The Ohio State University
Health Sciences Scholars Program
Welcome to the unofficial website for current students in the HSS Program. We are currently working with OSU media services to get this information added to the official OSU Scholars website at:
http://www.afa.adm.ohio-state.edu/honors_scholars/healthsciences.htm
We hope that you will find this site useful in the meantime.
· Other Helpful Health Sciences Links
The Ohio State Scholars Programs
The Ohio State Scholars Programs were created in 1999 by the 12th President of the University, William E. Kirwan. These programs were created because there was a need to better recruit and serve the students who were very academically talented, but did not quite meet the standards of the Ohio State Honors Program. We found that while OSU was very successful in recruiting and serving Honors students, the students in the range below them often chose to attend other universities and colleges who’s honors criteria are less stringent.
The Ohio State Honors Program is one broad program that admits about 1,500 of the 5,800 incoming freshman each year. The Honors Program is open to students of any major who have an ACT score of 29 and higher and who are in the top ten percent of their high school class. Once students enroll at the university, they are transferred to the Honors Program of their particular college. The Honors Program is a curricular program and will change the courses that a student takes at OSU.
Unlike the Honors Program, the Scholars Programs are nine specialized programs. Each is limited to enrolling 100 new freshmen each year. Some Scholars Programs are open to students of any major (Communication Technology Scholars, Health Sciences Scholars, Humanities Scholars, International Affairs Scholars, the Mount Leadership Society, and the Tomorrow’s Teacher’s Scholars) and others are limited to students in particular majors (Architecture Scholars Program, Arts Scholars Program, and the Biological Sciences Scholars Program). While the Scholars Programs offer some special Scholars classes or clustered courses, they are not curricular programs, they are mainly co-curricular programs.
Scholars Programs typically admit students who have an ACT score of 25-28 and who are in the top twenty percent of their high school class. In addition to meeting these requirements, students are judged on the quality of their essay and their perceived fit with the program that they apply to.
The main benefit of being in a Scholars Program is that students come to a large university, but are part of a small, personal program. Scholars students who reside on campus live with other students in their program in a particular residence hall. They also have a few clustered courses with those students and share co-curricular programming related to the interest area of their Scholars Program. Scholars students have a full-time Program Coordinator who leads and plans events for their group. This person helps to connect the Scholars students to related staff and faculty on campus and to various campus resources.
What is the Health Science Scholars Program?
The Health Sciences Scholars (HSS) Program is an interdisciplinary Scholars Program offered by the Honors and Scholars Center and is open to students of any major who have an interest in a career in the Health Sciences. It is inclusive of all areas of the health sciences including allied medicine [athletic training, health sciences (geriatrics/gerontology, health management, and health and wellness), health information management and systems, medical dietetics, circulation, medical and radiologic technology, occupational, physical, and, respiratory therapy], dental hygiene, dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, speech and hearing science, veterinary medicine, and many other health care fields.
The Health Sciences Scholars Program is one of nine existing Scholars Programs. It began in the Fall of 2000 to fulfill the need to better serve students studying in the Health Sciences. In its inaugural year, 211 students were part of the program. Last fall, the class of 2001 was 153 members strong. This year (2002) we have a class of 100. After the first year of the program, it was decided to limit the number of students to a more manageable number. We have decided to limit all Scholars Programs to 100 new freshmen each year. The Health Sciences Scholars Program receives many more applications than can be accepted, thus, the HSS Program is very selective.
The HSS Program is mainly co-curricular in nature and supports what students are doing in the classroom through programs geared towards academic success, career and major exploration, social activities, service-learning, and the creation of a small community on a large campus. The HSS Program offers services such as peer mentoring, a student leadership council, career peer advising, and opportunities for volunteering, employment, and research in the health sciences.
· Allow highly motivated students the opportunity to be part of a smaller, interest-focused community at The Ohio State University.
· Offer the chance to study, learn, volunteer, work, do research, and have fun with other first-year students who are interested in similar academic areas and who share similar career goals.
What are the Benefits of the HSS Program?
One of the main benefits of being a part of one of The Ohio State University Scholars Programs is that you belong to a small community at a large university. Each year Ohio State admits a freshmen class of 5,800 new students. Of those, about 1,500 are Honors students and about 700 are Scholars students. Each Scholars Program is limited to 100 students each year. Some programs, such as HSS have 100 students while others are as small as 40 students.
Because each Scholars Program has a living-learning component, a sense of community is built quickly within each of these groups. Each Scholars Program has a residence hall that it is housed in. HSS has resided in Morrill Tower for the first three years of its existence. In future years, the program will move to Scott Hall on North Campus to join the other Scholars Programs.
In addition to being a part of a small community, other benefits include special co-curricular programming, a peer mentoring program for all incoming freshman, a career peer advising program to assist you with career development, a student leadership council for student leadership within the HSS Program, yearly trips to cities within the United States, local trips to Columbus attractions, close interaction with university staff and faculty, and the support of your Scholars Program Coordinator among many others.
Scholars students also partake in Honors and Scholars activities offered by the Kuhn Honors and Scholars Center and programs that involve all nine Scholars Programs together.
Some other benefits of Scholars include college priority scheduling (that means that Scholars students schedule at the top of their Rank) and special clustered sections of certain university courses.
What are Your Obligations to the HSS Program?
To remain a part of the HSS Program, you must meet certain criteria. These include a grade point minimum, your course of study, and most importantly, your active involvement in the program. Your class (2002) is the first class to be held to a grade point standard higher than the OSU minimum of 2.00 for good academic standing.
This was decided by the staff at the Kuhn Honors and Scholars House for two reasons. First of all, Honors students are held to an academic standard. This varies by college, but is typically around a 3.20. Secondly, since we rely heavily on academic standards for admission to the Scholars Programs, we felt that students should also have to maintain some standards while at OSU.
The three criteria upon which you will be judged during your first two years in the Scholars Program include:
Grades: At the end of your freshman year, you must have earned a cumulative point hour ratio (CPHR) of at least a 2.50. At the end of your sophomore year, you must have a CPHR of at least a 2.80. While these standards may seem much lower than you are accustomed to achieving, you’d be surprised how many HSS students will not meet these numbers. In fact, if we had used these standards in the first two years of the HSS program, I would have had to dismiss 36 freshmen from the 2000 cohort, 21 freshmen from the 2001 cohort, and 39 sophomores from the 2000 cohort. As a student in the Health Sciences, especially those pursuing graduate/professional level programs, you need to strive to achieve at least a B+ (3.33) average to be considered a competitive candidate. The HSS Program Coordinator will send quarterly notices to students who are in or near academic difficulty. Please keep close contact with your coordinator and academic advisor for help with academics.
Academic Program: If you change your major or career path and no longer plan to pursue a program in the Health Sciences, it doesn’t make sense to be a part of the HSS Program. As you decide on other programs, please inform the program coordinator. Your Program Coordinator is happy to help you to explore other majors and careers, even if these interests are no longer in the realm of health care. The Program Coordinator will occasionally check to make sure you are pursuing an HSS curriculum.
Involvement: Active participation is crucial to the success of a program such as HSS. HSS students must attend a minimum of three programs per quarter in order to remain in the program. A quarterly schedule will be available outlining all HSS sponsored events for that quarter. In addition, weekly e-mails regarding HSS events, All-Scholars events, Honors/Scholars events, and other campus activities will be sent via the HSS list serves. HSS programs may include, but are not limited to:
q Social programming
q Career exploration programs
q Academic success programs
q HSS Student Leadership involvement
q Group service programs
q HSS field trips (local and outside of the Columbus area)
q HSS dinners
q Helping with HSS recruitment events
q Acting as an HSS peer mentor or career peer advisor
q Any program offered to Honors and Scholars students
q Any program offered to All-Scholars students
q Any program offered by the Health Sciences Scholars Program
In addition to these programs, credit will also be given for other University sponsored events.
These may include, but are not limited to:
q Any program sponsored by your RA or residence hall or the Office of Residence Education
q Any academic student club meeting that you are an active member of (ex. Pre-pharmacy club, Alpha Epsilon Delta, etc.)
q Any culturally diverse program that you attend (ex. Something sponsored by GLBT student services, the Office of Minority Affairs, etc.)
q Any program offered on campus relating to academic or career preparation
If you attend programs that are NOT sponsored by HSS, you must be able to prove your attendance for credit. This can be accomplished by using the HSS Programming Ticket. You can pick up these small yellow tickets from your Program Coordinator in room 361 of Morrill Tower or in her Enarson Hall office in room 315. You can turn in these tickets to your Program Coordinator in either office. On the ticket you will provide your name, the date of the program you attended, and the name of the program you attended. Make sure to have the person in charge of the program sign your programming ticket and give their contact information.
If you forget to use the programming ticket, you can have the person in charge of the program send your Program Coordinator an e-mail with information about your participation in the program.