<p>i have to pick between the three.osu has given me the most merit scholarships so far , and my efc is to high for any financial aid. i know the wheater is great at um-f,but i’m from illinios so that not the deciding factor.i’m vsiting osu this weeekend,and i’ve already seen mizzou.i’m waiting for a possible full tuition from miami, but i won’t find out until mid april.should i wait or go to osu?</p>
<p>Have you visited Miami?</p>
<p>not yet and i was going to wait to see if i got that scholarship first</p>
<p>That's a good idea. I would definitely visit OSU and then if you get the Miami scholarship, I would visit there, too. We visited all of the colleges my daughter applied to (only 6), and none was more than 8 hours away, but I felt it was important to actually see the campus and get the "feel" of it. Just my opinion. How did you like Missouri?</p>
<p>Fancy,</p>
<p>Wait until the deadline. Even if you don't get the Singer, The University scholarship from Miami is pretty substantial, almost 72% of tuition. As an OOS OSU is not a bargain (in-state is high, too) and as a Freshman, you need to factor in such things as T/As and Recitation vs. profs-only teaching classes, Class size (600-700 at OSU vs. 25-75 at Miami) and the weather. It CAN be a factor. Compare walking to your class at UM in 10-15 minutes vs. taking the bus to the other side of the Olentangy after slogging through 20 inches of snow to get to the stop at OSU. You have until May 1 for all three schools, use the time wisely and don't rush the decision.</p>
<p>I don't know where BaghDAD is getting his information. As a current OSU student I can assure you that class size is not anywhere near 600-700. I've never been in a class with more than 50 people, and the majority of the classes I've taken are in the 15-30 range. Classes like Intro to Psych or Chem 101 might have in the 100's range, but definitely not 700.</p>
<p>You can also walk to your class at 10-15 minutes at OSU, or less, I assure you.</p>
<p>I'm not saying you shouldn't go to Miami-Florida, I'm just saying that BaghDAD seems pretty biased and uniformed because almost all of what he said about OSU just isn't true. I will give him the fact that there is snow in Ohio. </p>
<p>(I mean, the sentence "take the bus to the other side of the Olentangy" doesn't make any sense if you've ever seen or set foot on OSU's campus. The Olentangy runs along the west end of campus, but I can't think of a situation where you would need to take a bus to the other side unless you're an aviation or agriculture major who is kind of lazy.)</p>
<p>ANYWAY! My main advice was going to me to remember to factor traveling times/plane tickets and whatnot into your final decision.</p>
<p>Kelsey,</p>
<p>Gee, I guess the OSU Freshmen I asked must be exaggerating or just can't make good "crowd estimates" in their large lecture halls. Maybe in a very large class it looks like 600 to an 18 year old. Fine, I will add you to my survey group. Care to talk about T/As and Recitation? I have students who have told me about that to.</p>
<p>Hey, you can save OSU money by eliminating unnecessary bus service! Obviously, only lazy people use CABS: CABS</a> - The Ohio State University Campus Area Bus Service Miami, as small as it is has a shuttle bus system too, so I guess they are all lazy down there. </p>
<p>Hmmm...A student may have to cross the Olentangy for an indoor soccer game at the Adventure Rec Center...or report a stolen book bag with the police. No sense there, right? Or Heaven forbid, you ARE an Ag major. OSU's Ag school is one of the tops in the country. This must mean I am BIASED against other Ag programs for sure. No, it means I can objectively see OSU has devoted the necessary resources and institutional will to make their Ag program one of the best. If Fancy wants to study Agriculture, then forget Miami and go to OSU. </p>
<p>See, it should be what Fancy wants. But Fancy asked a question about waiting before deciding to go to OSU. Sort of like your new QB Terrell Pryor. Weighing all the options and not rushing could save someone from making a mistake. Asking for others opinions is having an open mind. Maybe OSU was your dream, Kelsey. From what it sounds like, you like it there. Great. Just don't think others are biased when they offer a different point of view based on their own "on the ground assessment. I am trying in my first post to see where I said, "Don't go to OSU" as you imply. Biased for what I have seen and heard? No, I call it my perspective.</p>
<p>Oh, Chicago to Miami might be cheaper than Chicago to Columbus. Yeah, you can drive, but there might be the snow problem you mentioned...trust me, I have driven in it.</p>
<p>i did'nt mean to start an arguement. i think they are both great schools,and i know it's not easy getting into either one of them.my visit this weekend will determine my decision on osu. two kids from my nieghborhood attend um and one loves it ,and the other one got homesick.our family travels to florida all the time and, will go there again this summer. both you guys have brought great issues about both schools out in the open.there is nothing wrong with being proud of your school. that's what makes a great country.thanks for your input.</p>
<p>fancy dancer, good luck with your decision. There are a lot of factors to consider and it's not always an easy decision. My daughter didn't decide until the deadline. She finally made a chart and assigned certain point values to all of the different categories. She ended up choosing OSU. I didn't want her to go there, but it has been a great choice for her so far.</p>
<p>BaghDAD, it sounds like you know a lot about Miami and it's great to have your perspective on that. Did you attend OSU? Have a child that attended OSU? Have you ever visited OSU? Just wondering.</p>
<p>It takes my daughter 10-15 minutes to walk to her farthest away classes. Most are shorter than that because she lives on North campus, close to most of the classes she needs for engineering. </p>
<p>Yes, this is the midwest and we have snow, but the twenty inches BagDAD talked about was on the weekend and it was a record breaking snowfall, not a normal thing. My daughter did say that many of the sidewalks were hard to maneuver because they weren't cleared. (I would definitely vote for the weather in Miami.) </p>
<p>She has had some large lecture classes, but nothing out of the ordinary for a university. She had a calculus class that had 20 students. It was taught by a professor all five days of the week--no TA for that class. She has mentioned, however, that having a TA is really not a bad thing because sometimes the TA can explain things in a better or different way than the prof can. </p>
<p>She has a wonderful advisor and has received personal attention that is surprising at such a large school. I highly recommend the honors program. </p>
<p>I wish you the best. Get all the information you can and then make the decision that is right for you!</p>
<p>BaghDAD,</p>
<p>I, too, think someone should get the entire picture before deciding. I never said otherwise. I in no way think anyone who criticizes OSU is biased. However, I did believe you were biased because you were listing many untrue things about OSU that painted it in a bad light - such as implying that most classes have 700 people in them. Now I understand that you were just getting your information from a source that was misinformed.</p>
<p>You also misunderstood me about the buses. I wasn't implying that everyone who uses a bus is lazy, just that the only people who would absolutely need to rely on buses to get to class (besides those who have a disability) must wake up a few minutes before class begins. I was simply stating that it's unnecessary to use a bus to get to your classes, as you can easily walk to any of them. This was to refute your implication that at OSU you need to take a bus.</p>
<p>Just of curiosity, where do you obtain most of the information about OSU? How many times have you been here?</p>
<p>So I thought to fair I'd check out the OSU course caps, since I'm a humanities student (where the classes are generally really small). I thought some of the most popular majors like Psych or Biology might have a ton of people in their early classes.</p>
<p>The largest psych lectures I could find (the earlier ones) had a cap of 120 people. Sophomore level classes had a cap of 25-40-80 people. There were several honors courses, which always have a cap of 25... but I don't know if you're honors or not. I actually was able to find one very large, if short, lecture for Biology 101, that had a cap of 600 people - but I should note that it was attached to a 3-hour lab with a cap of 27 people.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, I checked out the Miami listings for similar classes and found the intro bio had around 230 people. The similar psych lectures had 150. I get the impression that overall, both schools have similar class size. (Oh - to anwser your question, BaghDAD, I've only had a TA in my math recitation class that meets Tuesday/Thursday whereas my math class meets MWF. I like him, he's really helpful. :) All by other courses have been taught my professors.)</p>
<p>ANYWAY, I'm sorry for hijacking your thread, fancy dancer - I just wanted to make sure you were getting the complete picture, though it's too bad there isn't someone who knows a lot about Missouri here. I would absolutely visit all the schools once you get the scholarship information. That really helped me narrow my choices down - you might be surprised how the decision seems much easier once you've checked them all out.</p>
<p>Wow, Baghdad, I have NEVER heard of classes that large at OSU--all of the ones I am familiar with are between 15 and 25 students, but I know of one that had 50. I'm sure that there may be some large introductory lecture classes somewhere, with smaller discussion sections. The OSU bus system costs nine dollars a quarter and gives free access to buses throughout Columbus--students use it to go to the airport, malls, concerts, museums and jobs--they really don't use it much on campus because it only takes 10-15 minutes to walk accross it. If you are in the Honors College you can pre-enroll in very small classes with the very best profs. I don't know much about Miami except that it would be a very long drive from Illinois!</p>
<p>I'm a sophomore at OSU, and my largest class has been a history lecture with 80 students (taught by a professor). None of my other classes has had more than 25 students, and at least four have had less than 10! </p>
<p>As far as actual statistics, the average freshman (non-honors) at OSU has 7 percent of his/her classes with 101+ students, 20 percent of his/her classes with 40+ students, and 73 percent of his/her classes with less than 40 students. These numbers go down every year as the student gets further into his/her major.</p>
<p>Sportsmama,</p>
<p>10+ times at or by OSU. When I say on the ground, it means on the ground. Obviously, I didnt attend OSU, but get my information from talking to students and grads. I have worked with or know over 15 grads of OSU. I have a child who applied to OSU and was accepted, with an honor invite. They chose to go elsewhere. Im glad some of the students can make it across campus in 15 minutes, I must be slow, I couldnt make it from South Campus Gateway to Value City Arena in 15 minutes. Maybe the RPAC (a great facility) keeps you in shape with the indoor track.</p>
<p>Good to hear about the class sizes, though I guess there was one with 600, so maybe the person I talked to wasnt exaggerating. A 230 class at Miami? Seems possible, although the largest I have heard is about 100 (taught by a prof). Again, its anecdotal from all our perspectives. To provide a complement to ambidextrous figures, UMs class figures are 50% of all courses have 16 or fewer students, 75% of all courses have 25 or fewer students.</p>
<p>I agree with you Sportsmama, Fancy needs to Get all the information you can and then make the decision that is right for you! As Fancy inferred, its a great country when there are a lot of great choices.</p>
<p>I too would like to hear about Mizzou, I have never been there.</p>
<p>I actually attend both schools: Ohio State for undergrad for a year and Miami for law school. Thus, I can give you some good insight.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don't think you can go wrong at either school academcially. However, they have a very, very different feel.</p>
<p>Both have very strong school spirit with top notch sports teams. However, Ohio State is a HUGE facility. You won't get any warm fuzzies with close student teacher interaction and small classes like you would get at Miami. I had an intro biology class at Ohio State that was so large that we had to watch the professor lecture on televisions! We never got to actually see or meet the professor in person. There were a lot of other classes like this too.</p>
<p>Moreover, they had a high number of TAs teaching classes and NOT professors. Since Ohio State doesn't get the same quality of grad student that a Harvard or Berkeley would get, many of these grad students weren't that top notch.</p>
<p>Miami gives you a much more intimate feel with smaller classes. In addition, Miami's weather is unbeatable.</p>
<p>I think a lot will depend on cost for you and whether you would thrive in a large, impersonal school. If you need more nurturing, take Maimi hands down. If you don't, and Ohio State is MUCH cheaper, take OSU. If the cost is about the same, give or take a few thousand dollars a year, take Miami.</p>
<p>I spent a year at OSU. Admittedly this was 35 years ago,but I remember taking an intro biology course where we didn't even see the professor. The class was so large that the lectures were given via closed circuit TV. In economics we had TAs. Maybe things have changed,but OSU didn't give a lot of warm furries as far as the intro classes are concerned.</p>
<p>I would hope that OSU is not the same school it was 35 years ago!</p>
<p>As you can tell from looking at rankings, OSU has improved quite a lot in the last 35 years, and I don't think the experience you would have had in the 70's is relevant to that you would have today.</p>
<p>
[quote]
However, Ohio State is a HUGE facility. You won't get any warm fuzzies with close student teacher interaction and small classes like you would get at Miami.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would disagree with that. In the classes I have taken this year (I'm a first year), two have had 10-15 students, four have had 20-25, and three have had 40-50. The 40-50 are all low level intro or elective classes, and yet I was still able to know one of the professors of those classes well enough that he has written me several very nice recommendations and I feel comfortable discussing future plans and seeking advice from him. The majority of my classes have had fewer students than those in my high school (which averaged around 20-30, as many high schools do.) </p>
<p>I would agree that you will tend to have fewer students in your classes as Miami-Florida, but I think there's a benefit to having a lot of students and thus a lot of classes and major options to explore. My main point here is not to criticize M-F, since I won't pretend to be qualified to discuss a school I don't currently attend or know very much about, but rather to make sure people aren't getting the wrong facts about OSU.</p>
<p>We get it taxguy. You "spent a year" at Ohio State in the 1970's. For anyone familiar with what Ohio State was going through at the time, that translates into you were accepted into Ohio State only because of state mandated open admissions and promptly flunked out of Ohio State during your freshmen year--as did 25% of the freshmen class in those days.</p>
<p>You're bitter about it and continually feel a need to badmouth Ohio State on these forums because of your failure there three decades ago. Time to give it a rest and move on!</p>
<p>Taxguy probably simply transfered to another school, but the fact remains that the experiences of a person who spent a year at a university in the 1970's (especially one that was facing some terrible state mandates at the time) are very different from those a student can expect today.</p>