Ohio University Admission
Ohio University Undergraduate Program
Ohio University Application

The Facts

Ohio University is a large, public, state school located in the town of Athens, Ohio, and is home to over 16,050 undergraduate students and approximately 3,250 graduate and part-time professional students. The university is divided up into several smaller undergraduate colleges including schools of arts and sciences, business, communications, education, engineering, fine arts, health and human services, and the University College and Honors Tutorial. The university is perhaps best known for its journalism program, which has turned out some of the nation's top journalists and editors. The school offers its students more than 285 undergraduate degrees in a wide range of mostly preprofessional areas; some of the most poular choices include journalism, recreation and sports sciences, human and consumer sciences, biological sciences, and telecommunications.

Admission to Ohio University is not terrifically competitive, however, the applicant pool has been steadily growing with each passing admissions cycle. Last year, over 13,000 students applied for admission to the school and approximately 10,235 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 3,672 of those admitted actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1000 to 1200, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 22 to 26. Additionally, over 51% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.3.

Ohio University has a fairly high student to faculty ratio of 18:1; however, the classes are generally quite small, and it is rare to find a class with more than 22 students. In general, professors get high marks from students in terms of accessibility and willingness to help. Ohio University professors have even been known to give out their home phone numbers and personal email addresses in order to be as accessible as possible. An interesting note; OU runs on a quarter system, which makes for a rigorous academic schedule, as papers and finals are far more frequent.

The Social Scene

The town of Athens is quite small and rural, and doesn’t really offer students much in the way of entertainment; however, there are a few popular bars, cafes, and shops that cater to students and are within walking distance of campus. Additionally, most students own cars, and they’re handy for getting out of the small town and into one of the larger cities in Ohio or beyond. We hear that weekend road trips to Chicago are quite popular.

There are a large amount of fraternities and sororities at the university and they seem to be the predominate force when it comes to on campus social life. Drinking is definitely a popular mode of social interaction, and the weekends are usually filled with rowdy frat parties on Greek row.

The dating scene is what you make of it; if you really look hard enough, you’re bound to find a real gem...

What’s Good

“There is a great sense of community here, and you don’t feel like you’re lost in the crowd.”

“Despite the large size of the school, the classes are pretty small and easy to manage.”

“The housing is pretty good, and you can usually count on it being available.”

What’s Bad

“There is nothing to do in the town besides tip cows. You have to be in charge of creating your own fun.”

“If you don’t have a car, you’re pretty much stuck here, which really sucks. Trust me.”

“The partying can get way too out of hand, and it becomes nearly impossible to get any work done on the weekends.”

Let the Penn Group help you apply to college.

• View our services
• Send a request now
• Read articles about applying to college