We were on a tour at another university and the 3 students in the honors program all shared that their best friends and roommates were mostly kids they met their first year in the honors dorm. Would students (or parents of students) in the OSU Scholars Program share whether it fosters the same type of tight knit community? Are there certain Scholars Programs that are stronger than others?
Now that I have a freshman at OSU in a scholars program, I wanted to answer my own question, as information for future OSU applicants. My D has made friends in all of her OSU classes, but her closest friends are from her scholars program. They hang out in the dorm, they sit together in class, they go to football games together, etc. She’s met a diverse group of kids with different backgrounds but similar personalities. She LOVES it, it truly has made OSU feel small. I’ve heard about several kids who are having a hard time finding friends those first weeks at OSU, especially OOS kids who don’t have a bunch of friends from high school to hang with. My D strongly recommends scholars.
I agree with @momfactfinder - my D has friends in her classes, but she is thriving with her friends in her Scholars program. I have been very impressed with the community building and opportunities they have to come together.
I really want to go to Ohio state and not getting in Sholars would not keep me from going, but these posts assured the fact that I want to be in the program.
@soyunchico - when you visit the Ohio State campus, you should try to also meet with a student in the scholars program(s) that most interest you. Contact the scholars coordinator staff person for that program. Each scholars group has its own personality, some groups are more close-knit than others. The meeting is also a great way to learn a lot more about OSU from a current student’s perspective. If you can’t do that, there’s a day in January where students admitted to scholars can visit with students from the different programs (we didn’t go, so I don’t know many details - I think each program has a table you can visit…)
Thanks for the helpful posts! My son will be submitting his OSU app by 11/1 and is torn between honors and scholars. How does one decide between the two?
He really likes the descriptions of several LLPs but is unsure how to assess which ones are strong programs with close-knit communities and which are not. Any advice? He’s interested in STEM Exploration, Green Engineering, Env. & Nat. Resources, Humanitarian Eng., and Innovation, Creativity & Entrep.
@javamom Be aware that the Nov 1 deadline is for the receipt by Ohio State of not only the student’s application but also the official act/sat test scores and secondary school report (transcript and guidance counselor recommendation). Some high schools require that the student submit his or her application before the high school will prepare and send the secondary school report. And the high school may require at least a few weeks advance notice of application submission to guarantee that the secondary school report will be submitted before Nov 1. Just check with your son’s high school regarding the timing and make sure your son does not wait until a few days before the Nov 1 deadline to hit the submit button on the common application. Also make sure his official test score have already been sent from the testing agency to Ohio State.
@javamom – I believe there were discussions about honors vs. scholars in the Ohio State College Confidential forum last year and/or the year before - you may be able to find it via search. During our OSU tour, we spoke to 3 students who were in honors. All 3 of them felt that the big benefit of honors is priority registration. I believe registration is set up (first to last) as: honors seniors, honors juniors, honors sophomores, honors freshmen, scholars seniors, seniors, scholars juniors, juniors, etc. None of the 3 felt that honors provided a social community. At least 1 said that honors classes are more difficult with a lot more work.
@javamom A student can only choose Scholars as an incoming freshman, but can choose to join Honors at any time in his/her college career (assuming they have the gpa). My D came from a small school, and she needed to have that smaller community - I have heard the same things as @momfactfinder, both from visits and from my D now that she is there. Students can also request admittance to honors classes if they want/need the challenge. Whatever your son decides, definitely schedule orientation as early as possible - they schedule fall semester at orientation.