Future Students

If you cannot find a particular Ohio State major that suits your academic and career goals, you can speak with an advisor about a Personalized Study Program (PSP). With the approval of a faculty advisor and the Arts and Sciences college office, you can create a special major to focus on your particular goals.

Our undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 15 to 1, although class sizes at Ohio State vary a great deal. While taking introductory-level courses, students are likely to have some large classes. These larger classes are divided into smaller sessions – called recitation sections – that meet at least once a week throughout the term. Overall, 73 percent of our first-year classes have fewer than 50 students. And, as students move into their degree programs, classes more specific to their majors are generally smaller.

Students are generally taught by professors who are scholars in their fields. The university’s full-time faculty, more than 3,000 strong, includes internationally respected teachers and researchers. In addition, teaching associates (TAs) teach many lower-level courses while pursuing their master's or doctoral degrees. Our TAs are exceptional scholars who are passionate about their fields. All TAs whose native language is not English must undergo a rigorous screening process and pass English proficiency tests before they may teach.

First-year students who are commuting to campus may be able to purchase an on-campus parking permit from CampusParc Services. First-year students living on campus are not eligible to bring cars to campus during their first year. If you feel like you have a specific need that would require you to have a car on campus, you may apply for an appeal of this rule by sending a formal request explaining your need to Susan Boiarski-Markle, Assistant Director of Transportation & Traffic Management. For other details on parking eligibility, availability, and pricing, visit CampusParc Services.

While some study abroad programs require junior or senior standing, most programs can be arranged anytime, starting your first year! Study abroad trips can last as little as a week to as long as a year and take place throughout the world. The Office of International Affairs suggests you start planning your trip a year in advance of your departure. For more information about the variety of study abroad trips available at Ohio State, see the Study Abroad website.

Ohio State has its own university police force of highly trained officers to protect students and staff on campus and facilitate a number of programs to keep students safe through the Department of Public Safety. Make note of the locations of the blue light emergency telephones located throughout campus. These can be used during emergencies to call 911 and bring a University Police officer to your aid.

University Police work in conjunction with Student Safety Services, a student organization that provides additional security for campus. One program organized by Student Safety Services is the campus escort service that provides students with safe transportation in the campus area during evening and early morning hours. Call the escort service at (614) 292-3322 to have a trained, uniformed student walk or drive you to and from your destination. Many students program this number into their cell phone for easy accessibility.
While many individuals work to keep campus secure for students and staff, all members of the Ohio State community should use common sense and awareness to help stay safe. Check out these campus safety tips.

Ohio State offers flexible dining plans to meet the diverse schedules of students: Unlimited, Block-O (450 or 600), and Traditional. All meal plans are all valid at Traditions (our all-you-care-to-eat dining facilities), and each plan has options for also dining at over 25 other locations on campus, including coffee cafes, quick-service, fast-casual, and table-service alternatives. Visit University Dining Services for plan descriptions, dining locations, menus, and more. The student's BuckID, the official university ID, serves as the access card for using dining meal plans. It also separately holds a debit card account balance (Unlimited and Block Plans include a deposit to this account) that can be used at any one of the 100+ local merchants that accept BuckID, including dining locations, washers and dryers, bookstores, and vending machines. Additional deposits can be made at any time online, over the phone, or at convenient locations around campus. While BuckID dollars remain until graduation, all meal plans expire at the end of each semester.

Students are required to live in university residence halls if they are unmarried, enrolling as full-time freshmen, and within a year of high school graduation. (The exception to this is students whose families live in central Ohio, who may choose to commute to campus.) On-campus housing may be available for transfer and upper-class students. The university has a wide variety of residence halls located across campus.

A good question, but one that has no single answer. Some students finish in four years of full-time enrollment (two semesters per year) or fewer. Depending upon their majors and whether they enroll full or part time, participate in a co-op or internship, or study abroad, today’s students (at Ohio State and nationwide) often take more than four years to earn their degrees. Statistically speaking, more than 80 percent of Ohio State’s incoming first-year students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years (and nearly 60 percent within four years).