Looking for insights into the differences in the three residence halls that Honors/Scholars can dorm in (Taylor, Bradley and Lincoln). Seeking observations or experiences as to type of community, difference in day-to-day living, social activities, type of students who might gravitate to a specific dorm (e.g., more engineering students go to X / more humanities students reside at Y), etc…
Also trying to confirm from OSU, but does anyone know if OSU guarantees that Honors & Scholars admittees will have a space in one of these dorms or it is subject to availability?
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Just update - got to talk to OSU H/S office… they will no longer require H/S students to live in those dorms for the upcoming fall term. Seems that they are among the older buildings and one of them doesn’t have A/C. So to broaden the question: in terms of the OSU residence halls, can anyone provide some insights into the difference between them and who would be happiest / fit in best at which residence and whether there is much interaction between their “learning communities” and students who are not in the “learning community”?
Yes, honors no longer requires you to live in those three dorms anymore, they’re open to everyone now. Scholars has a completely separate living arrangement from honors, they live usually on one or two floors out of a regular dorm, which is only for freshman year. I’m in International Affairs Scholars and we are in Smith-Steeb, which I quite like and I’m trying to get again next year. No matter what you’ll interact with students from both inside and outside whatever living community you choose, but it is nice to be somewhat alligned with people who think similarly, especially if you are going to have to live with/use the same bathroom as them.
If you want some dorm recommendations, I personally recommend south campus over north. North may have some newer dorms, but south is so much more social, making it really easy to meet people in those first few weeks. Particularly Park-Stradley and Smith-Steeb (which are two very nice, identical dorms) and Siebert (which has almost identical rooms to P-S and S-S) are good ones to go for. For north, most are pretty nice, and also pretty hard to get. Avoid Morril and Lincoln Towers as well as Baker East/West, easily the worst dorms on campus, the ones people will apologize to you if you say you live there.
Happy to answer any other questions you may have!
When you say “Yes, honors no longer requires you to live in those three dorms anymore, they’re open to everyone now” – does that mean a place like Taylor tower is no longer ONLY Honors and anyone can live there?
My daughter was accepted to Honors back in Feb but when she got her housing contract today there was no mention of being able to preference honors living.
I’m so sorry for the late response, I’ve been really busy with finals. But yes, dorms like Taylor are open to all students now-and were very popular in the second year housing lottery- so any student regardless of program affiliation can live there.
Does anyone know anything about the Norton dorm for the Entrepreneur scholars? Is that on North or South campus? If you don’t live in the Scholars dorm, does being in the Scholars program help foster any community or is it just an extra thing to do?
It’s pretty nice, quiet building overall on north campus near Scott dining hall. Scholars is nice for finding community for first years, but can easily become just something extra to do. I was in the International Affairs Scholars program but chose to leave after our program manager left during my second year.
@ohioansenior2021 My DS got accepted to Engineering Scholars and is assigned Drackett Tower housing. Would love to hear if you have any thoughts on this program and the assigned housing. Do scholars qualify for any additional scholarships? Also, would greatly appreciate if you have any insight on the CSE program. Heard few concerns that the department is underfunded and may have staffing challenges. TIA.