<p>At OU, like most of the other schools on that list, you can party your life away, or you can get a good education. I'd also suggest looking at studentsreview for comments on OU. The comments there ring pretty true to my daughter's experience there. </p>
<p>One way to sort out the Ohio state schools is to look at the ACT scores required to enter their honors programs. At OU, it's 30 or 31 depending on the major area, OSU it's 29 (maybe 30 this year?), and I think it's 26 at Kent.</p>
<p>I agree - I think that looking at the Honors program requirements really tells about what sort of students matriculate there and who they attract. </p>
<p>I was also checking out studentsreview.com and was overwhelmingly surprised at the positive feedback -right from the student's mouths. Seeing the percentage of students who would make the same choice again and matriculate to OU is 24/29 which is astoundingly high compared to the other reviews on that particular site. The site also suggests the average SAT or respondents is 1296 (28.4 ACT).</p>
<p>I hear that Halloween at OU is one of the best in the country. It's apparently one of the most historic campuses since it was the first west of the Appalachia - settled in 1804. Lotsa scary tales and hauntings apparently. Quite cool!!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Lotsa scary tales and hauntings apparently. Quite cool!!!
[/quote]
I am sure that the area has many sweet historical areas, but Halloween at OU is about three things: drinking, getting drunk, and boozing it up.</p>
<p>The typical college experience I guess. I think every college essentially has a big day where people go out and have a good time together as a schoool; it can vary from homecoming to Halloween, Slope day to Spring Fling. They are all part of traditions that give college and universities identities.</p>
<p>Who does Ohio Univ. compete with generally for applications/students?</p>
<p>^^^
Mostly schools like Kent State, OSU, BG, Toledo for in state students.</p>
<p>Hello all - someone emailed me and asked that I come back to CC to comment on this discussion. A caveat: my son WILL be attending there (starting next week!), so we don't have any real feedback yet on what we think is good or bad. But that won't stop me from commenting anyway.</p>
<p>My son is a fairly top student (old SAT in the 1500 range, 33 ACT) and got accepted into the Honors Tutorial College at OU. I was extremely happy with his choice of schools and ecstatic that he was accepted into HTC.</p>
<p>Ohio University Pros:
[ol]
[<em>] Nice campus and nice student population size. 16,000 undergrads (or so), making it a school large enough for lots of activities and opportunities, but not one of the overwhelming mega-campuses of the very large state universities
[</em>] Cost. The out of state tuition is still high, but better than a private school (and see next item)
[<em>] Merit aid that you can calculate in advance based on stats. My son got half of his tuition paid in one scholarship and almost half of the remaining half paid in another. And these are renewable for all four years.
[</em>] Very friendly students and satisfied alumni. I was impressed that everyone I've met who's an OU alum LOVED LOVED LOVED the place and never wanted to graduate and leave. And College P-r-o-w-l-e-r rated Ohio students some of the friendliest in the US.
[<em>] HTC. I haven't seen another honors program quite as good as this one, with perks I didn't even know about until orientation. For example, they have an Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships whose entire mission is to help HTC students land prestigeous scholarships. That office is the second most successful office at doing that in the US (Penn State in #1). In addition, the HTC itself has money to award for special projects and senior theses.
[</em>] Rolling admissions!!!! You don't know how great this is until you get accepted in the Fall of your senior year while everyone else is still applying, waiting, and worrying.
[li] Many other great things about the school...[/li][/ol]</p>
<p>OU Cons:
[ol]
[<em>] Not well known outside Ohio, so even though it's ranked in the top 100 universities in USNWR, people are always confusing it with OSU.
[</em>] Not much diversity. Only 7% of the students are from outside Ohio, and I think that URMs are severely underrepresented.
[<em>] It's in the middle of nowhere...
[</em>] It's very, very far from Colorado.
[/ol]</p>
<p>My son applied to HTC and went through a series of steps before he was accepted. First, he was informed that his application was strong enough to be "reviewed." Then, after that, he was informed that he could progress, sending supplemental information including letters of recommendation, an essay on why he wanted to pursue his choice of a major, and a portfolio. I think that one of the major reasons he was accepted was his portfolio. He included some things he did as a ten-year-old, as a freshman in HS, and finally some more recent works. I think that the earlier items - which most people would leave out because of the quality at that age - proved that he had a long history of passion for the subject (and the ten-year-old film was really cute). Finally, after passing that portion, he became a "finalist" and was invited to OU for interviews. </p>
<p>HTC only accepts 60 students a year across 25 majors. And there were 16 finalists being interviewed for each major! </p>
<p>As it turns out, he was a finalist in two (related) majors and got accepted in both.</p>
<p>I think HTC is perfect for a high-achieving student with a passion for a certain subject, but not just high achieving in grades and test scores. I think they want people in these majors that know what they want to do and have the background and temperment to be able to chart an independent path to that major, designing their own curriculum. HTC is definitely NOT for a student undecided on a major or lukewarm about the choice.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think OU is a fine "hidden gem" but I think that the HTC program is truly phenomenal and will give the best opportunities (internships, scholarships, other perks like private dorm rooms, etc) for a student.</p>
<p>My two cents...</p>
<p>Bob</p>
<p>And one more con: it's reputation as a drinking school. Alcohol seems to be the drug of choice on campus.</p>
<p>I think that anyone here is naive to believe that OU is any more a drinking school than any other university out there. I've been to many schools (including ivies etc) in my career and honestly believe that all colleges are drinking schools - has anyone been to Penn State? Maryland? Cornell? Indiana? Texas? Texas A&M? The reality is, college life involves the transition from childhood to adulthood and along with that comes responsibility - which involves exposure to alcohol.</p>
<p>Please don't be naive & think that more selective schools have students that consume less alcohol because that would be false and a poor assumption.</p>
<p>OU is a wonderful institution that deserves a lot of credit for the highly qualified people it accepts, matriculates and graduates.</p>
<p>There are worse choices.</p>
<p>I agree. I was checking information for ACT score reports out online and seems like last year over 3,000 students listed OU as their FIRST choice.</p>
<p>OSU: 8,612
OU: 3,065
Miami: 2,767</p>
<p>Hey Digmedia,</p>
<p>Thanks for the information - that was really helpful. I had no idea the HTC at OU was so selective. Definitely sounds like a ''hidden gem'' school for sure - which is nice.</p>
<p>HTC is extremely competitive, but the perks are certainly incredible. The main thing you get are the "tutorials." One of your major classes each quarter is taught tutorial-style - just you and the professor. You (with guidance) also get to design your curriculum within your major outside of the normal rules of the college. For example, there are no "hours" requirements for graduation, just a completion of YOUR designed curriculum. There are no course prerequisites; if you need a course - even a high level course - and you've got what it takes to do it, then the course is open to you. As an example, the film department only has film production at the graduate level. But as as HTC student, you can get a film production major.</p>
<p>You never have to worry about a course being full. HTC students register before any other students at the school. I already mentioned the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships and it's success. You get some dorm perks. My son is in the HTC dorm (which you of course don't have to be in if you don't want to be, but he already - before going - knows so many of the other HTC students from the interview visit and the orientation visit). He's got a private, air-conditioned corner room and has a refrigerator/microwave AND a computer all supplied by the school. And finally, you have a dedicated staff (HTC has it's own Dean of the College) looking out for the 200+ HTC students.</p>
<p>But you have to work hard to STAY in HTC and live up to all the expectations. For example, a B-minus or less in any course will warrant a talk with the staff, and two B-minuses or less in two consecutive quarters might be grounds for moving you out of HTC. Yikes!! In addition, there are also service hours requirements. HTC students are required to be involved with the surrounding community.</p>
<p>So I thought it was a great place for my son. Rather than being a face in the incoming freshman crowd, he will be a part of a small college that will provide an environment where he can thrive, yet still have all of the opportunites of a large university.</p>
<p>Digmedia, I think that HTC sounds like a great program. I also am so glad that you have brought this option to CC.</p>
<p>My H told me that someone he works with, his son is very interested in HTC. We'll see what happens.</p>
<p>How many applications does HTC receive a year - does anyone know?</p>
<p>The description of the Honors College by Digmedia again highlights the value of a small honors college within a larger university. OU and other colleges like Villanova offer a range of perks including preferred housing, registration, courses, and individual faculty attention that are hard to match. It is important to closely examine a specific honors program to see what is offered as they are not all the same. OU has come a long way as a school and as an honors college since my days in Athens.</p>
<p>What do you think of OU personally? Seems like a gem, no?</p>
<p>OU sounds like a terrific school, and I'm sure that the kids get as good an education as found in other more expensive places. (caughcarnegiemelloncaugh). However, my one question is simple: what is placement like? Is there as big a college fair and big a number of recruiters as that found at other top institutions?</p>
<p>I'm not really sure - I can't find information about their Admissions Counselors online...</p>