OSU / PSU / Maryland

We were leaning on PSU - but Buckeye bound visit brought OSU to top. We have been to PSU before but not for a tour so this time we are going to the accepted students program. Cost is a non factor. OSU is >2hr flight, PSU and Maryland are 4 hour drives - negligible in my view. Any other major differences other than Maryland football not being as good?

My friend’s son was deferred to OSU (heartbroken) so he put down his deposit for PSU. Finally got in to OSU and just lost his deposit at PSU and enrolled at OSU. He’s now in his 2nd year and loving his Buckeye experience. At the end of the day, which school makes their heart skip a beat? Since you’re not worried about $… go with your gut. They’re both top notch so you can’t go wrong.

Sorry I didn’t even consider Maryland… football Saturdays really are the best. Lol

These were the three schools to which my DD was admitted (she also got admitted off waitlist to Lehigh). We live in PA so PSU is in-state for us. But due to merit at OSU, OSU would have been the cheapest followed by PSU followed by UMD (although she got nice merit at UMD). Older DS is at OSU.

DD didn’t really want to go to PSU - too much like an extension of high school given how many kids from our school go to PSU. And for her OSU was too far so UMD it was. She quite frankly was not happy with any of her choices (because we already decided that if she got into Lehigh with no merit it was off the table). But she LOVES Maryland now.

One thing I didn’t like about PSU was it’s distance from any major city. I do like that OSU and UMD both have proximity to a major city. But honestly you really can’t go wrong with any of these schools. They are very similar in many ways given their size. All have old dorms and new dorms, all have greek life, all have big time sports, all have a “college town” sort of vibe. So unless your student has a specific major for which a program is better at one of these schools than the other I do think they should go with their gut and which school just feels like a better fit.

Maryland has so much better of a reputation than Ohio and Penn in my opinion. There stats are better too. I am surprised you are torn on this. If the major is stem/engineering or business, MD is a no brainer.

  1. Maryland
  2. Ohio
  3. Penn

Also realize there is nothing around Penn State at all. Hours from any major city. The one thing I did like about Ohio was the ipad and textbooks all going on there. That seemed pretty cool.

What major? I agree that if it’s engineering, I would put UMD above OSU and PSU.

UMD is also substantial smaller than both OSU and PSU by approximately15K students. For my daughter, that made a huge difference in feel.

My daughter also found that there were more undergraduate research opportunities at UMD.

She is a Biology major but also likes Math. The research at OSU seems to be highest ranked of the 3 and also in terms of programs and endowment to fund programs, etc. OSU is 4.3B, PSU is 3.9B, but Maryland was ~1B. I had heard the surrounding area by Maryland was a bit shady…any truth to that?

@newsSR1 Wait, Maryland is so much better than OSU and PSU? Not according to the 2019 college rankings.

US News 2019 overall rankings:

56 OSU

59 PSU

63 Maryland

US News 2019 undergraduate business school rankings:

15 OSU

21 PSU

21 Maryland

US News 2019 engineering rankings:

24 Maryland

24 PSU

30 OSU

Honestly your child will be able to get a wonderful education at any of these three institutions. As with anything thought their experience will be what they make of it.

I would suggest that the surrounding area around OSU campus is more shady than that surrounding Maryland - but I have more experience with it at OSU as my son lives off campus. My daughter still lives on campus at Maryland. But OSU is basically in a medium sized city and therefore is subject to everything that comes along with that. Maryland and Penn State are not. Truthfully there is going to be crime both on and off campus at any school. I’m not sure the difference is material enough to sway a decision.

You have some great choices! Congrats to your daughter! My husband and I are UMD graduates. We happen to have a son that graduated from UMD in Mech Eng and our daughter is graduating in May from OSU in Micro Bio and Spanish. Son has a great job and had a good experience at UMD. Research opportunities are everywhere at OSU. It does take your student making connections with professors in order to secure those. My daughter worked in two research labs that helped her secure a postback position at NIH. Our family loves visiting Columbus. We have had so many great weekends at football games, and the bars and restaurants on High Street and the Short North. We are so happy to have been a part of Buckeye Nation for four years. I’m sad it’s over. (Pick OSU)