Hi all, my son has been accepted at OU and offered a very generous merit scholarship to attend the undergraduate business college there. He is very interested in analytics/finance and sports, and loves the state of Ohio. (My husband’s family is in northeastern Ohio near Youngstown, and I grew up partially in Shaker Heights)
We live in the Philadelphia suburbs now. I went to Georgetown, my husband went to Carnegie Mellon then Columbia University for his masters. We value education a LOT, have paid nauseatingly for it (just paid off hubby’s final student loans to go to Columbia MBA) but we do not have a huge amount of disposable cash to be funding an expensive undergraduate education for our son (oldest of 3, including our severely disabled daughter who will need lifetime care and funding).
At any rate, our son got into 15 of the 16 universities he applied too, all of which are ranked more highly on USNWR than OU. (He also liked Miami and Ohio State, but they are sooooo expensive without a lot of merit aid, which he did not receive.) I know that ratings aren’t everything, but I am wondering how you would characterize the student body of OU. I’m assuming that the people on these threads are ambitious and thoughtful. What has been your experience? Does OU graduate students who go one to marquee/prestige jobs in business? Also, he doesn’t drink or party, but is not a “nerd”. He is very laid back, loves sports, pranks and playing video games… Thanks to any who respond!
I’ll make a few comments as our D16 is considering the 3 Ohio schools mentioned and OU as of now is her preferred school. OU has a pretty laid back environment. The students seem friendly, not pretentious. It has kind of an artsy, foodie, more of a liberal arts feel to it. It has always been fairly easy to get questions answered by the professors and staff at OU. It is considered a party school but ironically, though it has fraternities and sororities, only about 10% of the students belong to them. The sports culture is pretty laid back as well. There teams do well and are supported by the students on campus, however, life does not revolve around sports like it would say at OSU. You can actually attend the football games while at OSU that can be a challenge and expensive. I wish I could tell you more about the College of Business. My D is in Dance and Health Sciences so I’ve never had the need to consider it.
OSU is big. The Fisher College of business is well known and a challenge to get directly admitted to. Ohio State has become much more selective than it was say 20-30 years ago and the same goes with their financial aid. As far as the sports culture goes I really don’t think I need to say much.
Miami may have a similar look to OU but feels much different. I’m not sure quite how to say it but it feels more (in my day we would say) “preppy” and maybe conservative. The students are about on par with OSU, the business school is well known locally and to a degree nationally. The atmosphere is less laid back than at OU and fraternity and sorority life is more acutely felt (I believe over 30% are greek). Miami also has a party atmosphere though I think it surrounds greek life to a greater degree than OU. Of the 3 Miami has had the least to cheer about lately when it comes to its major sports teams.
Good luck to your son in his choices. For our D OU really does offer the most of what she is looking for.
Thank you SO MUCH for your very comprehensive response. Everything you’ve said makes it seem like a good fit for him, and everybody who goes there seems to have loved it. I think I need to get to campus and see it myself, reach out locally to people who may have gone there. It seems like such a huge decision, and he’s my first so I have a lot of agita about the whole decision process and how this is going to play out for the rest of his life. More my problem than his, lol… Thank you for your input, it’s very helpful!
OU was a financial safety for us as well. We visited many schools, none of which did much to get my son excited about going there. But when we “landed” on the OU campus, I could tell from my son’s body language that he had found his home. What really clinched it though, was when we visited the building his department would be in. We were in the lobby trying to figure out where to go when a faculty member walked in and asked us if we needed help. He ended up giving us a comprehensive tour of the place and even invited us to lunch! VERY friendly. When we left later that day, my son was totally hooked.
Ohio University seems to have a lot of youtube videos concerning nearly every aspect of their university. Here is one I found concerning the business program. I hope it helps.
Yes, he got great merit at Temple, but we live 16 miles from there, he wants to go away, and he hates cities (thus he rejected Pitt too)…
So setting-wise, OU would fit the bill more. After 4 years of paying sticker price at Miami U. or OSU, the total price difference would be $80k or nearly double that of OU. That just seems like an excessive difference to pony up for an undergraduate school. We know that grad school is on the horizon, and $80k could go along way towards funding that (he would be paying at that point) I just don’t want to see him saddled with terrible debt that limits his post-graduate freedom…
Thank you so much for this information. I’ve forwarded all of your comments to my son, who is just really on edge about making a choice. He’s made a whole spreadsheet of pros and cons of all the schools, is planning to see the interactive University Tour and see the youtube videos. He claimed he could make his decision based on those factors (he’s quite pragmatic), but I will insist that he visit campus for one of the admitted student events in early April. I thought the big deal would be getting all the applications in and managing the logistics of that, but ironically this phase seems to be inducing more agita on my side. PS Small world for CMU!!
That is what I have heard…I just want there to be SMART kids there…not burnouts or hard-core nerds. I was on the Facebook Class of 2020 page, and the kids posting there sounded soooooooooo stupid. But I also think that teens publicly act stupid or vapid. From the videos I’ve seen, and the articulateness, of the student parents here, I figure there HAS to be a whole cadre of smart, ambitious students.
And if one is always getting wasted or stoned, then smarts and a work ethic go down the tubes… But I know what you mean. Although people tell me “partying is everywhere but the big faith-based schools”. Thank you for writing in!
My son was in the Honors Tutorial College at OU. Lots of smart, driven kids there. If your son does go to OU, make sure he chooses one of the honors dorms.
My D was admitted to OU (although it is her second choice right now) and she’s really smart.
I’m assuming some other smart kids will be there with your son, seriously!
OU has a reputation for giving nice merit scholarships (one reason my D applied) AND it’s a great campus and town in a nice, beautiful, rural area.
I’m sure many high-achieving students who need merit aid are applying, and attending there. So your son will surely have plenty of his peers there.
What @lvvcsf said about the differences between OU and Miami are spot on, I think, from my observations and research, anyway.
Athens, Ohio reminds me of a rural, midwestern version of Berkeley CA, if that helps.
My own humble opinion is, that Miami has a slightly better academic rep than Ohio (key word is “slightly”) - and based on that, I’d be hesitant to pay full OOS price for Miami when Ohio offered me money. We’re not talking about the difference between Oberlin or Case Western and Ohio, here…
As for tOSU - if it’s anything like other huge state universities, you’ll also have a good mix of all different academic stats across the board. Just like at Ohio AND Miami.
Fwiw, I’ve met some students with great stats who really don’t come across as all that “bright”; and I’ve met students with low test scores and middling grades who are very intellectual… And you’re going to get some of that everywhere…
Young people are more than their grades and test scores. I’d go with the campus vibe your son likes best, as well as affordability.
I am going to go into all out shameless brag mode. OU is our Ds 1st choice. She was accepted to Miami, Purdue and tOSU and into the Honors Programs and with good scholarships for each of them. So long as the financial aid is competitive (she has received her FA package from Purdue OOS all ready and it will be affordable) OU is where she will attend. She had a 4.5 GPA, 9 APs etc. and a 33 ACT and was 30/687 in her class. Ok bragging over. The point is there will be many smart, talented students at OU. While we were on the campus tour the tour guide we had had been accepted to Princeton. She never explained why she was attending OU but the point is she had the ability to attend Princeton. Your son will be in the top quartile of the student body at OU but that is still over 4000 students. Good luck in your decision.
I am so impressed by your kids. My son is not that impressive at all–nowhere NEAR @lvvcsf !! But he is a nice kid, is insightful and kind, and he’s had some very good working experiences at headline type places, plus he has an interesting story and reasonable stats…
Hoping any of you may have some input, and this is not necessarily just an OU or tOSU or Miami question:
To what extent does a “party” vibe spread across an entire campus?
Why is the transfer rate after freshman year so high at OU? (20%)
Are there really plenty of sports-loving people at these “party” schools who don’t party?
Basically, my son is a bright, sports-loving, video-game-playing, athletic, fun-loving person who finds “partying” type situations uncomfortable. After we moved midway through his high school years, he came out and told me that the reason he doesn’t go out on the weekends is because he does not like the party situations in his new high school–he thinks people start acting like fools and he just feels very viscerally uncomfortable and makes some excuse to leave. He is nice-looking, funny, and people like him, but he is very leery of the whole party situation in college, especially because most of his top choice schools are reputed to be party schools. He articulated the problem: one can have great ‘friends’ in school who share your interests (sports, video games, fantasy football, pranks, in this case), but those people also tend to be the out-of-control partiers outside of school. He said he doesn’t want to have to split “school friends” and true friends in college like he did in high school, and I don’t know what to say…
There have GOT to be other kids like him who are into fun, silly guy stuff but who are not partiers–but also not social misfits! Are these people going to be so hard to find?
That’s one of the questions my D has, she’s also not a “partier” or even interested.
I’ll say couple of things -
We visited ten schools, and Ohio was only one of two, that my D even wanted to apply to. She really loved the campus and town, and the people she met on campus. She liked the vibe of the school - laid-back, open-minded, friendly and nurturing - and felt like she would fit in easily.
I went to a school - a Big Ten school - that had a big rep for partying. Believe me, it is easy enough to avoid at a school over a certain size. Now, I think if you went to a small LAC where partying was prevalent, it may not be so easy to avoid, but once you get over 10k students - there is not going to be one prevailing type. Or even if there is, there are going to be so many more different types of people, and there will be something for everyone.
All that being said, though, I’ve never attended Ohio or lived in Athens, so I just don’t know.
digmedia may be able to speak more to this, as his son attended.
@JessicaO Thanks., I was mostly trying to point out that good students are everywhere. Based on one of your previous posts you have a son whose accomplishments he can be proud of. I would have given my right arm to have his stats when I was his age!
As far as the transfer rate I can only speculate. I suspect that compared to other non flagships it would be similar. In Ohio I am guessing the transfer rate would be similar if not lower than at all state schools with the exception of Miami, OSU and maybe U of Cincinnati. Miami is different from most state schools in that while not a flagship it really positions itself as a public/private hybrid. Other schools that come to mind which would be similar are U of Pittsburgh and William and Mary. They have one branch campus if I’m correct that offers degrees the main campus does not (ie nursing) but are very undergraduate focused.
OU is different from most of the other non flagships in Ohio (we really don’t have directionals) in that it is rural (many Ohio publics are near or within defined urban areas), it’s Ohio’s first public university, and I’m not sure how else to put this but it has a personality. If he does decide to attend OU SW Ohio in the Hocking Hills region has a lot (as in hundreds) of cabins in the area with hot tubs. It is a worthwhile difference from a hotel.
Thank you for posting that study. It confirms much of what I would have predicted but hadn’t gone out to look for. It looks as if those students who are “undecided” whether in the university college or within their major are most likely to leave the school.
