Ohio State University-Main Campus Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school? Is this stereotype accurate?

David

I WAS NOT AWARE THERE WERE STEREOTYPES, MY COLLEGE IS NOT A HIGH SCHOOL

Madison

The stereotype of Ohio State students is being very intelligent and i believe that stereotype is accurate.

Daniel

The stereotype is that we party hard and study hard. This stereotype is true.

Lindsey

At The Ohio state University the only stereotype I can think to apply to the majority of students would be that we're all Bucks! We bleed scarlet baby! Every single day you meet someone with a different lifestyle ranging from sorority girls to business students to even ukulele or quidditch players. With over 60,000 students in attendance it is virtually impossible to lump everyone into a stereotype, with the exception of the idea that we are all school spirited!

William

If there is a stereotype about OSU students (which, considering how diverse the school is, there may not be), it is that we tend to be "Bros." Perhaps it is because I am this way myself (an ex-high school athlete and a frequent gym-goer/weight lifter) that I consider the general perception of Ohio State students to be that we are frat-boy meat-heads, however I have found that such a large school with such a diverse population allows for its students to be labelled anything from "nerdy engineering kids, to "sweaty gorilla-armed morons" (or, you know, anything in between and probably a little bit nicer).

Jonathan

lol

Kelly

I don't know if there is a common stereotype at OSU. With over 40,000 students its hard to define us. The best way I can describe us is that we are what movies portray college as. There are the frats with the preppy boys and girls, stoners and gamers that never leave their bedrooms. There are definitely jocks. But the one thing I've found interesting is that no one goes to the extreme, everyone has a little quirk. Some people may see it as people being posers but I think its just part of the campus charm.

Adam

At my school, the student body is beyond stereotypes such as these. While you still have natural "cliqueing" of students who share common experiences and even looks sometimes, it's a relatively diverse and homogenous community. There certainly is not a delineation by stereotypes such as jocks and frat kids.

Jonathan

Everyone associates Ohio State with partying. It's true, there are a lot of people out there who are very much into partying, but not everyone is constantly drinking. There are people out there who abstain, too.

La'Sharae

Us students at the Ohio State University are sometimes stereotyped as Jocks, or crazed sport fans. Though, we are known as some of the most energetic fans, we also hold our educations very high.

Zena

Love to party and drink. It is indeed accurate. Upon the of Osama Bin Laden which isn't a reason to party and drink, more than 3000 students gathered, drank, and partied that night!

Lauren

At Ohio State, there really aren't pre-set stereotypes of students. There is an immense combination of types of students on the campus of Ohio State. There is an amazing athletic program for those students wanting to participate in sports. There is also Greek Life available for those who want to make Ohio State a smaller community. But overall, students care about their studies and want to excel in school.

Katie

I believe that Ohio State has a stereotype of only caring about sports (especially football!). I do see how this stereotype exists, because a majority of the attention and coverage goes to the sports teams. There are definitely lots of students who are interested in things other than sports though, and there are over a 1,000 students organizations on campus, so it is really easy to find your niche!

Josh

It is hard to pinpoint an exact stereotype at a school like Ohio State. Many students often comment on the surprising number of international students at the school.

Dori

Ohio State students seem to fall subject to the typical "football school" stereotypes. Whenever I tell people, including people like my friends' parents, that I go to OSU, they invariably smile and make some comment like, "Crazy parties, huh?", followed by a sly wink of Lucille-Bluth proportions. And sure, school spirit runs rampant, the game-day streets are flooded with scarlet and grey, people consume mass quantities of alcohol at crazy frat parties. But here's the thing: at a school this large, there is bound to be a huge variance of student life. On the first really warm day of spring quarter last year, I distinctly remember sitting on the Oval and watching the Renaissance Fair club in full medieval garb dancing a jig, next to a pack of bros playing ultimate frisbee, next to a table of environmentalists peddling fair-trade hemp bracelets. As a pseudo-liberal, artsy English major dweeb, I certainly do not fit the perceived "OSU stereotype," and yet I have always felt completely at home here. Among 50,000 peers, there is no dominant stereotype.

Leslie

I think that people often assume that Buckeyes are crazy (which we can be), but people here are truly remarkable. Considering that this is such a huge university, and students from all backgrounds and walks of life attend here, it is really a friendly campus. People hold the door for you, they help you pick things up if you drop them, they give you their seat on the bus...you get the idea. All people can find a niche to fit into, which is the beautiful thing about this university.

Jerry

There are many different stereotypes of students at Ohio State. We have such a large student population that you can almost participate in conflicting stereotypes if you found two groups you enjoyed. Me, I play roller hockey at Ohio State and have always been an athlete so I have a lot of friends who are jocks. When I first transferred to Ohio State as a junior, I joined a fraternity. So I have fratstar, "bro" friends and jock friends who constantly make fun of each other and make fun of me for belonging to each group. I also have some stoner friends, almost every kid does at college. The best thing about Ohio State is that you are never confined to any one stereotype. If you don't find your calling in one group of friends, there are hundreds of other groups eager to recruit you to join them, whether it be playing sports, joining the Greek community, or reciting Beat poetry on the front lawn with your stoner friends.

Katherine

The biggest stereotype about Ohio State students is that we are rabid, drunken, douche-bag football fans. We call our team "we" and we hassle anyone that dares to wear anything but scarlet and gray on gamedays, especially students from M!ch!g@n. There are plenty of those types around campus, and lots and lots of folks find a new-found love of sports once they become a Buckeye. But Ohio State is simply too big for the entire student body to be sports fans. If you want to join 100,000 of your best friends in the Shoe every Saturday, that's great. If you want to spend the day reading rare books at Kafe Kerouac or trying one of the fabulous brunches along High Street (I recommend Surly Girl Saloon), I guarantee there will be dozens of other students just like you.

Storm

People think of Ohio State as a party school, and I guess that's definitely here if you want it, but, because of the size of OSU, it's able to offer a lot of unique opportunities that smaller universities just can't. We have big name speakers (like President Obama last year) we have internship connections with big businesses, and we host a lot of unique events. OSU can really give you anything you want, you just have to go out and find it because it's all here.

Christina

Being a Big 10 school, people think that the only thing we care about is sports, especially football and basketball. I personally know a lot of people who don't even care about sports and solely came to OSU for the vast educational opportunities. Don't get me wrong though, we Buckeyes show the best school spirit of anyone out there.

Nicole

One of the biggest stereotypes of students at Ohio State is that we are crazy football fans. Most students have alot of pride in our school and in our athletic teams, but we are not as crazy as other people say. Vandalism and arson do not occur after games, contrary to popular belief (it happened once).

E

Obsessed with football.

Andrew

Since The Ohio State University is such a big school and it's located in a big city, the student population is very diverse.

Christina

I don't really pay attention to "outside" stereotypes because anyone who has visited campus knows that it's impossible to group Ohio State students into one category. One of the coolest things about Ohio State is that no matter what your interests are there are other students like you. You don't feel like you need to act or dress a certain way because you can be yourself and people who will respect you for that.

Kate

Because there are so many people at OSU, many feel that students are "just a number". However this is far from the truth! The Ohio State University has so many ways for you to make this large campus a small home. One way of doing so is through the 1000 clubs and organizations. You are bound to find a home in one of them. But even in many classes teachers go out of their way to learn names and make their classes feel small.

Christina

The quintessential Ohio State trait is heart. The students here are hard workers who do not expect anyone to give them anything. As far as the popular "cliques" go: OSU is huge there there is every kind of group or organization. Realistically, fitting in somewhere is going to be a problem you encounter here. You can be who you want to be here, change that idea a few more times and go back to where you started in the first place, and people are cool with that. The size/population of Ohio State gives you a little flexibility in figuring yourself out.

Rachel

Honestly, it's hard to say that there are any specific stereotypes because the campus is so large that you will find any and all. We used to have a reputation for being a party school where anyone could get in, but every year the requirements to be accepted get higher and higher. There are stereotypes for nearly every major, but that's just what they are: stereotypes. You can always find someone who fits it and someone who breaks it, as long as you look hard enough. I suppose one for all students is that you have to like football to go here - not true. Though it certainly helps, and even if you come in not liking it, you may find the atmosphere quite contagious and leave a Buckeye football fan (even if you're not any other kind of football fan).