At a Glance
Ohio State admits 60.6% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
Not reported by this school
receive need-based grant aid
$26,971
average debt at graduation
Ohio State graduates carry an average of $26,971 in debt.
Merit Aid
9,953
students received merit aid
$7,641
average merit award
Getting In
Ohio State admits 60.6% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 24% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 40% of the class submitted
64% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Ohio State University considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
39% of Ohio State classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Ohio State, 39% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
14:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
34%
Men in fraternities
8%
Women in sororities
12%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Ohio State's student body is 59.5% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Ohio State graduates 72.3% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Ohio State graduates 72.3% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Ohio State
72.3%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $30,305*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
88%
Overall 6-yr rate
80%
Pell recipient rate
An 8 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
94%
94% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Columbus.
Columbus is a fast-growing state capital, and Ohio State sits right in it — the Short North arts district, downtown, and the Scioto riverfront are all a short bus ride from campus. High Street runs along the edge of campus with student-priced food and venues the whole length of it. It suits students who want a large campus with a real city wrapped around it; the scale takes a few weeks to learn, but the trade is an enormous range of majors, clubs, and employers within reach.
Notable Alumni
Jesse Owens
Won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and once broke three world records and tied a fourth in 45 minutes as an Ohio State athlete.
Charles Kettering
Invented the electric automobile starter and led research at General Motors for 27 years, holding 186 patents.
Paul Flory
Won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for foundational work on polymers, the science underlying modern plastics.
R. L. Stine
Author of the Goosebumps series, which has sold hundreds of millions of copies, and a former editor of Ohio State's humor magazine.
Katie Smith
Three-time Olympic gold medalist and Basketball Hall of Famer who later coached in the WNBA.
Clark Kellogg
Lead college basketball analyst for CBS Sports and a former Big Ten player of the year at Ohio State.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Columbus, OH
Best For
Traditions
Script Ohio
The Ohio State Marching Band spells out 'Ohio' in cursive across the field in a single flowing formation. A sousaphone player is chosen to run out and dot the 'i,' widely considered one of the greatest honors in college band.
Skull Session
Before every home game, the marching band puts on a full concert in St. John Arena, and the football team walks through on its way to the stadium. It's free, it fills a 13,000-seat arena, and it starts two hours before kickoff.
The Game
The season-ending rivalry with Michigan, played every year since 1918 and often deciding the Big Ten title. Rivalry week includes a campus tradition of crossing out the letter M in writing all over campus.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Columbus
Hocking Hills State Park
1 hourGorges, caves, and waterfalls that make for the closest genuinely scenic hiking to campus.
Cleveland
2 hoursThe Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Lake Erie waterfront, and three professional sports teams.
Cedar Point
2.5 hoursOne of the most roller-coaster-dense amusement parks in the world, on a peninsula in Lake Erie.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
John Glenn Columbus International (CMH)
15 minutes from campus
For international flights: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) — about 3.5 hours by car, or a short connecting flight.
Pro sports nearby
- Columbus Blue Jackets NHL
- Columbus Crew MLS
Career Proximity
Columbus is a headquarters city for insurance, retail, and banking, and Intel's semiconductor investment nearby is drawing more technology employers to the region.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- JPMorgan Chase
- Nationwide
- Cardinal Health
- OhioHealth
- Abercrombie & Fitch
Downtown Columbus — about 10 minutes from campus
Who Thrives Here
Ohio State is a nearly 47,000-undergraduate campus with real strength in business, engineering and health professions, and a 61% admit rate that keeps it genuinely reachable. Football weekends organize the fall — the pre-game band concert alone fills a 13,000-seat arena — but scale cuts both ways: only 39% of classes have fewer than 20 students, so small classrooms are something you seek out rather than something you're handed.