<p>My daughter thinks she wants to study industrial and systems engineering. </p>
<p>Pros and cons:</p>
<p>OSU
in state tuition
honors program
some scholarships
less than 30 minutes from home (positive and negative)</p>
<p>VT
oos tuition
honors program
no scholarships
five and a half hours from home (positive and negative)
smaller than OSU, but large enough to offer many options</p>
<p>Please give any feedback you have on either school or on similar decisions you or your child had to make.</p>
<p>I think they are fairly comparable schools academically, so the relative financial offers would probably be the kicker for me (but then again, I'm Penniless).</p>
<p>I also wonder about the repercussions of the recent tragedy at VT and how that is going to weigh on the students and staff over the coming years. From having to rebuild the classroom and lab facilities in Norris Hall to the emotional pall that will linger on campus for the next few years. </p>
<p>But VT is a great school, and either VT or OSU would be a fine choice.</p>
<p>Penniless, I agree with everything you said. That's what makes it so hard to decide. </p>
<p>I was unable to go away to school years ago--lived at home and attended OSU but left there because it was too big for me. I didn't have the money to go to a private school, so didn't return until years later. I think that's why I want to make sure my daughter has a great college experience and picks a school that's a good match for her. My friend says either choice would be fine should I should just relax. Easier said than done!</p>
<p>I assure you that, 1) Ohio State is a lot different than when you attended, class sizes are smaller, students get that personal attention that they would expect at a private institution, and 2) Even though she'll only be 30 minutes from home, Ohio State allows you to still feel as if you're in a completely different world. I have tons of friends from Dublin and Hilliard who all but forget they're 10 minutes from their front door.</p>
<p>As far as VT and OSU; if your daughter is seeking a good liberal arts education or planning on going into medicine, OSU is a great fit. Now engineering-wise, VT is a great school (hence the "Tech" part). But all in all, it comes down to what your daughter wants.</p>
<p>But hey, in-state tuition + scholarships, I say Go Bucks!</p>
<p>OSU has reputation for:
Low admission requirements
Top notch sports teams
Huge alumni/fan base for sport teams
Best thugs available to play sports
top-notch in medical and education majors
T.A.'s that teach classes
Top-notch faculty research(time available since they don't teach classes)
Some t.a.'s born in U.S.
Huge "name recognition" factor aids employment search</p>
<p>Of course, not all reputations are accurate. But from a guy that grew up in Central Ohio, and knows first-hand, those are the reputations.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry so much about negative repercussions at VT in wake of last weeks tragedy. If anything, it seems to have made the students, faculty, and alum an even more supportive and cohesive group than before - the amount of school spirit was already exceptional before, but now, wow! I would expect that in light of all the 20/20 hindsight going on, that VT will be one of the, if not THE, safest schools to attend next year (although therre is only so much one can do to safeguard from wackos). </p>
<p>Finances, distance and creature comforts (food, dorms, clubs, sports, etc) can be deciding factors when comparing two great schools that seem to be equal in academic respects. VT's engineering program is an exceptionally strong one though. Good luck.....these decisions are never easy ones. My s chose VT for engineering, but what really swayed his decision was the feeling he got last time he was on campus - that all the kids were just like him: relaxed, friendly, jeans/tshirts casual, hanging out on the drillfield....</p>
<p>Wow, younghoss...when was the last time you were in central Ohio?</p>
<p>Last time I checked, Ohio State's acceptance rate stood at 56%, sound like low admissions requirements? Tell that to all the kids who got 27s on their ACT or were 60th in their class of 200 and are attending regional campuses next year.</p>
<p>TAs actually play a limited role in classes now. I remember having four TAs teach my classes, and those were all recitation courses! (smaller breakdowns of lecture classes taught by professors). </p>
<p>I think it's an understatement to say that your reputations aren't accurate. You're really from Central Ohio?</p>
<p>I think OSU's acceptance rate is more around 75%, and my daughter got in early with a 26 (she since got a 29). Most of the web sites I've checked indicate TAs teaching too much upper-level classes as a major complaint.</p>
<p>"Ohio State received 22,133 applications, up 20 percent from last year. Of those, 12,345 or 56 percent were accepted, a drop from 65 percent last year. After attrition, the college is planning on an incoming class of 6,150, the same as a year ago." </p>
<p>And what was your d's class rank?</p>
<p>Take it from a student at Ohio State, I NEVER had an upper-level class taught by a teaching assistant. Ph.D. instructors, yes, but graduate TAs, no.</p>
<p>I can't find OSU's acceptance rate, but I am guessing it's more in the range of 65%. In 2006 they enrolled about 50% of admitted students - 6162 enrolled x 2 = 12,324 accepted. Out of 19,000 admissions, that's about a 65% acceptance rate. In addition the class profile improves every year. The 2006 freshman class had 44% from the top 10% and 80% in the top 25% of their graduating classes. The 2008 goal is to raise that number to 90% from the top 25%. 24% of entering freshman had ACT of 30 or more and 67% had ACT of 26 or more. The average ACT was around 27. They are definately improving their profile each year and becoming more selective for the Columbus campus.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about the accepted rates in the Dispatch. The USA Today article I looked at online was using figures from 2004. They indicated 16,954 applications to the main campus with 12,822 being accepted, a rate of 75.6%. I'm sure it's gone down from that, but I really don't think it's as low as you indicated. I've seen the figures somewhere else online, but don't remember where.</p>
<p>D was adjusted by OSU to be in the top 20% or whatever it takes to get in Scholars--I don't remember now. She decided to go to Miami University. They gave her a lot more money & she liked it better. To be honest, I think OSU was the frontrunner until she saw the quad dorms.</p>
<p>Keep it coming, guys. It's interesting, but I haven't received one response from the Virginia Tech side of this discussion. I posted this on both OSU and Virginia Tech college forums. Hmmmm . . . .</p>
<p>The link that osufunguy provided sounded pretty authoritative to me. I don't know why you would doubt their acceptance figures. But then again, some people still think there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll in Dallas... :) </p>
<p>OSU has a pretty agressive academic development plan and their improvement over the past 10 years has been steady and significant. There is a lot of stuff on their site about it (trustee minutes, etc.) if you search around. It makes for interesting reading.</p>
<p>Those figures are directly from the admissions office ma'am. If you're going to look at 2004 numbers, you might as well look at 1975 numbers. </p>
<p>However, it's unfortunate that your daughter didn't research any of the other dorms. Only one area of campus has quad dorms (north campus), south campus is made up of two person rooms, west campus has 10 person suites, with four rooms (one of four people, three of two). Lots of variety, but if OSU wasn't the fit, it wasn't the fit.</p>
<p>My son is visiting OSU for the first time today. He likes it very much. There are tons of things to do. He liked the campus. He liked the fitness center. He liked the students. My wife likes OSU too. She said it reminds her a little bit like Michigan. He is going to visit Pitt and Maryland too, but my wife said he would be very happy at OSU. He does want big.
Can't help on VT.</p>
<p>(It looks like OSU admitted 56% of its applicants to me).</p>
<p>Comparing 2006 entering freshman classes at OSU and Miami-Ohio (sorry, this won't format right on this post):</p>
<p>Acceptance rate: OSU - 65% MUO - 78%
Enrollment rate: 50% 31%
In top 10%: 44% 38%
In top 30%: 80% in top 25% 82% in top 30%
ACT 30+ 24% 18%
Act 26+ 67% 60%</p>
<h1>Nat. Merit/Achvmt 115 30</h1>
<p>Scholars enrolled</p>
<p>We looked at both schools. I thought MUO was a lovely campus, it was just too remote, too rural, too small and not diverse enough for what my son was looking for. Academically we were more impressed with OSU, particularly the added offerings through Honors.</p>
<p>i dont know anything about OSU, but virginia tech is amazing. I don't go there but I pretty much spent most of my weekends there last semester and the spirit of the school is so great. People are nice, the food is like #1 out of all colleges in america (you can buy live lobsters...i mean, what other college has that) and the engineering program is great...</p>
<p>I know about the other dorms, but the Scholars have to live together in those dorms, and they're all quads. D didn't want to consider OSU without being in Scholars, because she thought it was too big. Like you said, it just wasn't the right fit.</p>