I’m wondering if any OOS students currently attending OSU have experienced negative bias. Recently, while talking to a Dept. Chair about the chance of my OOS student getting into a program, he lectured me on how Ohio is the seventh most populated state in the nation and the U is the premier U in the state; they are under great pressure to educate Ohio students. I was floored because this shouldn’t have been relevant to the discussion, as all kids should have equal access to programs and classes if they’ve been admitted! I was left wondering if OSU is recruiting the “best and brightest” from OOS with scholarships in order to increase their stats but, once there, the interest ends.
My OOS student just started this year and got accepted direct admit to the Fisher College of Business and Honors Program, so i haven’t experienced what you are experiencing. I recommend you go above your son’s Dept Chair and contact the Dean of the specific college. Also, consider contacting the Office of Academic Affairs and ask one of the leadership persons (ie., Vice Provosts) for guidance as to who would be the appropriate person to address your concern and specific situation. Another possibility is to contact one of the persons on the leadership team in the Office of Student Life. You can find these offices and leadership folks on the OSU website. There’s got to be someone or some process (appeal or grievance) that can assure your OOS student is being evaluated fairly in his request to get into a specific program.
Consider making an inquiry directly to President Drake’s office. OSU will not become the premier institution it seeks to be if it discriminates against OOS students.
All indications I have is that OSU is trying to show that more out of state students. Some of these might be very qualified students being attracted with scholarships, others might be full-pay students.
Once they are admitted and join, I cannot imagine any possible bias. I doubt that there is even a way for a faculty member teaching a class to know who is in-state and who is out-of-state. I will be very surprised if there is anything with student life etc.
My daughter is a freshman at OSU. We are from PA and we haven’t had any problems. It’s not like she wears a sign on her back saying that she is from out of state. Maybe they were just preparing you for tough admission process. Not as many kids get in from out of state as in state. It does seem you have to have good grades and ACT scores.
I think what he was trying to convey to you is that because Ohio State is a state funded school, they admit many Ohio residents, as they should. He wanted you to be aware of the stiff competition an OOS student would encounter.
My son already attends, so this isn’t about admissions. OSU actively recruits “the best and brightest” from OOS in order to increase their selectivity. In turn, it’s now harder for in-state students to get into OSU (similar to That School Up North and students in Michigan). But now, OSU is adding additional hoops for current, already-attending students to jump through in order to get into certain popular majors. When discussing my OOS child’s ability to get into one such major, the Chair, out of the blue, brought up the topic of OH’s large population and the pressure on OSU to educate “their own”. This should’ve been completely irrelevant to the discussion. I was too shocked to say anything in the moment but when I had time to process the conversation later, I’d felt very concerned! My child could’ve gone elsewhere but liked OSU and the scholarship was the cherry on top (tipped the scales for dh). It sounds like there is now a backlash within the state for not allowing more OH students in, so maybe they are subtly biasing admissions of current students into programs? I was wondering if anyone else had sensed anti-OOS sentiment from faculty and/or programs.
Mwmom2000: I do not know what program/department you had this interaction with. I can understand you do not want to post this, but may be you can send me a personal message?
I can tell you, from being fairly close to all this – almost all engineering programs have a GPA cutoff. There is absolutely zero difference between in-state and out-of-state students on this. It is really a very transparent process. I know Fischer also works with a GPA cutoff, with no difference between in-state and out-of-state.
Some department chairs might be great researchers, but may not excel in having a conversation with someone who is not in their technical area. May be this is the case here.
I feel that, at least in my experience, their courting of OOS students has made it harder for those in state. The scholarship availability for in state is abysmal. I understand their desire to change, but when D16 can get significantly more merit at any other Ohio school it is hard to find a reason to choose them.