I want to post this because as a senior trying to get into my dream college, I looked for posts like the one im about to write.
First, a little background about myself! I attend high school about two hours away from OSU. My brother is a year ahead and attends OSU also. I always leaned towards Ohio State because of all the great things I’ve heard from my brother and there was also a level of comfort too. I applied with a 28 ACT, 3.65 unweighted GPA, great recs, working since i was 15, and lots of involvement including being the president of a club. In December, after applying early action I learned I was deferred. This was heartbreaking and i also had people i had knew that had also been deferred ranging from 25 all the way to 31. I waited and waited and never got a clear answer from admissions. It has said along the lines of 'After an initial evaluation, your application has been sent to be rereviewd and you will be notified of a decision Mid March. I pretty much obsessed looking at articles, old posts on here, statistics, calling admissions, and realized all i was going to do was drive myself crazy! So mid march rolls around and i had been checking my status religiously, and they changed the decision to the end of march. The end of march rolled around and still no decision. I had emailed my regional rep who could not reply to emails because he was ‘out of the office’. I called admissions so much i think i know their number by heart. I really began to feel like i was being pushed to the side, put on the back burner, and never truly helped considering I had a different every time. On April 1st, i was told i had a wait offer and would know by the end of June. A person i knew also go denied with a 30 ACT and 3.5 which surprised me because he also had a brother who attended.I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and visited Miami university and really started to love it there. Their business school seemed perfect, i found a roomate, paid the 425 dollar fee, and finally had ease of stress…until today. I get a call from a very cheerful person who was now more th an happy to answer my questions after letting me know I had just been accepted to Ohio State. I do get 3 weeks to decide so the May 1st deadline does not matter. I have to admit im so happy to be admitted where I always wanted to go, but i really love Miami also. My main concern is the size of Ohio State and the individual attention you will receive. I posted this for reason 1 being, i want kid who are in my position or who will be in my position to have some hope and a fair warning that you could be put through the ringer when applying. And also, if anyone on here has some advice to me when making one of the hardest decision ive made thus far.
My first piece of advice – do not worry about Miami having a reputation as a “party school.” Almost all colleges have significant party scenes. At schools the size of Miami, and larger, it is very easy to avoid the party scene if you decide to.
There is no doubt that you will get more individual attention at Miami than at OSU. Plus, teaching undergraduate students are the number one focus of the professors there (notice how few graduate students Miami has).
On the other hand, OSU offers almost every major under the sun; which allows you tons of options as you learn what it is that you are most interested in. People who are serious about studying engineering, for example, would typically choose OSU rather than Miami.
Personally, if this were me, I would choose Miami… but with the understanding that, if necessary, I could transfer to OSU if necessary. Transferring is not difficult.
What @NORTCgrad said.
At Ohio State, you’ll get the “name recognition.” At Miami, you’ll get the individualized attention (instruction from actual professors and not grad students, a “campus feel”).
It’s a bit of a trade off. Miami is in a small town; Ohio State has a city. Miami graduates more of its students in 4 years; OSU has a bigger reach. You know how you’ve been treated by each.