Ohio University

OU is a good school. Yes, it has its problems as a party school, and as someone who taught classes as a TA at OU, I can say that many students come to class half asleep because they had been partying all night. Others simply don't care about their studies at all. But this would be an unfair generalization about all students because I have worked with so many bright and ambitious students, students who knew how to balance fun and work. I wish OU students could temper the party emphasis just a bit so that OU could climb in its overall status instead of being the second fiddle party school to Ohio State.

The campus is beautiful, and the options right outside campus are great. There are places to eat (fast foot, sit down) and there are plenty of bars. Some bars attract the Greek-y undergrads, while other places like The Union, Tony's, or The Smiling Skull attract the artsy types, grad students, or those who just don't like to play the meat market game (girls dressed in tiny skirts in the dead of winter, guys puttin on the tightest shirts they can find). There's a Buffalo Wild Wings place, a chain which in most towns has a sports bar feel, but in Athens has a college bar feel. There's also a cute--though pricey--diner, a cheap breakfast place (The Union Cafe), and ethnic options: Indian, Asian, Mexican.

The town gets a bad rap, and I don't know why. Appalachia, though it gets made fun of, is a beautiful area of the country. Athens, which is in the foothills of Appalachia, is breathtakingly gorgeous. There are tree-laden hills that follow along the river that borders campus. In the fall, the trees are a knockout. Athens as a town is simple but earthy. For this reason, hippie types love to stay in Athens well past graduation. The cost of living is low, so if you have a car and wish to live off campus, rent rates are low. There are very few actual apartment complexes, however, so you'll really have to search for a place, which might be a rented room in a house that's been redesigned (for instance, it has its own private entrance) like an apartment. Off-campus housing options near the university are mostly attrocious. Slum lords control many ugly properties and rip off students. I lived about five minutes away from campus, in a wooded area and paid $380 for a nice apartment in a quite surrounding.

Athens has also experienced some changes over the years. More chain restaurants has come, a Wal-mart has arrived, and so has a Staples. Athens no longer feels like the tiny, tiny town with nothing to do outside of campus.Aside from the party atmosphere, I can't think of many negatives. OU is a big school, but not too big like Ohio State. OU is a Division I school, but the sports stink. The football team has had thirty losing seasons over the last thirty-six years. Overall, OU is a great place, and if you can resist the urge to solely party, you can get a fine education in a beautiful environment--and you can have some fun too!