<p>My son only wants to attend Ohio! We visited recently and my opinion was that it was awesome in every way - academic quality, friendliness, just the right size, beautiful campus, fun town. Here's my question: we are from New York and I am concerned that when he graduates, there will be less opportunities via alumni connections and career fairs for students who want to go back to New York. Could anyone give me any insight as to whether the career fairs would include national companies who may be recruiting in our area? I know I am thinking way far in the future, but my older son attends school out of state and we are finding that there are fewer NY opportunities for him through the college.</p>
<p>As you can tell, not too many people post things in this forum. If you are specifically looking for NY opportunities maybe Ohio is not the best choice. But it worked well for my son (successfully working now in the film industry in LA) and he loved it. He was in the HTC, which I think is incredible. All of his friends did well after school, very few of them in Ohio, rather across the country (although mostly LA).</p>
<p>Of course, Hollywood did not come recruiting on campus, but that just meant he had to find his own work there.</p>
<p>Two things that impressed me" First, Ohio has some of the friendliest students in the US (according to that “other” ranking site), and second, Everyone I’ve met that went to OU <em>LOVED</em> it.</p>
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The word “only” is the big issue here. Everybody needs to have a wide selection of schools, preferably apply to at least five if possible. Personally, I live in Ohio. Not only that, if I were to choose a state university here, then it would definitely be OU-Athens. I really like it. But I would be “in state.” Your son can do just as well elsewhere. OU is not that special.</p>
<p>My recommendation is to not try to talk him out of it. Instead, make it clear that he needs to at least look at and apply to a few other schools. Try to help him find other schools which are similar to OU. Also, do talk to him about after college job prospects. </p>
<p>Ohio is shrinking. It lost two congressional districts after the 2010 census. Even if he wants to live here after college, the job prospects are modest at best, and there is no reason to think that the economy will ever be robust. In addition, of the the three major cities, two lost population; Cleveland and Cincinnati. Only Columbus is has a decent economy among the three. Two other notable cities, Toledo and Akron also have lost population. See this on the Huffington Post:
<a href=“America's Shrinking Cities: Report | HuffPost Impact”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;
<p>The citizens of Ohio are friendly, honest, and hard working. They just don’t have a lot of job opportunities. Even if returning to NY was not important, Ohio is not the place to be.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, I graduated from Auburn University down in Alabama. One of the things that I like about OU is that it reminds me of Auburn. So, yes, other schools are similar to OU. There must be one between DC and New England. Maybe take a look a Lehigh University. I assume that SUNY-Binghamton has already been considered, but if not then take a look. It is a better school than OU and has some similarities. If he really feels the need to leave the region, then look at Colorado State, Washington State, or the two Oregon schools. All have lovely locations and have connections to good job markets out west.</p>
<p>Just get him to expand his horizons.</p>
<p>Thank you DigMedia! I have read many of your posts on Ohio and with other student reviews that I have read, I’m getting the idea that Ohio will be a great way to spend 4 years plus I think he will have the opportunity to get a good education at a fair price, even out of state. He will probably need to network here in New York or wherever else he may want to land after graduation. He didn’t have the test scores for the College of Business nor broadcast journalism, and so will be entering as a communications major. I’m hoping that he will be able to supplement that with a business minor and hopefully the sales certificate or create something that interests him via the Specialized Studies degree. I think I have to let it go, as they say, and have him attend Ohio. I was the one who found it for him, so what did I expect after visiting twice. He has been accepted and is a Bobcat now! Any information you can provide, regarding housing, being an out of state student, or really anything else would be so appreciated! I am hoping he will get involved with any of the sports teams or radio/tv stations to bolster his experience. </p>
<p>NROTCgrad- Thank you for the info on the population in Ohio, that’s good to know. Yes, we made him visit and apply to several other colleges where he could be accepted and do well. There are only 2 that are close to Ohio in terms of size (he wants D1 sports), campus feel and academic strength. One is Temple (my alma mater), which is urban and University of New Hampshire, which I love and regret not looking at it earlier, but admission isn’t guaranteed with his scores. We had such an amazing experience when we last visited Ohio - we had a very personalized visit and met with faculty and a student. I’m still concerned about the level of partying that is purported to go on (Palmer fest etc), but I’ll have to have faith in him. We have Ohio sweat shirts sweat pants, t shirts and bumper stickers - there’s no turning back! Ohio it is! </p>