Quick facts

Buckeye pride! A few Ohio State facts, rankings and points of pride.

About the university

  • Established in 1870

  • First graduating class: 1878

  • Locations:

    • Main campus in Columbus

    • Ohio residents may attend regional campuses in Lima, Mansfield, Marion and Newark, or Ohio State's Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster

  • School mascot: Brutus Buckeye

  • School colors: Scarlet and Gray

Rankings

  • 1st among Ohio publics and No. 17 among all publics (U.S. News and World Report, America's Best Colleges 2024)

  • 6th in industry-sponsored research and No. 11 in research expenditures among all U.S. universities (National Science Foundation)

  • #12 among public universities for innovation, a ranking that identifies universities with leading approaches to curriculum, campus life, technology and facilities (U.S. News & World Report)

  • Top 20 best undergraduate teaching among public universities (U.S. News and World Report)

  • "Best of the Best" Veteran-Friendly Schools (U.S. Veterans Magazine)

  • 7th for online undergraduate programs (U.S. News and World Report)

  • 12th Smartest Public Colleges in America (Business Insider)

  • First Year Experience (FYE), Learning Communities and Undergraduate Research programs named among the nation’s exemplary programs leading to student success (U.S. News and World Report)

Majors + academics

  • A land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant university

  • A top producer of Fulbright students

  • 6th top producer of Peace Corp volunteers

  • 18:1 student-to-faculty ratio

  • More than 12,000 courses

  • 18 colleges and schools

  • More than 200 academic centers and institutes, where research, policy-making, knowledge creation and student engagement happen daily across many disciplines

  • 22 graduate and professional programs in the top 10 (U.S. News and World Report)

  • Nearly 80% of first-year classes have 50 or fewer students

Resume builders

  • 12th for most sought-after graduates (The Wall Street Journal survey of corporate recruiters)

  • 7th in the nation and No. 3 in the Big Ten for number of students studying abroad (Open Doors Report)

  • 350 study abroad programs offered in 70 countries on 6 continents

  • Each year, two graduating seniors are recipients of the President’s Prize, the highest recognition the university bestows on exceptional students committed to social change. Each scholar receives a $50,000 living stipend and $50,000 in startup funding for a project with the potential to make a meaningful impact in the community.

  • 36 career fairs a year

  • Over 600 students from all majors participate annually in Ohio State undergraduate research forums

Life on campus

  • Ohio State is among the schools with the "happiest freshmen" (CBS MoneyWatch)

  • Best of the Best Colleges and Universities for LGBTQ+ students in the United States (Campus Pride)

  • A+ for campus food — the best in the Big Ten (Niche)

  • 3rd Most Amazing Student Union (Best College Reviews)

  • All of Ohio State's campuses have been tobacco free since 2014

Scarlet, gray and green

  • Maintains a STARS gold rating for sustainability (The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System)

  • Consistently at the top of the Big Ten in use of green power (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

  • Named among the top tier of national and international colleges and universities for sustainability (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education)

  • Recognized nationally as a bicycle-friendly campus (League of American Bicyclists)

The Ohio State value

  • Top 20 Best Public College Values; top 25 for in-state (Kiplinger’s Personal Finance)

  • 1st among U.S. flagship universities for efforts to control in-state tuition over the past decade (Chronicle of Higher Education)

  • About half the undergraduate degree recipients who began at Ohio State as freshmen graduated with no debt at all

  • Top 5 for improving both overall graduation rates and the graduation rates of underrepresented minority students (The Education Trust)

  • Over half a million alumni around the globe: your network!

  • Ohio State alumni are far more likely than graduates of their peer groups to strongly agree that the university was the perfect school for them and that they can’t imagine a world without it (Gallup)