Please help me decide

College Search & Selection
1

Hiya, thanks for clicking on this.

So, i’m a 20 year old nontraditional student. I’ve got two options; Cleveland State University or Ohio State University at Mansfield (not main campus).

I’m having trouble deciding between the two.

OSU @ Mansfield Pros:

  1. Essentially guaranteed transfer to main campus after freshman year.
  2. OSU main campus is where i really wanted to go for undergrad since i'm in-state and they have a solid physics program.

OSU @ Mansfield Cons:

  1. They don't really have any math past Calculus 2, which i'm currently studying on my own and had planned to test out of. So i'd be stuck with no new math for all of freshman year.
  2. My dogs need to come with me. This isn't a problem at Mansfield, but is a problem for main campus. OSU Main campus has a 2 year on campus rule.

CSU Pros:

  1. I'm already in Cleveland.
  2. They have more courses than Mansfield.

CSU Cons:

  1. I kind of wanted to get out of Cleveland.

If i go to CSU, i can always apply to OSU main campus next year as a transfer student, but i’m not sure how competitive it really is. I scored a 32 on the ACT, and that’s about all i got for now, but i assume they don’t look at that for transfer students.

Also, financially these options seem to be about equal to me so far.

I really have no idea what to do, and i have two weeks tops to decide and pay the enrollment fee. Any advice and/or insight would be much appreciated.

2

From the way the OSU Common Data Set is written (section D here: https://oaa.osu.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/irp/cds/columbus/IRP_CDS_2017-2018_Columbus.pdf ) it looks like they’ll use your HS info if you have <2 years of college for a transfer.

I’m very surprised the costs would be the same. tOSU is the most expensive of the Ohio public Us and you would get better scholarships with CSU.

You can always leave Cleveland when you graduate.

3

It says “required of some”. Last i talked to admissions from OSU they said that applies only if you haven’t done more than one semester.