The 5 Most Sprawling College Campuses in Ohio are Mindbogglingly Huge

Ohio has fourteen four-year public institutions with twenty-four branch campuses, twenty-three different two-year institutions, and over fifty private four-year colleges. The state of Ohio is popular for being “The Buckeye State” which comes from the Buckeye Tree. Natives compared the nutlike seeds of the trees to a buck’s eye or a deer’s eye. Ohio is 34th in total area size in the United States with an area of 44,825 mi². It’s one of the smallest states west of the Appalachian Mountains. Regardless of its size, Ohio is one of the more populated states. One of those reasons is because of their colleges. Keep reading to learn about Ohio’s most sprawling college campuses.

What Is Ohio’s Largest College?

One of the largest college campuses in Ohio is Ohio State University. Ohio State University’s size is 1,600 acres. That’s over three times the size of Disneyland as Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is 500 acres. The university has a student body of 47,000 undergrads. It’s not surprising because of its large campus. There are different ways for people to get around the large campus.

Many students can walk around the campus and get to plenty of things, but to get from one end of the campus to the other takes about a forty-minute walk. Biking is a popular transportation alternative to get around the area. Campus buses are a very convenient option as they run multiple routes daily. They can get crowded however as the buses can fit up to over fifty people at one time. Another alternative option is the electric scooters on campus. It helps the young students get across the sprawling campus until it gets crowded on the sidewalks.

What To Do At Ohio State University?

OSU has several libraries, dorms, and recreational facilities that students can visit. It’s also home to one of the larger stadiums in the state, the Ohio Stadium. It is where their loved Buckeyes football team plays in front of 100,000 people.

Another notable landmark there is the Thompson Library. It’s one of the largest libraries in the nation. Amongst the campus, there are secret gardens, hidden study spaces, and a twenty-five-acre trail students can walk through to get away from the foot traffic on campus. The campus also has the OSU Wexner Medical Center and the James Cancer Hospital in the center of the campus.

Ohio State University also has 1,400 different student organizations on campus. The Buckeye University provides newcomers and visitors with four different paths to explore the university. The four different paths are if the visitor is an academic explorer, history buff, foodie, or sports enthusiast. Check out the university’s pathway map for more info.

Bowling Green State University

The illustrious Bowling Green State University in Ohio is the third largest Ohio college campus with a 1,338-acre campus. That’s almost three times the size of the 500-acre Disneyland mentioned previously in the Ohio State University example. It is also one of the most sprawling college campuses in the state. Bowling Green State University has a student body of 18,966 undergrad students. The university just welcomed a record-breaking 3,500 new first-time students along with retaining a record high eighty percent retention rate of first-year students returning this academic year.

The Bowling Green State University Campus has the Slater Family Ice Arena. Slater Family Ice Arena has served the university and local populations for fifty-six years. It was recognized as the BGSU Ice Arena until it was renamed Slater Family Ice Arena in 2017 in honor of a transformative gift from Scott Slater and his family that helped with the arena.

BGSU has a campus shuttle that takes many students around campus during the academic year with the exception of the holidays, semester breaks, and spring break. The campus also has charter buses that can be used for events during the weekends, weekdays, and during the summer that can accommodate up to thirty passengers. Bowling Green offers alternative taxi and cab options for their students if they need to get around campus or leave campus. Biking is also an eco-friendly alternative to get around campus and many people use electric scooters to get around the campus. Many students can walk around the campus but getting from one end of the campus to the other can take about thirty to thirty-five minutes.

What To Do At Bowing Green State University

Some things to check out at the BGSU campus are the Cochrane Soccer Field, Clazel Theater, and the Eppler Center. The Doyt L. Perry Stadium is home to the Bowling Green football team. Their stadium can hold up to twenty-four thousand fans.

Kent State University

Kent State University is in Kent, Ohio. The beautiful campus takes up 950 acres of land and has 131 buildings. The video above shows a campus tour of the Kent State University. Some of the locations it’ll take viewers to are the Risman Plaza, the Science Mall, the University Library, some of downtown Kent, the dorms, and the Beverly J. Warren Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

Their illustrious Science Mall received many upgrades in the past seven years. The Science Mall is home to many different art galleries including the “Arrival” exhibit by Sally Rogers. “Arrival” is a stainless steel and granite structure located on the west side of the Integrated Sciences Building. The exhibit celebrates zoology, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. Those studies reflect many concepts of evolution and it’s a sight to behold.

The university provides a campus bus shuttle that drives on three different routes across the 950 acres of land. PARTA, their campus shuttle organization, is open to all students and visitors. The three routes take visitors and students to the Campus Loop, Allerton, and the Stadium/Front Campus. Currently, Kent State University partners with SPIN to provide their students with e-bikes and e-scooters on campus. Just about 100 e-bikes and 100 e-scooters can be found around campus. It’s a fast way for people to get from class to class, to make a long commute shorter, or to run errands more efficiently.

What To Do At Kent State

Kent State University is within walking distance from downtown Kent, Ohio. Fred Fuller Park is a fantastic weekend hang-out spot. The Cuyahoga River is at the park. It makes for a good kayaking spot. Kent State University also has its ice rink arena. The ice rink arena has two ice rinks for students and Kent, Ohio locals to visit. One of the rinks has 1,500 seats that people sit in to watch figure skating or hockey games; the other rink is used for general ice skating. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is near the university in Cleveland, Ohio.

Miami University (Oxford)

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and not Miami, Florida, is a large college campus. The university is a sprawling 2,100 acres and is home to 16,865 undergrad students. It is the most sprawling college campus in Ohio. The university was founded in 1809. It is a picture-esque university, a top fifty national public university, a top twenty undergraduate engineering school, and a top fifty business school in the United States. The university bears the name Miami after the Myaamia people in Miami Valley. Miami University (Ohio) is an original public Ivy school.

There are several transportation methods used to get around the enormous 2,100 acres of Miami University. Since the college campus is very large, many students use bikes to get around. The university provides a Miami Metro Bus service. The Miami Metro sends students to uptown Oxford, several off-campus student housing, and the Hamilton Campus. For certain events, the university offers limo services and shuttles to the Cincinnati airport. They have Empire Transporation that also takes people to Cincinnati and Dayton airports. Not only that, but the university is nearby Amtrak stations outside of Oxford such as Cincinnati and Connersville.

What To Do At The University Of Miami Ohio?

Miami University (Ohio) has many beautiful sights of nature. The university also has a popular art museum and Yager Stadium. Yager Stadium is home to the Miami University Redhawks and has a capacity of 24,286 people. It was built in 1983 and replaced the Miami Field that had been used since 1895. There were stands at Miami Field in 1916. It has several historical landmarks such as the William Holmes McGuffey Museum, Zachariah Price Dewitt Cabin, Elliot and Stoddard Halls, Langstroth Cottage, and the Simpson-Shade Guest House.

University of Toledo

The University of Toledo was founded in 1872. Their student population in Fall 2022 was 11,965 undergrad students. The University of Toledo is an urban campus that sprawls 1,037 acres of land. Nowadays, the University of Toledo is recognized for its works in astronomy, astrophysics, solar energy, water quality studies, and sustainable technologies. The university is at “The Glass City” of Toledo, Ohio. It’s in the most northern part of The Buckeye State just miles away from the Ohio/Michigan border.

The home of the Wolverines allows students to have their own cars on campus. But, the university offers charter buses for students to use. The university also provides charter SUVs and limos for students when three or fewer passengers need to be transported somewhere. University of Toledo’s urban campus makes for a great biking and skating environment. Toledo, Ohio lies along the Maumee River where people can go fishing and kayaking.

Things To Do At The University of Toledo

The University of Toledo has several things to do and visit on campus. The first thing is the Ritter Planetarium on the main campus. Ritter is outfitted with state-of-the-art technology such as a very modern digital projector and 5.1 surround sound to transport visitors through a visual and audio adventure through space. The Ritter Planetarium is open to the public on the weekend and offers services to grade school programs across Ohio. Sticking to science, they have a living periodic table exhibit for people to visit. It shows real-life examples of each element, making it an interactive exhibit.

Two miles from the main campus is the Toledo Museum of Art. The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally famous art museum at the west end of Toledo. It spans forty acres and houses more than thirty thousand objects. It holds a major collection of glass art and different art pieces from the Greek, Roman, Japanese, European, and American art cultures. Toledo’s Museum of Art has a glass pavilion to pay homage to “The Glass City” which the nickname Toledo is recognized for.

Summary

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