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So Many Options

I came to OU because they offered a full-ride scholarship. At first, I was very turned off by the obnoxious football culture and obsessive "Greek life" advocation, but as the semester progressed I came to realize that although these things are important to a huge population at OU, there ARE outlets for other types of people. For example, rather than going to a football game one Friday night, I attended an astounding midnight performance of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" that the theatre program put on. I have also attended olive oil tastings in the college of international studies and a couple meetings of the fencing club. The campus and diversity are huge: you just have to find where you, personally fit in.

National Merit Mania

OU is extremely proud of what I call their "collection" of National Merit finalists. If you manage to get this distinction, as I did, you are GUARANTEED a scholarship that covers tuition, a new laptop, travel for a semester abroad, and a big chunk of room and board/fees/etc. all covered. Other academic scholarships are very good, and mostly based on ACT scores. Of course, athletic scholarships (especially for football) are huge as well. The OHLAP or Oklahoma's Promise scholarships almost entirely cover costs for in-state students with sufficient financial need. OU scholarships are especially cool because we have reciprocal exchange education abroad programs all over the world where the money still applies. I am planning to spend the fall in Arezzo, Italy and I will be paying next to nothing for it.