Hi, I’m graduating this year and I’m fairly sure about attending OSU come this fall, one question I have before I commit is if OSU is so athletic-oriented that someone such as myself who doesn’t really care about sports at all will have trouble fitting in / feel unwelcome. I understand out of 45,000 undergrads there are bound to be others who aren’t sportive but I was wondering if the school cares more about athletics than academics overall, students that don’t closely follow the sports team are looked down upon, etc. Thank you!
My D is a freshman at OSU now and is not interested in sports at all.
No one has made any negative comments to her or made her feel unwelcome.
OSU has made it clear that they value academic success and students who work hard.
I encourage you to make a college visit to OSU.
In a word, no. You don’t have to be into sports to enjoy OSU.
But OSU is very big on its jock culture. You run across a lot of jocks. You live with jocks. You sit in class with jocks and have to watch as they refresh ESPN on their laptops every other second. This never happened to me, but I had friends who got harassed by dudebros for trying to go to the library on game day.
You will also constantly confront the fact that the athletics program has a ton of money, so you’ll see sports complexes that look like palaces and academic buildings that are literally crumbling apart. So, consider yourself warned.
Just to give a counterpoint to adjunctified, the statement that the academic buildings are crumbling is untrue in my experience. To the contrary, I can list many non-sports campus buildings that look like “palaces” in their own right. Hagerty Hall, home of foreign languages is top-notch, there’s a new Chemistry/sciences building that open this semester, Sullivant & Hopkins Hall (both arts, gasp!) have been recently renovated, and the Psychology building was significantly revamped for its 100th anniversary. Yes sports is a huge cash cow for OSU, but there is literally no evidence that academic facilities have been neglected in order to build monuments to athletics.
A point I’d like to make is that yes, you do not have to be into sports, but attending football games or supporting the teams goes a long way in really enjoying your time at OSU and feeling connected to the university. I would encourage you to go to a few football games, just for the experience.
- The Athletic Dept at tOSU is one of the few college athletic departments in the US which is entirely self funded, thanks to OSU football. That is, it pays for itself, and unlike other universities, does not require institutional support or payments from the university. In fact, more than 25% of the athletic department’s budget is for monies paid to other departments of the university. The athletic department provides funding to several other efforts around the university, including the band and School of Music. They also donated millions of dollars to the Library renovation fund.
In addition, the PR value to the university because of the OSU football team is incalculable. After the Championship win the OSU Athletic Dept was valued at over $1 billion dollars. Urban Myer could run for Mayor of Columbus and win. The point is that the PR, financial, political value of the OSU football team is huge, and contributes greatly to the OSU brand. This can only help the academic part of the university.
- I attended grad school at OSU in the 80's. The infrastructure was crumbling at that time. The buildings were falling apart. There was a scarcity of women's rest rooms because OSU had begun as a land grant college for male farmers. The horse hitches were still in front of some of the buildings. Today I walk around the campus and my jaw drops, it looks like Disney Land, it is so beautiful and modern. Totally unbelievable.
Out of 45,000 undergrads, there’s a ton of people who aren’t into sports. You’ll definitely find them
That’s not untrue. But I’m going to give a more balanced approach here. Keep in mind that the emphasis on sports can be great PR, but that it works in the other direction as well. OSU athletics has been the center of more than a few scandals. (The latest big scandal has to do actually with the marching band for once, not the football team, but it’s been pretty embarrassing for everyone involved.)
In addition, the athletics part of the “OSU brand”–a term that makes me cringe because universities aren’t Pepsi or Gucci–can also be a double-edged sword. A lot of Ohio-based employers are fond of OSU, but employers elsewhere can often think that an OSU education is less rigorous because of all the sports, parties, etc. Keep in mind that not everyone is a big OSU fan–or a college football fan. A lot of people don’t think that athletics should be mixed with college education at all.
Urban Meyer could indeed be elected mayor in Columbus–that actually says more about Columbus than it does about him.
Keep in mind that tuition has also skyrocketed since the 80s. Also, a lot of the off-the-beaten-path buildings are still crumbling. I was there last year.
To explain the funding differences at OSU: no, athletics does not siphon money from other departments. But neither has the success of the athletic department led to discounts on student tuition. OSU has a very capitalistic approach to funding different departments. Even though the university has a lot of money, it forces different programs to raise their own capital. If a program can’t make ends meet, it runs the risk of elimination. That is why you will see certain departments with fantastic facilities and other departments that the tour guide won’t take you to visit.
Not all universities are like OSU re: funding departments. In fact, when Gordon Gee went to Brown, he took an “OSU mindset” to the table and started slashing arts programs because they didn’t bring in money. Brown’s response? “This isn’t Ohio State.” Other universities do not take the same attitude toward less profitable programs.
I think it’s important that OSU students are aware of these issues rather than blindly accepting the fact that mega athletics programs are always good and necessary. Sure, enjoy the team, cheer for it, go to the football games. But also be aware of the drawbacks and negatives. That’s really what college is all about–thinking critically about things.
OSU is a great school, and I would never tell anyone to NOT go there because of sports. I’m only marginally fond of sports, and I still got a great education. But sports aren’t always the key to a promoting a university.
Is the education department one of those programs that doesn’t make ends meet?