Freshmen used to small classes and small towns are now adjusting to a different environment - life as a student at the second largest university in the United States.
Some of these students - who four months ago were attending graduation ceremonies with fewer people than they now have in their Biology 101 class - are used to seeing corn fields rather than buckeye necklaces.
Lori Bruns, a freshman from St. Henry, Ohio, graduated in a class of 95 students. Although she thought about attending a smaller university to play softball, she ultimately landed at OSU.
"I wanted to go to a big school, something different from where I grew up at," Bruns said.
Bruns, a resident of Nosker House, said she found dorm life to be an easy transition after being raised in a family with five sisters. Other aspects of the college life took a little time, she said.
"It took me about a month to get used to the busy life. I feel like I am settled in now," she said.
Bruns said her only major dislike is the safety factor. At home she could walk around late at night and never feel scared, but here it is more intimidating to be out late, she said.
Brian Anderson, a freshman in finance from Troy, Ohio, knew all along he wanted to come to OSU and has no regrets about his decision.
"Ohio State has a good business school and I want to do business," Anderson said. "I have a brother who goes here, so I have been here before and seen the city quite a bit."
Anderson said he is finding the walk to classes time consuming and he is not fond of his dorm's location.
"I do not know why they put me on south campus when all my classes are on north campus," Anderson said.
Anderson rooms with a high school friend and said while he wants to meet new people, it is comforting to have someone he knows always in the vicinity.
Andy Matt, a member of the track team from Bellefontaine, Ohio, hopes to major in finance. He spends about four hours a day at track but so far has been able to manage his studies and athletic endeavors without despair.
"Bellefontaine prepared me well for college," Matt said. "We had some pretty good classes there, many of which are comparable to what I have experienced here; it is just that here I have to study more."
Carmen Russell, a freshman in agricultural education, came to OSU from Botkins, Ohio - a town without a traffic light, a graduating class size of 49 and a school so small they did not even have a football team. Russell said she chose OSU because of the programs it offered, as well as its proximity to her hometown.
"The only other agricultural school was Wilmington," Russell said. "I would have had to double major there."
Russell said she misses her family and has battled homesickness but plans on sticking it out and making the most of her time at OSU.
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