How comparable are Penn State and Ohio State? OSU is in-state for me and therefore about 1/3 the price. OSU is in Columbus which is a bit of a draw-back for me, but I haven’t visited yet (I plan to, I’ve only been to the stadium). How city-y is the campus? I really didn’t want to be in a city, but from looking at some pictures and videos, it seems like it might have a more “isolated” environment from the rest of Columbus.
I visited PSU and really liked the campus, they also have a wider variety of undergraduate bio majors, but OSU has a large variety of graduate bio majors so I don’t see that being a problem either way.
If you could give your opinions of a comparison of the two I would really appreciate it!
OSU with no merit aid can be fully paid for my college savings (my dad is retired and large portions of his pension go into a college fund). PSU would require scholarships or loans, which I know the former is more difficult for out of state. I’m going to apply to PSU and hoping to get into their honors college or get merit aid. Not sure if I want to apply to OSU since I’m not sure if I would like it.
OSU is not right within downtown, like say University of Cincinnati, but it is adjoining the north side and definitely has a large urban campus feel. It is huge and spread out. Yes, there is green space but it has a very city feel…traffic, busy streets, integrated with shopping, restaurants, etc. The cost is important though! Visit and take everything into consideration, and maybe dig more into what you plan to study (and/or go to grad school) to see if one is a better fit. Both are huge and will have lots of resources for STEM. If you are not sure you would like OSU, start looking at some of the smaller Ohio schools so that you can have an affordable in state option, OSU is probably the most urban of them all besides UC!
Apply to both. However Penn State is VERY stingy with merit, so even if you get into Schreyer you may well only get $4,500 in merit scholarships. You can borrow $5,500 for freshman year. Add whatever work savings you have. Will your parents be able and willing to pay about 32K per year for you?
tOSu and PSU are equivalent academically for biology. Both have cool choices. Both have highly selective premed honors programs.
PSu is in a true “college town”, where everything centers around the students. tOSU as you know is in a city (on the edge of the city). Both campuses are large and spread out.
It seems hard to argue that PSu is worth so much more.
If you like PSU, look into UVermont, VirginiaTech, UMass Amherst, Appalachian State, UAlabama, Iowa State.
Some of these may be similar in cost to tOSU with merit and are in a lively college town, not in a city.
@MYOS1634 Thanks for your input. I’m a little confused about the other colleges you suggested. Do they really give out so much more merit aid than PSU?
@Qipsoma I agree with @MYOS1634 assessment of both OSU and PSU. While you may get more merit aid from some of the other schools MYOS1634 mentions (like UVermont or UMass) the cost of attendance (tuition and room/board) is a lot higher ($52,000 at Vermont and $48,000 at UMass) so they likely will still cost you in the mid to high $30,000 range even with good merit. I don’t think any of the other schools he suggests has the prestige comparable to PSU or OSU, with the exception of maybe Virginia Tech. But prestige is subjective and always in the eye of the beholder. PSU was unaffordable for us due to lack of significant merit aid and being out-of-state, so we did not even bother to apply. My son is at OSU now and he is having a great experience academically, socially and extra-activity-wise. OSU is a world class university with so much to offer and I suggest you do not discount it without at least first going to visit the school. If your stats are high enough you should apply for the biomedical science program offered to a select few—25 or 30 undergrads (the medical school runs the program). Their undergraduate neuroscience Program is also very good and you can combine it with biology classes. If you visit and do not like OSU you should visit Miami of Ohio, because that school has a good reputation, it offers affordable in-state tuition for you plus decent merit aid to in-state and out-of-stats and has a very different vibe and it has a good premed Scholars program which you may like.