Info please on Ohio state schools other than OSU?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My daughter is starting to pull together a list of possible schools. She started weeding out schools by sifting them for size, state, and then put them through a few other criteria. Her list still has over 30 schools on it! </p>

<p>We don't have enough info about the general reputation of schools in Ohio to evaluate whether any of them can be dropped from the list or if one school is significantly better than another in any area. </p>

<p>She wants a big school, but not a school as big as OSU. She thinks Miami U looks too preppy/Greek for her. She's interested in nursing right now, but I suspect this will change. She says that she wants a school that is near some shopping, and that isn't proportionately much more female than male. She doesn't care about sports programs. Her GPA is a 3.6 and her sophomore PSAT scores were in the mid-500s. She'll have good recs and already has more than 100 hrs volunteering at a hospital. She has $20,000 per year to spend on college (the price of Pitt or Penn State, her in-state comparison schools), without getting scholarships or loans. </p>

<p>I'd like to narrow down the remaining OH list a little. Anyone with knowledge of Ohio schools - should she drop any of the following? How would you rank them for overall programs and general reputation within the state?</p>

<p>Bowling Green
Kent State
Ohio U
U of Cincinnati
Toledo U
Wright State </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Two of my nieces are in Ohio Schools: One's at University of Cincinnati and the other's at Kent State. I graduated many ... um ... many years ago from BGSU. My niece at Cincinatti found her first semester a bit rocky. She's not a partier .. in fact, far from it, and she said that it was difficult to find folks, especially on the weekends, that weren't into that. Took a lot of looking, but by December she'd found her group, finally gotten housing to get her a different dorm room without a drinker who brought boys home at all hours ... and she's back and happy. She's studying education, hoping to work in an inner city school ... so she likes the urban feel to UC. My other niece is a sophomore at Kent. She's a theater major and has found they have a pretty good theater dept. She loves Kent, enjoys the honors program and honors housing, and is quite happy with a totally non-urban campus. What I remember about BG was that it was a very pretty school ... not too big, not too small, and I loved being within walking distance of a small downtown area with mom and pop diners, bars ... stores. I also loved how close it was in terms of driving to Ann Arbor when we wanted to escape the small town. There was also Toledo close by ... but Ann Arbor vs Toledo? We took Ann Arbor. <g> BG also had a fabulous honors association, and from what I understand they still do. </g></p>

<p>zebes</p>

3

<p>If it were me, I would keep OU, KSU, and UC. Toledo is depressing, BG is like OU only flatter and colder in winter, and I have hardly ever heard of Wright State although I have lived in Cleveland forever. OU is medium-sized, charming and rural. UC is large and urban with great co-op programs. KSU is similar in size to OU but feels less rural because it's only an hour out of Cleveland.</p>

4

<p>I understand that Case Western (Cleveland) has a very good nursing school (I only know this cause my son has dated several of the nursing students) and it is smallish to mediume sized. It is an excellent school overall and has quite good scholarship awards so it might be affordable. It has a larger male than female population as well.</p>

<p>OU is known within the state as a party school and in my opinion is located in the middle of nowhere.</p>

5

<p>Wright State, located just outside of Dayton, has very good programs in engineering (affiliated with Wright-Patterson AFB) and theater arts.</p>

6

<p>Unfortunately, I can't recommend any of those schools. That is the reason my son is looking at colleges in PA. Maybe this is a case of "the grass is always greener..." He did look at OU and liked the campus, but decided it's "party" reputation was just too great.</p>

7

<p>I graduated from Kent's nursing programs (too many years ago to mention) but it has a very good reputation in the state. I really enjoyed my years at Kent and two of my nieces are presently there and are enjoying it too. Kent has a great campus bus service that took you to shopping plazas in Kent and nearby towns. They used to have a shuttle into Akron, but not sure if they do anymore. </p>

<p>I also went to Case and I second that recommendation too. It is a private school but they do have a nursing scholarship program that is definitely worthwhile looking into. Students are admitted to the nursing program as freshman and start clinical experiences freshman year. </p>

<p>I see you live in Penn. Did you look at Pitt's program? Also an excellent nursing program.</p>

8

<p>As a long-time Ohioan...</p>

<p>Case has great nursing. It's social scene can be a little too quiet for some, but it's a nice place. Right in the city of Cleveland, so there's pretty easy transportation/walking to some cool things to do. Also, CWRU has a very highly-regarded medical school, and Cleveland is home to several of the nation's best hospitals. So for a nursing student, this would open up doors to REALLY great internships! </p>

<p>KSU also has good nursing, but it is a big -- HUGE -- party school. There are definitely smart students there, but they seemed to be overwhelmed by people who are mostly there to party! But since there's a whole hour between KSU and Cleveland, its' also middle-of-nowhere. </p>

<p>OU: ditto. Solid school but FULL of partiers! Also in the middle-of-nowhere. </p>

<p>BGSU: really good teaching program. But kind of in the middle-of-nowhere. </p>

<p>Cincy: again, party school. </p>

<p>I can't speak as much to Wright State and Toledo since I don't know people who go there.</p>

<p>I would really urge your daughter to take a second look at Ohio State. I had a lot of friends who were uncertain about it b/c of its size, but when they spent time there they realized that it doesn't feel quite so big. There are a lot of little communities. I have dozens of friends going there right now, and they're all having very good experiences. OSU is rapidly gaining prestige and academic excellence. It is by far and away the best overall academic public school in Ohio. Plus being near OSU's medical school would be great for a nursing student!</p>

9

<p>I actually go to Case Western, and their nursing program, and science programs in general are very well regarded. They also tend to be quite generous with money. However, SAT scores will have to go up a bit for a good chance at admission, and quite alot for any merit-aid.</p>

<p>As other people said, its a small/medium school with around 4000 undergraduates. However, Case also has a very large graduate population. Sports are of very little importance here, and the social scene can be a little quiet sometimes. I still have a great time every weekend though, and I have no trouble finding parties to go to.</p>

10

<p>I love this site! Thank you all. </p>

<p>I don't think she'll be able to get into Case. She's a pretty laid back kid who studies, but who also wants to go to a school where she can have some fun. I keep telling her that there's plenty of time to have fun later in life when you're middle-aged, after you're educated, but she won't listen to me. </p>

<p>(Toledo...your post was very funny. You're right...it's a case of the grass is greener...)</p>

<p>Sounds like we can drop Cincy and Toledo off the list, at least. Cincy might be too urban for her. BG (sounds like she would like the setting if she could walk to some stores), OU (charming sounds good) and Kent sound particularly promising for this kid.</p>

11

<p>Let me give you another view of Cincinnati. My daughter LOVES the school. It has some very strong programs, fabulous school spirit with good sports, great musical opportunities with marching and pep bands, and state of the art new facilities. Check out their workout facilities. They are brand new with the latest of everything. They even have several pools, one of which has a current that you can either swim against for exercise or swim with for fun.</p>

<p>Wireless is also omnipresent.</p>

<p>However, what makes Cincinnati stand out from the other Ohio schools is its coop program. Cincinnati started the whole coop program in this country even before schools like Northeastern and Cal Poly. They have one of the best programs of its kind. These coops are usually paid too. </p>

<p>Cincinnati also has some very well-ranked programs especially in education design, art, architecture and planning, engineering, Music, musical theater, criminology, pharmacy, medicine and law and applied science. Some of these programs are not only tops in Ohio but among the best in the US. </p>

<p>The city of Cincinnati also has a lot to offer that other areas around other Ohio schools . There is a lot more to offer in Cincinnati than in Athens Ohio, for example, or other areas of Ohio.</p>

<p>Finally, Cincinnati offers a LARGE number of scholarships through their Cincinnatus program,which makes the school a real deal.</p>

<p>Trust me: check out Cincinnati. It is a school on the rise, and it will impress you.
I HIGHLY recommend that you tour the school.</p>

<p>By the way, check out the thread found in the University of Cincinati Forum, in the featured discussion, "Overview of University of Cincinnati."</p>

12

<p>Wow, TaxGuy, thanks for taking the time to give us this info. I read your post to D. Even though she had said she didn't want any urban schools she now says she wants to check UC out too. My idea of trying to limit schools for college visits isn't turning out as well as I had hoped...if someone writes something positive about Toledo I'm doomed...</p>

13

<p>I live near BG and Toledo, and neither are really that great in my opinion. BG, though not in the middle of nowhere, is extremely spread out across a large area. It's almost a necessity to have a car if you go there. To my knowledge, there aren't very many stores within walking distance, and Bowling Green itself really doesn't have much to offer. Most of the people that live in the Bowling Green area drive up the road to Perrysburg and Toledo, where there are many more coffee shops and restaurants and the like. Bowling Green is mainly known for its teaching degrees, and its teaching program is quite good. There are many opportunities to get in the classroom during undergrad studies.</p>

<p>Toledo covers a broader base in terms of curriculum. Toledo is good for engineering, though not as good as Cincinnati. Toledo is a fairly large city (300,000 people), so there is a lot to do there. However, with it being so urban, it's a commuter college. Many even drive in from the rural areas every day to go to class and come back home and night. The university area is one of the better areas of the actual city, but Toledo isn't a great town. The violent crime rate is rather high. The suburbs in Toledo are much more desirable, and the suburbs offer a lot of what the city can't. The malls, restaurants, theaters, and discount stores are all quite a distance from the university campus. </p>

<p>Finally, if you're an intellectual, a school like Toledo or BG really isn't ideal. Most of the students at Ohio state schools are preprofessionals, which is great if your daughter is going for nursing, but outside of preprofessional studies the departments don't really have a reputation. It will be no problem for your daughter to keep a high GPA if she wants to apply to grad school.</p>

14

<p>I live two blocks from the main Toledo campus. They recently merged with Medical College of Ohio, but unfortunately that means that the medical campus is about 5 miles south of the main campus. I'm sure they have continuous shuttle buses running. UT is primarily a commuter campus. The kids that go there from our highly competitive high school tend to be the lower ranking students or the ones who's parents want them to stay close. They publish crime statistics in the newspaper each week. There are at least a dozen crimes each week, primarily thefts.</p>

<p>Most kids from our high school go to OSU and Miami, but the reasons you give for not considering those schools are very legitimate. University of Dayton and Indiana University seem to be growing in popularity.</p>