of high street.

HuskerDu gave you a very very generalized picture of the area around campus. And it is overly negative. Maybe I would call it the Fox News outlook. He or she has good intentions but is failing to realize how complex the campus area is and fails to see how the different neighborhoods around the university vary, today (in 2008 not 1988)

Now I described how the south campus area is and the area just east of campus.

Now onto to north campus. Generally, north campus is an area with many homes. The area was called "old north columbus" This area starts north of Lane Ave and continues to Arcadia Ave. Once you get to Arcadia you are in Clintonville, a very nice family neighborhood in Columbus. It is very liberal too. I highly recommend looking at living in Clintonville.

The Old North Columbus neighborhood has a mix of rentals and owned homes. Many do not realize how many nice homes are in the Old North Columbus area and not for rent.
There is a mix of elderly couples, young liberals, students, grad students, and young alternative types. It is really a nice mix.

I hope these descriptions help. One thing to realize about the campus neighborhood is that it is surrounded on all sides by nice areas with the exception of east of the university neighborhood. However, Linden (to the east) is seperated from Ohio State by the fairgrounds and highway 71. They work to create a decent barrier from their poverty, gangs, and crime. Also, the small weinland park (SE) of campus is a small area to avoid. I gave its boundaries above.

I hope this helps! Enjoy Columbus.

[HuskerDu]

I just wanted to look back at my history of living around the campus area to see what I was missing when I originally posted... sure I am a King Avenue Coffee House era campus dweller but this is kind of a cool rough glimpse. I grew up in Clintonville just north of campus and knew every crack in the sidewalks leading to Noseworthy's (punk clothes store on 11th n' high) to Peggy's old Atlantis shop at 5th and high and all the way back north to the Columbus Agora (now The Newport) where I saw my first show with The Psychedelic Furs in 1983. During High School, I had a DJ internship with now defunct WOSR Ohio State radio every week and spent quite a bit of time at Drake Union. I used to sit on my skateboard outside of Staches during the mid 80's and ended up screaming for a few hardcore bands there . Besides my $5 a day Crazy Mamas/Mustards years, crashing on couches and floors from 13th to Chittenden to Stradley (stradle me) Hall to Summit, I managed to keep a few places I lived in for over 6 months. Here is a short list.

1987: 5th & Dennison
1988: King & Neil
1988 (part 2): Highland Ave. between 10th & 11th
1989: 8th & Highland Ave.
1989 (part 2): Hubbard Ave. (Short North)
1990: Smith Pl. & Dennison (Stuart Kaplow years start)
1991: King Ave. & Dennison
1992: 1st and Neil (posh new pad with DJ folks in Vic Village)
1992 to 1996: Athens, Ohio (summer sublets @ Riverwatch Tower and then Buttles x2)
1996: Highland Ave. & King (Stuart Kaplow starts again)
1997: Bryden Rd. (Old Towne East)
1998 to 2003: Patterson & High St
2003 to 2007: Harrison Ave. and Buttles.
2007 to present: Downtown Cincinnati

Not really trying to toot any horns but I really do have a good idea of the evolution (good and bad) of Campus and the surrounding areas during the past 25 years. I love plenty of things that come with the seediness involved in campus living but during my last stay, which you can see was five years ago, there were several serial rapists loose, a woman shot and killed at the stoop behind my building and several assaults and burglaries in north Campus around Norwich (yeah, remember the guy that randomly followed a couple back from UDF and shot them just inside their front door). Oh, wait... what about the missing med student or the house full of visiting students that were killed on 11th? While you are at it, check any sexual offender or Ohio inmate parole database and search by 43202 and you will be astounded.

Jeeez.... this is so easy that I don't even need any sources here. All you need to do is check the local Columbus news and you wil find daily stories of index crimes in the campus area. CAMPUS HAS NOT CHANGED, and is, if anything, much more violent now than I remember only five years ago. Go sit on the curb in front of 7-11 across the street from Eddie George at 2 am. Have fun.

Seriously, I miss the urban core of Columbus but Ohio State is not safe, clean or anyhing close and the Campus Gateway only masks the slum that exists back in that neighborhood so potential students/families aren't scared away.

[OSUBuckeye2008]

Originally Posted by HuskerDu

Jeeez.... this is so easy that I don't even need any sources here. All you need to do is check the local Columbus news and you wil find daily stories of index crimes in the campus area. CAMPUS HAS NOT CHANGED, and is, if anything, much more violent now than I remember only five years ago. Go sit on the curb in front of 7-11 across the street from Eddie George at 2 am. Have fun.

Seriously, I miss the urban core of Columbus but Ohio State is not safe, clean or anyhing close and the Campus Gateway only masks the slum that exists back in that neighborhood so potential students/families aren't scared away.

This is a really good story, HuskerDU, if Mitch wanted to move to Columbus in 1985. Having lived in University District from 2004 to 2008, I can say with ease that HuskerDU has very little, if any, grasp of how quickly Ohio State has changed within the past 10 years. He speaks fondly of these old establishments, but none of them exist anymore.He speaks of numerous crimes like they happened within hours of each other when, in reality, these things have been spread out over a number of years. I implore you, Husker, to search the sex offender registry of any zip code that is home to 50,000+ people. They aren't that different from 43202, which isn't even the campus zipcode. (ACTUAL campus is 43210, off-campus University district, the most populated area, is 43201.) Crime happens everywhere, and this fact doesn't stop at Ohio State, but the crime is NOT as visible as 5 years ago and campus is definitely NOT as unsafe as in the 1990s. The Moritz College of Law is across from Eddie George's, not the 7/11. I would expect someone to have so much knowledge of campus life at Ohio State and the apparent "ghetto" of South Campus to know that. And, to that fact, even if you do go to the 7/11 at 2 am you will find numerous things going on, but none more noticeable than the raging bars across the street and the hordes of drunk college students getting late night Taco Bell at the TB/Pizza Hut beside 7/11. Being one of them, I can honestly tell you that I never saw anything other than that happen in this area. It is clear that HuskerDU was out of touch with the campus area even when he lived there and, to be frank, his outdated opinion of the school and the campus area is laughable.

Now, on to the opinion of someone who actually has gone to Ohio State in the 21st Century...ME.

I was a history major at OSU and, after graduating, feel that my education was unrivaled. It is a widely accepted fact that Ohio State is the best University, public or private, in the state of Ohio. OSU's graduate programs are arguably the best in the Big 10 and there are numerous undergraduate programs ranked by US News & World Report...far more than Miami University or Ohio University (which, IMHO, was never in consideration for best public school in Ohio).

As a good rule of thumb, stay west of Fourth Street. Don't talk to bums or people who ask you for money. Be alert, but you don't need to be paranoid. If something looks shady, it probably is. If you go to the largest school in the country in the 15th largest city in the country, it should be a no brainer that there will be crime from time to time. But it's not as bad as Husker is trying to scare you into believing.

As a person who actually went to OSU and lived IN the University District (I will give you Patterson & High (barely), Husker, but Riverwatch Tower does NOT count), I can easily tell you that it was one of the best experiences of my life. Columbus is a great city and OSU is an EXCELLENT school. Anyone who says it isn't the most up-and-coming city in Ohio *cough*Husker*cough* is kidding themselves.