<p>Hi, I am a first year Honors Student- I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge.
I was in the same situation as you one year ago. I was accepted at selective private schools but my family was unable to pay for them. I also only applied to one financial safety school, OSU, and here I am. </p>
<p>I have been very impressed with the advising at OSU. The survey "Intro to OSU" course is taught by your Honors advisor, and from there I have developed a very nice relationship with her (Aurelia Kubayanda). You need to make the appointments with your advisor (as I'm sure this goes for any other college), the advisor will not call you up and tell you that you don't really need to take that classs. That being said, you have one general advisor for your OSU General Education Curriculum courses and one Honors advisor per each major or minor. If you are not satisfied with your advisor, any other advisor within the department would be fine too (just clear it with the other advisor). </p>
<p>The most complete professor rating site I've seen is ratemyprofessors.com. Most students are truthful, and I think you'll find that there are many more positive comments than negative. Also keep in mind when someone writes that a regular course is "hard", most of the students are not honors students, so take each comment with a grain of salt. Also, just asking upperclassmen (if you opt for honors mixed year housing) is valuable in itself. </p>
<p>OSU may have a few commuter students, but I've never felt that it is commuter campus by any means. There is a ton to do on the weekends that doesn't involve partying (I don't "party"). There is a new district called the South Campus Gateway that has a brand new cinema (with $3 student tickets at the Union), the Lennox strip mall type area has a ton of stores (Target, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Petsmart, giant megaplex theater, etc...) and restaurants (Don Pablos, Johnny Rocket's, Chammps,...), and of course, there is Columbus itself. There are sporting events (have you seen the 'Shoe on Google Earth?), lots of student discount arts and performances (Columbus Jazz, Symphony, Broadway), and then general discounts on things like the Zoo. Explorecolumbus.com has all of the OSU discount things. Also, OSU student get "free" (you have to pay for it in your student fees) Columbus bus travel. So, you can go wherever you want. Finally, the OSU First-Year Experience program has a lot of events throughout the year that are really cool. For example, I had dinner with the authors of Freakonomics in the fall, and also listened to the Columbus Jazz Orchestra perform on the South Oval. </p>
<p>My favorite thing about being a student at OSU? I really like the wide range of opportunities here. Where else could I change my major three times and still have outstanding resources available to me? I have the chance to learn Uzbek, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, and/or Farsi! The huge assortment of majors and the strength of the graduate program allows for undergrads to get involved with research. In fact, a new Undergraduate Reseach Office just opened this year. Research has always been available to undergrads, but now it is even easier to get started.</p>