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Hi all! The Ohio State University is one college I am considering that I was accepted to. Other schools I was accepted to were the University of Alabama, University of Georgia, and University of South Carolina. When I visited, I fell in love with Columbus. I fell in love with the other places also. I qualify, and I hope to get the National Buckeye Scholarship, and I hear they give it to anyone who qualifies.
1. What do you love about tOSU?
2. How is Columbus as a college town? Love it? Hate it? Personally, I loved it.
3. How is life at tOSU? Is the campus food good?
4. Did anyone attend tOSU? How was your experience?
Hi all! The Ohio State University is one college I am considering that I was accepted to. Other schools I was accepted to were the University of Alabama, University of Georgia, and University of South Carolina. When I visited, I fell in love with Columbus. I fell in love with the other places also. I qualify, and I hope to get the National Buckeye Scholarship, and I hear they give it to anyone who qualifies.
1. What do you love about tOSU?
2. How is Columbus as a college town? Love it? Hate it? Personally, I loved it.
3. How is life at tOSU? Is the campus food good?
4. Did anyone attend tOSU? How was your experience?
Thanks!
Hello Adam,
I'm a recent graduate of OSU and will be attending law school there in the coming fall so I'm pretty familiar with the university and navigating Columbus as an out of state student.
1. My absolute favorite thing about OSU is Buckeye pride and the amount of school spirit people have. It's not just a place to get your degree and leave, it's a life long family/community.
Also, Ohio State is becoming increasingly difficult to get accepted into and has several nationally ranked programs. It definitely has the academic rigor to prepare you for the work force but it also is an exceptionally fun place to be a student at. Around 50,000 OSU students concentrated in on campus and the surrounding neighborhood make it an amazing social experience and nearly impossible to not have the time of your life. Also the school puts a lot of money into the facilities. For example, Thompson Library, the RPAC (which is the main gym on campus), The Fisher School of Business and the student union are all state of the art and extremely modern.
2. Columbus is not a college town in the same sense that Tuscaloosa is. Columbus is a rapidly growing mid-sized city that has a lot to offer apart from OSU (around 2 million people live in the greater Columbus area).A lot of students, especially their first and second years, never venture outside of the University District or the surrounding bars on High Street. I liked Columbus enough that I stayed here after graduation and will live here for at least another three years. It's a great place to be young, it's developing rapidly, solid economy and reasonable cost of living. More importantly I find the people to be exceptionally kind and polite in general.
3. OSU is a giant school but if you get involved you will run into people you know on the oval, on high street, at classroom buildings, while out with friends etc. There are so many cool programs/communities to be a part of within the university that you can truly shape your undergrad experience into what you want it to be. Personally I studied abroad and was a part of Greek life and some other volunteer organizations and I don't regret one minute of my time as an OSU undergrad.
4. You probably can tell by this point that I loved my time at Ohio State, most people tend to. Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck on choosing a school.
A big concern at any university is gaining admission to a program of your choice. E.g., I've known of persons who were unable to gain admission to the Ohio State teaching and nursing programs despite having grade point averages of over 3.5. If you don't receive direct admission to the program of your choice as a freshman, this is something you should consider when considering a university.
When deciding which level of a prerequisite course to take when preparing for a competitive admission program, make certain that you get in writing that a lower level course is sufficient. One of the persons that I know took a lower level course as advised by an adviser and was later told it was insufficient to gain admission to the nursing program. Definitely try to talk to persons already in your program of choice for tips about the competitive admission program.
My understanding is that some universities do not have competitive admission processes for teaching programs, but it's possible that their graduates also are not as much in demand.
This raises a final point. Make certain you research graduate job placement statistics for any field of study that you intend to pursue, given that there are many university graduates in the U.S. who are grossly under-employed while trying to pay off large amounts of student debt.
Hi all! The Ohio State University is one college I am considering that I was accepted to. Other schools I was accepted to were the University of Alabama, University of Georgia, and University of South Carolina. When I visited, I fell in love with Columbus. I fell in love with the other places also. I qualify, and I hope to get the National Buckeye Scholarship, and I hear they give it to anyone who qualifies.
1. What do you love about tOSU?
2. How is Columbus as a college town? Love it? Hate it? Personally, I loved it.
3. How is life at tOSU? Is the campus food good?
4. Did anyone attend tOSU? How was your experience?
Thanks!
First off, congratulations! I consider the day I was accepted into Ohio State as one of the greatest days of my life. I graduated OSU in 2008, so my perspective might be a bit different than Buckeye 614's.
1. What I love about tOSU is the sense of community. As Buckeye614 stated, everyone (or mostly everyone) is proud to be from Ohio and/or proud to be going to Ohio State. There is something for everyone to do as well. Yes, this might sound cliche, but it is the the truth. As one of the largest universities in the US, there is a club, group, activity, for anything you can think of. I was part of a few academic clubs, the band, and a few charitable organizations too.
2. Columbus isn't a true college-town by definition, but it leans college just because OSU football is the #1 event, news, story, etc. in town from August through early January. Some might even argue year round. But I think it's a good balance. The town is definitely college, pro-OSU, but if that is not your thing, there is plenty of other things, people, etc. that it's not too noticeable.
3. Life at OSU was a blast for me, maybe too much . I lived on campus for 2 years in the Towers and then off campus for 2 years on East 14th. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. along High Street that I only left campus to go to a specialty store at Polaris or Easton. I venture back to campus usually 1 or 2x during football season, and the food scene has drastically changed in the last 8-9 years, but change isn't a bad thing. Not sure how I feel about all of the commercialized properties, buildings going up around campus. I will hold judgment until it was done. A lot of graduates before me hated seeing the old south campus go away, but I went to school just as the South Campus Gateway was going up, and it's been a moderate success.
4. I think I've summarized my experience pretty well in the first 3 bullet points.
Hi all! The Ohio State University is one college I am considering that I was accepted to. Other schools I was accepted to were the University of Alabama, University of Georgia, and University of South Carolina. When I visited, I fell in love with Columbus. I fell in love with the other places also. I qualify, and I hope to get the National Buckeye Scholarship, and I hear they give it to anyone who qualifies.
1. What do you love about tOSU?
2. How is Columbus as a college town? Love it? Hate it? Personally, I loved it.
3. How is life at tOSU? Is the campus food good?
4. Did anyone attend tOSU? How was your experience?
Thanks!
2011 alum here.
1. Big colleges are better in my opinion. You will never be bored at OSU. You will constantly meet new people, but also will be able to "make it small" with your fellow major field students, dorm friends, student organizations. But what's great is that if you don't like any of those people, you can always find new ones. Also, the culture there is great in the sense that usually people are excited to be at OSU, so it feels more enthusiastic than maybe other schools. Lots of pride. Campus is nice too- the Oval, Mirror Lake, RPAC.
2. Columbus isn't really a "college town" per se. It's a city of 2 million people. It's a city where lots of people have connections to OSU, sure, but I don't think that makes it a typical college town. The University District is more like a college town of 50k within the larger city. So you have your university bubble, but only a few miles away you're in German Village or Grandview or Upper Arlington and those feel nothing like Ohio State.
3. Socially it's a great place. Food? I don't know it was fine when I was there, but tastes are subjective. It's not gourmet 5 star stuff, but it's fine. I think the academic life here is the more important thing to consider though. That might be more dependent on your field of study.
4. Yes I did attend OSU. You will get out of it what you put in. I studied International Studies and foreign languages. I joined the International Affairs Scholars program, was president of the German Club, studied abroad in Turkey and Russia (with scholarships from various sources, there are TONS of scholarships for those who are determined) and spent very long hours in the Thompson Library, almost every night, doing real academic work. So in this sense I think it was worth it. I also had good friends (though most of whom I no longer really talk to) and hit up all the local bars, went to most football games, but those things really do have to be latter priorities. You don't have to go to college at all to drink and hang out. So be sure you're going for the right reasons. With academics prioritized, you can certainly indulge in those other aspects of Ohio State life, sure, but just keep it in its place.
I love pretty much everything about OSU. Like everything, it has weaknesses, but I generally don't mind them, and its strengths make up for them several times over. I'm echoing what bjimmy24 said, that the atmosphere is exciting because people are excited to be there. It has the feel of an intentional community. I also really liked the multitude of options. All the colleges you're considering are pretty big, so I don't know how much of a difference it'll make to you, but bigger is definitely better.
Columbus is... hit or miss. It's a big city, so there are good parts and bad parts. Around campus is mostly good, at least the parts you'll go to. There are some, uh, rougher areas not far from campus, but everyone knows where they are, and you'll probably never even see them. There are some really nice areas nearby, too: Grandview, UA, Clintonville, and the Short North. Most of what's cool in Columbus is within biking distance of campus. It has kind of become overrun with mid-20s kids just out of college, so that's kind of a bummer, although I guess I was part of the group that started that. At least I went to OSU and just stayed; in addition to those kids, pretty much everyone who went to any other college in Ohio moves to Columbus. Then they become huge OSU football fans, which I find annoying. I don't give a **** about your alma mater's football team; let me cheer for mine in peace. But I'm pretty curmudgeonly, and other people seem to like this.
Life at OSU (at least, when I was there many years ago) was exactly what I'd want from college life. You have a lot of options due to the size. No matter how obscure your interest, there's a club for it. Greek life isn't as big of a deal at OSU as it is at some other colleges, but there's still a pretty big and active community there. If that's not your thing, though, there's plenty of social life outside. I really enjoyed the food while I was there, but that was twenty years ago and everything has changed since then. Aside from food, what kind of stuff are you into?
I graduated from OSU in 2002, and I can't recommend it enough. It's a wonderful place.
All this being said, I expect you'll get the same answers from people at Bama or UGA. All the schools you listed are ones where their alumni will have loved their experience. Let me ask, why is OSU one of the schools you're considering? What are you planning to do after graduation? Without knowing more about your background, it'll be hard to give you anything more than generic answers that you'll get from everyone else.
Its Metroparks system is very good. Metroparks (county park systems featuring large natural areas) are a century-old feature of Ohio urban areas often not found in other states.
If you enjoy university sports, Ohio State is heaven, with excellent teams in most sports, including the likes of wrestling, swimming and baseball. It has a good theater program, and the Wexner Center often has top-notch exhibits, all complementing the cultural offerings of a larger city, such as a very good art museum and an excellent zoo (located in Powell). Retail offerings in Columbus are very robust, such as Easton Town Center, one of the best shopping meccas in the Midwest.
Lennox Town Center is near campus and is popular with students, especially its movie theater complex.
1. What do you love about tOSU?
2. How is Columbus as a college town? Love it? Hate it? Personally, I loved it.
3. How is life at tOSU? Is the campus food good?
4. Did anyone attend tOSU? How was your experience?
Thanks!
1. I love what's available to you. My experience is limited to the college of engineering, but I never get over the cool stuff we get to do. Also, this place runs like clockwork. Since it's so huge I don't think they can afford to leave a hair out of place. I've never encountered an issue with anything.
2. As others have said, Columbus is not a college town. It's so much better. It's the 15th largest city in the country! Theres an incredible public library system that I believe has been consistently ranked in the top 3 libraries in the country (Ohio has the best libraries in the country after New York). As an OSU student you will have a COTA pass and I STRONGLY recommend you use it. There is so much more to Columbus than campus and it is awesome. Clintonville and the Short North have great food and such, German Village has incredibly beautiful old houses and a great bookstore & coffee. However, you still get a well-defined "campus" area with High St and all kinds of shenanigans going on. It's the best of both worlds IMO, nice self-contained campus without the artificial temporary-ness of a "college town"
3. I live off campus so I'm not much help with food and dorm life. I hear no complaints.
4. Am currently attending. Was not even my top choice, I came because it's local and a great school, but I love it. I'm not much on school spirit so I tend to observe the (frequent) displays of (intense) buckeye pride with some amusement, but I am still loving my time at OSU.
My absolute favorite thing about OSU is Buckeye pride and the amount of school spirit people have. It's not just a place to get your degree and leave, it's a life long family/community.
This is so true. I graduated in 1974 and I sent my son back to OSU, he graduated in 2013. Though I'm in Los Angeles, I have OSU stickers in my car's rear window. I can barely go a day or two without some random driver spotting them and yelling "O-H" at me from his car. Buckeyes are EVERYWHERE. It's a truly great school, congratulations if you attend.
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. I lived on campus for 2 years in the Towers and then off campus for 2 years on East 14th. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. along High Street that I only left campus to go to a specialty store at Polaris or Easton. I venture back to campus usually 1 or 2x during football season, and the food scene has drastically changed in the last 8-9 years, but change isn't a bad thing. Not sure how I feel about all of the commercialized properties, buildings going up around campus. I will hold judgment until it was done. A lot of graduates before me hated seeing the old south campus go away, but I went to school just as the South Campus Gateway was going up, and it's been a moderate success. 
