<p>Do any of these schools have a mall, a couple of restaurants, and/or movie theatre within easy reach either by walking, public transit, or school supplied shuttle transportation? List of schools in question: Wooster, Denison, Otterbein, Ohio Wesleyan, Earlham, and Wittenberg</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Um, how to put this gently .... </p>
<p>IMHO, one of the benefits of Ohio private colleges is the focus on what happens on campus. Antioch would be the extreme example, but even Wittenberg (located in the city of Springfield) is a campus-centric. I practically begged my D to apply to Earlham (just across the border in Indiana) but the cultural separation between school and town was just too great for her. </p>
<p>[Disclaimer: This is simply the perspective of one northeasterner who has had the advantage of spending a lot of time in central Ohio where my Mom's family still lives.]</p>
<p>NewHope, thanks. To be more blunt, does this mean that none of these schools have any access to a restaurant or a retail store by foot, public transit, or college transit? Thanks.</p>
<p>You can definitely walk to some restaurants from Otterbein. A nice shopping mall is a "healthy" walk away (maybe a mile??). That's all I can remember from our visit there.</p>
<p>Denison is within a short-but-steep walking distance of the town of Granville, which has restaurants, shops, drugstore, grocery store, banks, and the best frozen custard on the planet (Whit's). </p>
<p>Walking to a town or having public transportation/shuttles was an important consideration for my daughter, who would be on a campus for four years without a car. There's also a weekend shuttle to nearby shopping centers, as well as holiday shuttles to and from the Columbus airport.</p>
<p>flatlander, Thanks. My son will be without a car too. He really does not need much, but he wants access to a bank, drugstore, few restaurants, and a few stores. It sounds like Denison will meet that need. Oh, and the all important airport shuttle for us is critical too!</p>
<p>cincy gal, Thank you too. This is good to know. Otterbein almost came off our list, just because there are so few OOS students, but it offers other things, so we might just visit. I have read some very nice things about this school.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, glad to hear Otterbein is still under consideration. Uptown Westerville has everything a student needs...several coffee shops, a pharmacy, a CVS, an ice cream parlor, bank(s?), and a nice restaurant for when parents visit and pay the bill (yes, experience is speaking here!). Polaris Parkway is reasonably close (several miles) with lots and lots of shopping; my daughter has always been able to catch a ride from a friend when she needs something more than is available in uptown Westerville.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you'd like the perspective of the parent of an OOS-er who attends Otterbein.</p>
<p>Earlham has all of the above.</p>
<p>Thank you mezzomom and mini.</p>
<p>Oberlin is in a small town. Everything is within walking distance. There is a one screen movie theater, several restaurants, a few stores, including a drug store and grocery store, a couple of banking choices, etc. The county runs a regular bus service to take people to the mall in Elyria, about 25 minutes away and has express service several times a day to the Cleveland airport. The cost for the airport trip for Oberlin students is $4.00. Once at the airport, students can get easily get the train to downtown Cleveland if they would like that option as well.</p>
<p>I remember that Wooster has some commercial areas not too far away, also an amish (?) bakery close to campus.</p>
<p>shennie thanks. Oberlin is too much of a reach for us to consider.</p>
<p>anxiousmom, I just cross posted with you. Thanks, if anyone else has more specific info about Wooster or the other schools please post.</p>
<p>You could Google Earth the campus addresses and see what there is around them - commercial areas will show up. I've been to Wooster once but it was so many years ago... It seems to me that there is a commercial area near the campus with the basics of consumer life... The city of Wooster is not tiny.</p>
<p>There is a lot of fast food places one block from Wooster along with the drug store, DrugMart,I believe. And you can buy all necessities there. Couple of banks is approximately 2 blocks north from campus. Old downtown Wooster with more restaurants, banks, coffee place, some stores is easy walk also. North shopping plaza with the usual Wal-Mart, Kohl's, JC Penny, Best Buy etc, and more restaurants - about 2-3 miles away. A lot of kids have cars on campus and usually it's easy to find a ride there.</p>
<p>Ohio Wesleyan has shopping, movies, restaurants, etc. within easy walking distance.</p>
<p>I've PMd this info to one of you, but for what it's worth, Gambier (Kenyon) literally only exists to support the school (800 permanent residents); Granville (Denison) is very accessible, very quaint, but no fast food chains (3000 permanent residents); Delaware (OWU) and Wooster (guess!) are 25,000-30,000 each, with lots of recognizable chains within walking distance. The campuses intersect main thoroughfares of the towns. (FWIW, I think my son found OWU/Delaware the most "normal" of the four.) (Whatever that means.)</p>
<p>I went to Witt - and we did visit for #1 son. There are restaurants within walking distance, but very few chain restaurants. Somewhat crappy mall - can take a bus there. Movies, um no, take a bus there. Honestly - the little Ohio schools - your life revolves around that campus. It is either for you or not. I loved it. My #1 son took one look at it and ran screaming (he is a junior now at UMich).</p>
<p>Isn't Earlham in Indiana rather than Ohio though? Small-town question still valid, but different state, possibly subtle differences in overall culture?</p>
<p>Thank you for the additional feedback. It is very helpful.</p>
<p>Mattmom, Earlham is in IN, but it is only an hour's drive from Wittenberg, which is in Springfield, OH.</p>
<p>northeastmom - sorry about my Oberlin comments. Comes from reading too fast and seeing Oberlin instead of Otterbein! ;)</p>