Very small but beautiful campus. Friendly city surrounding. Columbus is a short drive away and Polaris Fashion Place is a shorter one. The faculty are practically your friends and the learning environment is easy to adjust to. Highly recommend this school if you can afford it.
Really nice and peaceful area with several places to eat and visit
Lived on campus for a year. Sororities scream or "chant" all night long. Police do nothing. Over the course of a year, I had one good roommate and two awful roomates. One of the roomates had a serious drug problem and her much older boyfriend staying in the room. My RA did nothing but say " just don't let me hear about it". Residence life would not let me switch rooms. I could not get an apartment off campus because I was not 22 yet. On top of all this, the nursing program/department was an unorganized mess. Professors were always on a different page and the online struggle never worked. I transferred and have much happier elsewhere.
A great university with many pretty buildings. They also do a lot for the community of Westerville!
First- good grants and GREAT professors. The business department is great if you choose to put in the effort. Eskew, Levin, Mafi, Day, Ross, and Sikes were all GREAT- they're insightful and know their fields. Dr. Zimmerman (who is sorely missed) had lectures that deserved a cult following. IF you're not trying to engage with your professors, then reconsider why you're coming here- Otterbein definitely has the tools to help you build your portfolio, but you have to go in with the intention to seek all of that out.
Second- the culture is slightly overbearing; at it's worst, it's a tad preachy, but it was never something to get worked up over. It's a bit of a bubble.
Third- by November, judging by student parking availability, it can feel as if 40 to 50 percent of campus goes back to their folks's house, another university, or their significant others by 3 pm every Friday. If you plan on staying, make sure you're in Greek life, play a sport, or have friends from out of state. Otherwise, keep a half-packed suitcase in your car at all times... or better yet, utilize the variety of student organizations most of campus loves to ignore (it will do good for your resume anyway).
Fourth- the food ranges from good, to ok- to just plain repetitive.. The staff is really friendly, but their methods of re-purposing leftovers is hard to ignore by the time your a sophomore.
Overall, there are some great professors here and Westerville is a cool town that's fairly close to a variety of ski resorts, concert halls, metro parks, OSU night life and sports events. If you've got a solid idea of what you want to accomplish, and take a healthy dose of initiative,- then I'd say this place is worth your money.
One last important side not that I cannot stress enough is how helpful the academic and student support centers are. Don't be conceited- check them out immediately if you think you're drifting- the school really does want you to get your money's worth.
Absolutely do not attend this school, avoid at all costs. I attended this school for 1 semester, and not only was I lied to, but they even refused to transfer my credits to another university. If you are looking to have your education take as long as possible while your bank account gets drained, then this is the school for you.
Helpful staff, wonderful learning environment, sweet town. The service department tends to lack, my roommate and I had to wait 1 1/2 months for them to change a light bulb in our dorm and they don't seem to feel it is there job to fix greek life's dishwashers and laundry machines even if the school owns the houses. Same goes for back porches. The environment of the school and the willingness to help from all the other departments make up for it. Professors are actually willing to help (well some) and the general concensus is that they want all of their students to succeed and are more than willing to help you do so. This university will always have a soft spot in my heart and I miss everyone and everything there dearly.
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