Columbus AND Athens (or alternate university towns in OH)

[liszt85]

Hi guys,

So I'm already attending school in Columbus, OH. My wife is applying to grad schools now. There are a few things I need to know:

1) What are the good universities at driving distance from Columbus (other than Ohio State University, of course)?

2) If my wife gets into one of these universities (other than OSU again), how feasible would it be to live together and still make this work? Hers being an MS should require her to attend classes and stuff and should not require her to work late hours. Mine being a very demanding PhD program requires me to work late hours and weekends, so we would end up staying in/close to Columbus. So I need suggestions for universities to which she can drive from Columbus to attend classes. So ideally within a 1hr-1.5hr drive. Anything more than that would be difficult..

Has anybody done anything like this and made it work? (I'm sure there are people who've done it.. do let me know your thoughts). Thanks.

All these issues would be solved if she gets into OSU. So fingers crossed that she does..

[woolfie]

Hi guys,

So I'm already attending school in Columbus, OH. My wife is applying to grad schools now. There are a few things I need to know:

1) What are the good universities at driving distance from Columbus (other than Ohio State University, of course)?

2) If my wife gets into one of these universities (other than OSU again), how feasible would it be to live together and still make this work? Hers being an MS should require her to attend classes and stuff and should not require her to work late hours. Mine being a very demanding PhD program requires me to work late hours and weekends, so we would end up staying in/close to Columbus. So I need suggestions for universities to which she can drive from Columbus to attend classes. So ideally within a 1hr-1.5hr drive. Anything more than that would be difficult..

Has anybody done anything like this and made it work? (I'm sure there are people who've done it.. do let me know your thoughts). Thanks.

All these issues would be solved if she gets into OSU. So fingers crossed that she does..

Hey, we're in similar situations here so I thought I'd share my thoughts. I'm currently applying to OSU for English, a program that my boyfriend is already in. It is the only school that I applied to in Ohio. I applied for English so that's a totally different situation than an MS. That being said, I can rattle off some universities that I know little about as far as program info for your wife, but that I know are close. There is Capital University which is in Bexley, I don't know about their graduate program. Case Western, among others, is in Cleveland, I know a couple that are in a situation going to OSU and CW and commute between cities on weekends. Denison University is in Granville, which is even closer and they have a graduate school. It's only about 40 minutes from DT Cbus. I don't know how far Oxford is, it's probably more than 1.5 hrs, but Miami University is there and a good school. OU is good and Athens is a cool college town in the foothills, its about 1.5hrs away. U of Cincinnati is about 1hr 40 min. U of Dayton is 40min.

That's the extent of my knowledge. Sorry if you already know a lot of this, just trying to help!

Edited February 17, 2010 by woolfie

[liszt85]

Hey, we're in similar situations here so I thought I'd share my thoughts. I'm currently applying to OSU for English, a program that my boyfriend is already in. It is the only school that I applied to in Ohio. I applied for English so that's a totally different situation than an MS. That being said, I can rattle off some universities that I know little about as far as program info for your wife, but that I know are close. There is Capital University which is in Bexley, I don't know about their graduate program. Case Western, among others, is in Cleveland, I know a couple that are in a situation going to OSU and CW and commute between cities on weekends. Denison University is in Granville, which is even closer and they have a graduate school. It's only about 40 minutes from DT Cbus. I don't know how far Oxford is, it's probably more than 1.5 hrs, but Miami University is there and a good school. OU is good and Athens is a cool college town in the foothills, its about 1.5hrs away. U of Cincinnati is about 1hr 40 min. U of Dayton is 40min.

That's the extent of my knowledge. Sorry if you already know a lot of this, just trying to help!

Hey, thanks! Was immensely helpful, I didn't know any of this (except for OU and Case Western). My wife will be applying to engineering MS programs, so have to check if these schools have the relevant graduate programs. She's writing the GRE this month and so we were trying to make a list of other universities she could potentially apply to. Traveling weekends wouldn't work for us.. we need to be together (to keep us happy as well as her parents as she's never lived on her own prior to this, so living alone is not an option). Thanks anyway, and good luck with your application!

[woolfie]

Hey, thanks! Was immensely helpful, I didn't know any of this (except for OU and Case Western). My wife will be applying to engineering MS programs, so have to check if these schools have the relevant graduate programs. She's writing the GRE this month and so we were trying to make a list of other universities she could potentially apply to. Traveling weekends wouldn't work for us.. we need to be together (to keep us happy as well as her parents as she's never lived on her own prior to this, so living alone is not an option). Thanks anyway, and good luck with your application!

Well then I would look into Dayton- it's only about 45 min and I think would be possible for a commute. I forgot that Wright State is there, I've known people who went there. Again, don't know much about their programs besides English. There might even be another private school in Dayton that I am forgetting... Also there is Kent State, in Kent. Good luck! Hope she gets into OSU, that would be the easiest. That's what I'm waiting on right now, which is why I've been looking into other schools in the area. None of them really have comparable English programs, besides OU and Miami. We'll see!

[jordy]

I think some of the driving times people have quoted you are inaccurate in that they are much longer, especially with traffic. Anyway, either way she is probably going to have a significant drive in store for her because most of the institutions within a reasonable distance don't have graduate programs (or if they do, it won't be in engineering). Looks like OU or something in Cincy might be her best bets. Has she checked out DeVry's Columbus campus offerings? I hope she gets into OSU!

Here's something that might help your search: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Ohio

[ScreamingHairyArmadillo]

University of Dayton is probably closer to an hour away from OSU. Also, Dayton is a horribly boring place (I'm allowed to say that as it's my hometown), but if you're just looking for driving distance, UD would be a good idea, as would Wright State. And both have engineering programs.

[murpstud]

While I understand the need to stay close, I think you need to realize a 1.5 hour drive one way is a long time every day for two years. The universities in Columbus (aside from OSU), don't offer a lot of Grad programs. UD and Wright St. are about an hour away, but that's without traffic, add in the morning commute on I-70, it would be at least 1.5. OU is at least an hour. Kent and Akron are about two hours away. Do you have to live in Columbus? Because I would suggest that if you want to open up your options to the northeast, move to Mansfield, which would make the commute for both of you within an hour (minus traffic), or perhaps the southwest, live in Dayton, hour away from Cincy and C-bus. Whatever you guys work out, good luck, I know it's tough!

[DeWinter]

Driving from Athens to Columbus might be tedious but doable. While OU is not a superior school, it does have a lot of great individual graduate programs that are well known. OSU is superior in terms of education, transportation and locale. You might want to live in the middle of Athens and Columbus but it might be difficult. Athens is a liberal, progressive, health conscious little town- great for Phds and professionals. Columbus has lots for options of housing.

I also wanted to add that there is actually a construction going on right now, where they're trying to make the route to Columbus from Athens quicker. They're trying to create a road where it goes from Athens to Columbus directly, without passing, Nelsonville, I think on the way. If this happens, it'll be just an hour drive from Athens to Columbus. Some good news!