Ohio State University-Main Campus

Public · Moderately Selective · OH

Photo: Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationOH · Midwest

SettingUrban

Undergrads45,638

Student:faculty16:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate72.3%

6-yr grad rate87.7%

Drop-out rate5.8%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$13k

Out-of-state tuition$40k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity40.2%

Gender diversity50.5%

International7.6%

Identity—

Overview

Ohio State's main campus in Columbus is one of the largest universities in the country, a Big Ten flagship offering an unusually broad range of academic programs alongside a famously intense athletics and campus-life culture. Its location in Ohio's capital and largest city puts students close to a large, diversified job market and a genuinely urban set of internship options rare among land-grant flagships of its size.

Academics

Strong programs span the Fisher College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (reflecting the university's land-grant roots), and the health professions, anchored by the Wexner Medical Center, one of the largest academic medical complexes in the country. Class sizes vary widely by program and year — large lectures are common early on, with smaller, more specialized courses in upper-level, honors, and scholars coursework. The sheer scale of the university means real depth and choice within almost any major a student picks.

Campus & student life

Buckeye athletics, especially football and the marching band's famous script-Ohio formation, dominate the campus social calendar and identity to a degree matched by few other universities, while hundreds of student organizations give students concrete ways to find a smaller community within the larger whole. The Oval, the central green at the heart of campus, and the Ohio Union anchor day-to-day student life, and the Columbus setting adds off-campus social and internship opportunities beyond campus itself.

Getting in

Admission at this scale is holistic but leans heavily on academic record and course rigor, with intended major meaningfully affecting competitiveness for certain programs, particularly engineering and business, which admit at a different bar than the university overall. Direct-to-major and pre-major admission pathways both exist depending on the college, which is worth understanding before applying rather than after.

After graduation

Engineering, business, and agriculture graduates find strong regional and national placement, aided by extensive employer recruiting relationships and one of the largest, most active alumni networks in the country. Columbus's mix of insurance, finance, and retail corporate headquarters gives business and analytics graduates a deep local job market on top of national recruiting, and the Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital anchor a substantial pipeline for nursing and health-sciences graduates.

Worth knowing

The scale of the university is worth planning for directly — students who want a smaller, more intimate experience should look specifically at the university's Honors and Scholars programs, which carve out smaller living-learning cohorts within the larger student body from day one.

osu.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate60.6%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1310–1480 · ACT 28–32

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Early actionNov 1

Regular decisionJan 15

Verified from the school’s admissions page ↗

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Common App.

Financial aid formsFeb 1

Early Action is non-binding, so admitted students aren't required to commit before regular decision.

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗