<p>I decided to attend Ohio State instead of Alabama because my family wished for me to remain closeby, even though I would have preferred Alabama. During my OSU orientation, I felt out of place and I couldn't see myself enjoying being a student there. Is there any way I can still attend Alabama starting in Fall 2014 with all of my scholarships or am I just being a melodramatic crybaby?</p>
<p>This sort of second guessing occurs every year. You will be fine going to Ohio State, acclimate and ‘find your people’. You will definitely enjoy your time there, almost all students are pretty happy their second year with their choice after varying degrees of adjustment–some are happy pretty quickly. Almost everyone is happy by jr and sr year when you are in your dept and almost all alumni are happy with their chose no matter what it was. People are flexible, you are flexible–give yourself credit.</p>
<p>But. if you feel very sure (Ohio State has a bit better ranking than Alabama fwiw, of course fit is important) talk it over with your family. You can call Alabama and there is a decent chance they will reinstate you, I think, because I think applications are still open. Not positive, you might post in the Alabama forum, or PM @mom2collegekids)</p>
<p>I find it hard to imagine that there is a huge difference between two such large state universities, unless one is a Southerner very strongly drawn to a Southern school. But since you evidently are not a Southerner, what do imagine would make Alabama so much more comfortable?</p>
<p>I think that you are perhaps attributing your nervousness and unease about a new environment to some difference in the schools that isn’t there. I think you need to take a positive attitude, engage in your classes and is other activities, and you will soon find you feet.</p>
<p>I agree with lots of second guessing in life.
Its called buyers remorse.
Ive had it with my marriage and buying a house, and I know my kids had it with their colleges.
But Ive been married 33yrs, lived in our house for 31 & both my kids stuck it out in their schools and were eventually very happy with their decision.</p>
<p>I wouldnt make a decision based on how you felt at orientation.</p>
<p>ditto above- don’t let the people you met at orientation determine your comfort. Who knows- you may have had the same feelings at Alabama’s orientation. Time to move forward, never look back.</p>
<p>The latter. Unless you are driven to be some Southern frat or sorority type I see nothing to make me think UA would be better except weather.</p>
<p>OP- take a deep breath. You will be fine and you will most certainly make friends and find your people. Not the first day and maybe not the first semester, but trust me, it will be no different at Alabama. It will take time but you will really and truly fit in once you get your bearings.</p>
<p>Ohio State and Alabama are really very similar schools, just in different locations. They are both huge, with a huge sports culture, strong greek systems, and a lot going on for students who aren’t involved in the greek system. They are both so large that they are sure to have any activity/subject/club you are interested in. </p>
<p>I agree, stick with Ohio State and you will be fine. The schools are very similar. There are so many students that you are bound to meet people you like. Get involved with clubs and activities you care about and you will meet people who will be good matches. Many people get nervous, regretful about now. But it is time to embrace your choice and move ahead with a positive attitude. </p>
<p>Contact Mary Spiegel at Bama and see if you can still enroll with your awards. She is the Exec. Director of Admissions and is the one with the power to say yes or no.</p>
<p><a href=“mailto:mary.spiegel@ua.edu”>mary.spiegel@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>be very polite when you ask. She is a very nice lady.</p>
<p>I know someone who made a switch after four days. In the spring she had had a hard time choosing between two LACs. She finally chose one, moved into the dorm in late August, and four days later decided she’d rather attend the other LAC. She called the second LAC, and they had a spot for her. Turned out, she didn’t miss anything at her “new” LAC because it is on the trimester system and hadn’t even started yet.</p>
<p>I am sure this person I know would have been happy eventually at the first LAC. And I am sure you can be happy where you are or at Alabama. Whatever you do, you have to embrace the decision.</p>
<p>I will preface this by saying I am not an Ohio State fan-probably my upbringing in Michigan! It sounds like you made the decision based on what your family wanted. If you feel that strongly about it talk to your parents, contact the school and visit down there. Fit really is important. My D is 800 miles away and when we went she just knew she fit. The problem with being close to home as well - if you already don’t feel the fit - is that you will come home too often and not give it a chance. I have seen this with a couple kids this past year one has transfered and the other just comes home every weekend. If you do decide to stay at Ohio State give it a fair shot. Check out all the different things the campus has to offer and you will eventually find your niche if you give it a chance. </p>
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<p>Have you visited either of these schools? I’ve never visited Ohio State, but my son and I both felt a huge difference between Penn State and Alabama. The size and layout of the campuses and their respective student bodies, the male:female ratio, the climate, and the terrain–all these things will affect how one reacts to any given school. And if they matter for a LAC or an elite private university, then they matter for a big state university, too, IMHO.</p>
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<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/ohio-state-university-columbus-6883”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/ohio-state-university-columbus-6883</a></p>
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<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-alabama-1051”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-alabama-1051</a></p>
<p>The male:female ratios are quite different too: OSU: 53%M/47%F; UA: 46%M/54%F. </p>
<p>OP, if it’s not too late to accept the scholarships at UA and it isn’t going to cost your family more than attending OSU (I’m assuming you’re an OH resident), then talk to your folks. While I’m sure you can “find your people” at Ohio State, if you’d really rather attend UA, see if you can make that happen. </p>
<p>You had a bad orientation. If you really want Alabama, give it a shot, but there’s no way in the world that someone who’d love Alabama couldn’t enjoy being a student at Ohio State. If a rah-rah school spirit kid isn’t having fun at Ohio State, you’re doing it wrong.</p>
<p>@Hanna </p>
<p>Not everyone who selects a large flagship is doing so for the “rah-rah school spirit.” Where did the OP mention that or the priority on “having fun”? </p>
<p>Would you say the same thing to a kid who had her heart set on Vanderbilt but went with Harvard to please the family? Or someone who fell in love with Davidson but chose Bowdoin because no one from his high school had ever heard of the former? Climate and local culture are just irrelevant, I suppose? And did Ohio State offer a comparable honors program?</p>
<p>State flagships are no more all alike than Ivies or SLACS are. I’m not saying that the OP can’t be happy at OSU, but some of these responses seem rather dismissive and a wee patronizing.</p>
<p>Call the admissions office of both universities. Call Alabama first to see if it’s possible to attend under the original aid they awarded you and, if it is, then talk to OSU about withdrawing your admission and what that might entail. The worst that can happen is that they say no.</p>
<p>The good news is that OSU works really hard to give you the knowledge to make the university yours, and make the university small. If you do end up having to go there for at least a year. Give it an honest shot, join an organization or two that matter to you, and try to let go the notion that you should be somewhere else for a little while. Worst case you feel the same after the first year and transfer out elsewhere (if that’s possible for you). Best case you discover you made the right choice after all.</p>
<p>It boggles my mind that people are saying there probably isn’t much difference between the two schools. Of course there are differences and sometimes, just like with buying a house, it just doesn’t feel right and no amount of pointing out the benefits will change that. My daughter is in love with OSU and had to be dragged away from orientation (we stayed on campus for hours after all the official stuff was done, just because she wanted to hang out longer) but that’s the only school we looked at that she felt that way about. I don’t know what sort of situation we’d be in right now if she hadn’t gotten into OSU.</p>
<p>“State flagships are no more all alike than Ivies or SLACS are”</p>
<p>Eh, I don’t really agree with that, because if you have a community of 1000 people, there is often a really distinctive cultural flavor. Washington & Lee is nothing at all like Vassar. If you have 20,000 or more people, there are always a ton of different sub-cultures. But more importantly, we’re not talking about any two state flagships, we’re talking about THESE two, which really do have a lot in common. I have visited both campuses recently, Ohio State less than two months ago. They both have beautiful campuses, plenty going on in town, recently constructed dorms, tons of spirit, a diverse student population in terms of geography, ethnicity, and politics, a big Greek system, excellent honors programs, etc. etc.</p>
<p>There are people who are wrong for a big, sports-obsessed flagship with a ton of diverse academic programs and a cross-section of students, but if you’re in love with one, there’s no way that you CANNOT ENJOY being a student at another quite similar one, which is the OP’s claim. I think the OP is being silly, and my tone reflects that. I’d be pretty dismissive if someone who loved Harvard claimed that she could not enjoy being a student at Emory. If the OP had said, “I worry I won’t love OSU the way I would love Alabama,” or even “I am totally miserable in cold weather,” I’d take a different tone, because that’s not a short-sighted, adolescent overstatement like the post I was responding to.</p>
<p>Wait, what? What exactly was the “short-sighted adolescent overstatement” you were responding to? The OP acknowledged that she might sound like a “melodramatic crybaby,” but she made her choice because of parental pressure. </p>
<p>As I said, I think OSU will likely work out, but I really still don’t get the dismissive tone coming from some of these posts. Why is it “silly” to want to go to your first-choice school?</p>
<p>Dont just call alabama and ask…the folks answering the phone wont likely have the power to reinstate your award. Contact Mary Spiegel. Give a short and sweet appeal to your desire. be polite.</p>
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And I think you’re being unreasonably judgmental.</p>
<p>These forums are filled with students (and parents) making exactly these kinds of decisions: Is Princeton better than Harvard? Is Williams better than Amherst? And so on and so on. If it were as simple as attending any college where one was admitted, CC probably wouldn’t exist. The OP visited both these schools and felt more at home at Bama . . . why not give her gut reaction the credit it’s due? Yes, she’d probably do just fine at OSU, but if she prefers Bama and was admitted there, why shouldn’t she go there, if she can get her parents (and Mary Spiegel in UA Admissions) to agree?</p>