OSU Music Major

Though it's hard to stereotype an undergraduate student body of 30,000+ students, I get the impression that many view OSU students as belligerent, alcoholic meat-head types who screw as many pearl-wearing, East Coast wannabes as they possibly can. These activities, of course, occur more often during football season after said douche bags have each guzzled an entire keg full of Natural Light beer and set fire to at least one dumpster, car or mattress. These people tend to be communications, psychology, and history majors. They spell "hott" with two t's, frequent lame bars on school nights and take few enough classes that they have hours each day to tan and play frisbee on the Oval during spring quarter.

In some cases, they are. I am not bitter - I wish it weren't true because I am always having to defend my "lowly Ohio public school" (which, in fact, is not actually lowly at all) to my elitist former high school classmates attending Ivy League schools. I'd like to think that most at my school don't meet the stereotypes above, though it's hard to remember that when I'm standing in line next to two girls who are appear to be holding a "Who can say 'like' more times in one sentence" contest or when I'm trying to ignore the guy at the bar loudly trumpeting his latest sexual conquest (which, at best, is likely exaggerated and at worst completely made up).

In reality, tens of thousands of the "rest of us" exist on this campus. Hacky-sack playing, pot-smoking, radical hippies with dreadlocks can be found taking the same GECs as anime-loving, WOW-playing nerds; eccentric "art kids" fairly peacefully coexist with their preppy, over-privileged business major peers who are shoe-ins for Daddy's company when they graduate.

In fact, every single damn brochure you ever get from OSU uses the word "diversity" enough times that the word sounds funny, accompanying pictures of black, white, Asian, Hispanic, disabled, gay, and Appalachian people laughing together on a sunny day or skipping through the daisies holding hands.

In short, stereotypes don't really work unless you're receiving a minority scholarship.

Everyone complains about how OSU is "too big/impersonal" and how Columbus "sucks", but this usually comes from people who are too lazy to seek out and access resources for themselves. If there is anything I have learned about both OSU and Columbus, it's that you can pretty much find something, someone or somewhere to suit whatever needs you have - whether it's personal, academic or professional. Now I sound like I'm writing a brochure, but seriously...this is a place that should not be underestimated.

That said, one limitation of the size is how horribly bureaucratic this place is. While most students can get their needs met, sometimes they have to be pretty aggressive about making anything happen. Here's how it often works: You need something. You look up online the office that deals with whatever issue you have. You go to that building. They tell you to go elsewhere. You go to the other place, and the person at the desk looks at you like you're from outer space when you explain why you're there. You're told to call someone. You call, and you're put on hold. After you're taken off hold, you get a recording and menu. You finally talk to a person, who tells you to call someone else. Finally, the last person you call directs you to his/her boss (who can deal with your problem), but not without admonishing you to "always look on the website first" to see whom to call before bothering them.

I've grown to feel at home at OSU, though so much attention goes to science, research and SPORTS that being a double major in music and English can feel a little alienating. The lack of funding and attention from the community toward the College Arts really pisses me off, especially now that I've seen what amazing talent we have here. However, that's what happens when you're at a public university instead of a liberal arts school; though we are every bit as good as Capital University on the other side of town, people assume we aren't and therefore don't really pay attention. I'm in an organization that is working on that money issue, and hopefully one day we will be well-funded and the stigma will go away.

Now that I'm off my soap box, though, one great thing about classes is that there are so many. Sometimes I feel we have to take too many GECs (seriously, statistics and plant biology for a B.A. in music?), though the variety of classes offered makes certain requirements more bearable. You can also take lots of "fun classes" - every dance style is offered, for example, as a course for credit (read: easy A). I feel like professors in most fields try to get to know their students as much as they can, and like any other school there are good ones as well as bad. The ones who are not so great usually are unapproachable because they subscribe to the school's emphasis on research and focus on their careers (like publishing for "important" scholarly journals), or they are just plain bad teachers. The others however, are down to earth and usually have a sense of humor. Because of the size of the university, there are lots of GTAs who teach introductory courses, though my experience with graduate students has often been as good (or even better than) my experiences with professors.

I mostly covered these issues in the section about stereotypes; there are so many different types people that everybody is forced to live with and tolerate one another. In that way we are not as sheltered as students from, say, small Bible colleges or expensive East-Coast schools where everyone's parents make six figures a year. I don't want to make it sound like everyone is totally accepting all the time or that there aren't problems, though; we still have our comfort zones. People of the similar political affiliations, religions, and races still form cliques together. Frat boys still shout homophobic slurs at gay couples walking by. Kids who are living off scholarships and student loans still grudgingly serve coffee to their carefree peers who get their rent and bills paid by their wealthy parents. Still, I have a suspicion that, despite such differences, most alumni will smile and strike up conversations with other alumni in OSU sweatshirts they encounter later in life. I know I probably will.

Yes, we drink a lot. Can you do stuff on and off campus if you don't drink? Yes, you can. Is there a guarantee that you won't be forced to dodge broken glass and pools of vomit on the sidewalks when you walk places? Nope.