Columbus is not a great city to live in as a student. It's very boring (although I could see myself settling down in UA or something when I'm old) and public transportation isn't that reliable. In the immediate campus area, you have really crappy bars and food (except for Chipotle and Panera), grocery stores are kind of far, and there isn't really a whole lot to do on campus either. The area around the medical school isn't the safest, and there've been a lot of car/house/apartment break-ins in the area (look up the story of the dead homeless guy two kids found in their apartment).
The school itself is great though, and a lot of students who got into the combined undergrad/medical school program (before it was phased out) have chosen to stay on, rather than apply out. I'm just an undergrad though, so I don't know much about the med curriculum and how it works. The hospital facility is amazing though, and the new building will be ready in about a year or so for you to use 😀
Also, I don't know how much this matters to you, but I work at the OSU Medical Center and the nurses and other non-physician staff members have a very poor opinion of how OSU trains their medical students...basically the thought is that OSU teaches its students to get out of a patient's room as fast as possible and go do better things, and to make sure that patients talk as little as possible so that you can get out as fast as you can.
As someone who went to OSU as an undergrad I couldn't disagree more with you on Columbus being a boring city. It's not NYC, Chicago, or LA by any means but it for sure has as much going on as cinci and cleveland... And there is for sure more to do on campus at OSU than almost any other campus I have ever been to, do you just never get out or what?
OUAB is a university organization that puts on tons of stuff for OSU.
http://ouab.osu.edu/browse_event.aspx
We have SNL's Bill Hader coming here. Next month we have Kendrick Lamer and Steve Aoki coming to fundraise for Buckeyethon. Last year we had tons of performers come that OSU gave students deeply discounted tickets to. There are also HUNDREDS of student clubs you are free to join associated with the undergrad campus. Some of my friends have joined the korean american club and indian clubs.
During the summer there are VERY cheap tickets to the columbus clippers games and during the NHL season they almost given away tickets to the columbus blue jackets for free. Many of the medical students go to bar's in the short north which is very close to the medical center and has some of the best food in columbus. It is literally a five minute bus ride (which we have unlimited access to as students) to some of the best bars and food in columbus (sushi rock, Martini, etc, etc...) during the summer there are endless festivals such as the asian festival, jazz and rib fest, gay pride festivals, the state fair is in columbus and very close to campus and so on and so on. Not to mention OSU has some of the best gym facilities in the world (and that is not an exaggeration). There is also intramural going on for something, all the time. I have done soccer twice this year already and there are many other medical students who do two or three intramurals at a time.
Columbus is the biggest city in Ohio and is the cultural hub of the state, it has a much younger population than either cinci or cleveland. Obama visited here TWICE during the election cycle and is speaking for our graduation this spring. What other university in ohio (Or the US?) can say that? Housing is crappy immediately adjacent to the medical center but many medical students live in the much nicer victoria village or the short north.
Also, don't listen to the nurses about how medical students should be trained. I assure you they aren't the best judges of that...
Edit: there is also a kroger on high and king that many medical students go to. It is literally a 2 minute walk from my apartment.
