I am new here and have been reading comments since my son has still not heard. My son is OOS with a 29 ACT and a wGPA of 3.75. He a lot of ECs, including leadership, community service and sports. He is applying for Business.
Here is my concern. His application has been completed since mid-October, but I am seeing from the thread (and have now confirmed with others) that everyone’s status is listed as “Evaluation”, but my son’s is (and has been) listed as “Applicant”. When he clicks on “Applicant”, it says, we are processing your application.
Does anyone know why this would be? Again, it says everything is Completed since October and nothing in his “To Do” list.
No. This is a generalization that might hold true in elementary school, but is not relevant in a university setting. And I say this as an Ivy League graduate (Columbia).
@NYCDadof2 I was just offering another reason why colleges like transfer students. First-year students leave college for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is academic ability, but it can also be stress, homesickness, motivation issues, distractions, etc. By letting the first institution take the retention risk of the first-year students, the second institution can cherry pick those that have shown their resilience. I also think your point about protecting reported GPA and ACT/SAT stats is valid too. And the example of a kid with 1150 SAT and 3.0 coming out of high school might be exactly the kind of student that a strong public institution would welcome after they show that they can be successful post-high school. I suspect also that accepting lots of transfer students helps big public institutions to maintain their high % of in-state students which state legislatures like to see (and often require).
Yes I agree that it helps the state institutions fulfill their missions of educating in state kids. I guess what I am trying to convey is that admissions numbers are very much driven by money. A lot of prestige rankings are based on selectivity, and the more prestige an institution has, the more money parents are willing to spend on sending their kids there.
@NYCDadof2 Yes, prestige (based on selectivity, retention, donations from alumni…) leads to more applicants, more money, attracts high profile administrators and faculty, aids in fundraising, and on and on. It’s a rat race that they all subscribe to.
@yrmomkb from the website: Direct Admission Criteria for Autumn 2020:
Only incoming freshman who matriculate at The Ohio State University-Columbus campus in the autumn semester are eligible for direct admission. Students will automatically be offered direct admission if they have:
Composite ACT score of 30 or SAT total score of 1360 or higher is required.
-OR-
Composite ACT score of 26 or SAT total score of 1230 or higher, AND rank in the top 20% of high school class.
Fisher’s Pre-Major Program:
Students who do not qualify for direct admission will be considered for Fisher’s Pre-Major Program. Pre-major students are members of the Fisher community and will work with an assigned business academic counselor to begin their required foundation courses.
After satisfactory completion of business coursework and required minimum GPA, eligible pre-major students will apply to the major program and desired specialization through a competitive application process.
I found a description on the CS department page and it looks like CS only admits as pre-majors – there is no direct admit and you have to apply to the major after completing prereqs. Now I’m trying to figure out how competitive that is. A definite downside to this program compared to others that are direct admit.
@yrmomkb You are referring you the CS major within the dept. of engjneering. All potential engineering majors enter as pre-majors, and some are tracked into specific engineering majors (so they take a slightly different courses than the others). There is a GPA requirement which is different for each (as opposed to it being capacity controlled and culling students that way). I can’t remember where, but the GPAs are on the website somewhere.
agree with direct admit… although my other student accepted at OSU we felt it was just too risky to spend 2 years there risking not getting into nursing. Opted for Xavier direct admit and extremely pleased and happy with our choice! Still love OSU and over the moon that our next one has just been accepted at OSU in major of choice. Good luck w/whatever you decide. Look at Xavier tho…very generous w/scholarships too making it financially compatible!
Someone typed yesterday (12/13)that “admissions advised they would most likely be releasing every Friday now through end of January. “. Fingers crossed that is the case.
@gobuckeyeoc OSU looks at your stats first and decides whether you are good enough for the school in general. If you are admitted to the school, then they send your application to the college (major) you applied for and they can either admit you into your major or put you in the exploratory program. So they do not consider the major when looking at your application at first.
So I just got an email yesterday that I got deferred… here are some stats:
ACT composite: 33
GPA weighted 3.9ish
total of 7 AP classes and a bunch of honors
Community service, leadership positions, extra curriculars (chess, animal shelter) and I worked a ton of jobs for extended periods of time.
I applied to their animal science program. Is there any red flags that would make me a bad candidate for them/reasons why I didn’t get accepted?
@Jeng2001 hi there, and sorry for your predicament. Let’s start with the obvious…what is your unweighted GPA? Your ACT is very strong, but like most colleges, tOSU weights GPA more heavily. Your intended major doesn’t matter for admission into the university, and your ECs look great. My guess is your unweighted GPA is the roadblock.
If so, how is your senior year going? Have you sent in early grades? You should do that for your first semester grades.
I don’t think legacy matters at OSU, so no issue there. I know the animal science program there is super strong, and if you really want OSU, have you thought about a year at one of the satellite schools? I bet one or more of them is actually exceptional at animal science, given the overall mission of OSU.
Hi @cypresspat. I believe my unweighted is a 3.4767?
I should also put it out there that I’m not an Ohio resident. As for senior year, I’ve been maintaining As and Bs in 4 AP classes, the rest honors. Would I send early grades directly to the school, or through common app?