| THANK YOU for your interest in the Athletic Training Major at The Ohio State University. You are the future of our program and our profession and I am pleased to share information about our program with you. Although we have a highly respected faculty and truly wonderful facilities, the quality of a program is not determined by these things. Instead, the quality of a program is determined by the quality of the graduates it produces. We graduate some of the most outstanding new Athletic Trainers in the country and this is possible because we attract a truly excellent group of prospective students. If you are a high ability student who is passionate about sports medicine, then we want you here! In order to become a Certified Athletic Trainer, you'll need to complete an accredited athletic training education program and there are a lot of programs to choose from. In these programs, extensive classroom preparation is combined with at least two years of real-world clinical experiences where you demonstrate mastery numerous clinical proficiencies and gain experience in a variety of clinical situations. Athletic Training is a "hands-on" profession and our education programs stress this from day one. Choose your program carefully because every program has a slightly different personality and not every student is a good fit for every program. At Ohio State, we take tremendous pride in our long-standing history and tradition in athletic training education. In the over 60 years of Ohio State Athletic Training, we have produced many of the best Certified Athletic Trainers in the profession including 7 NATA Hall of Fame members & 12 Ohio Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame members. As you can see, we set high goals for ourselves and our students do the same. Our program is fully accredited by CAATE and has many unique qualities and opportunities that really set us apart from most other programs. Our combination of outstanding academics and clinical experiences in worldclass athletics has created a great deal of interest in, and demand for our program. As a result, our program admissions are among the most competitive in the nation. While many athletic training programs are housed in kinesiology or exercise science departments, Ohio State's Athletic Training major is part of the School of Allied Medical Professions in Ohio State's highly ranked College of Medicine. Being a part of the College of Medicine offers many benefits for our students including easy access to a first tier medical library and one of the Nation's top teaching hospitals is literally right next door. Our students also actively learn from and interact with OSU's impressive list of team physicians and specialists, over 40 in all. Students complete most of their clinical education on campus with several of OSU's 21 ATC's as they gain experience with our 38 intercollegiate sports teams and 1000+ student athletes. In addition to their 3 years of clinical time with us in Ohio State athletics, students also complete a 10 week clinical rotation with one of our off-campus affilitates. These include outpatient sports medicine clinics, local high-schools, smaller colleges, professional sports and other sports medicine settings (we've used 20+ off-campus clinical affiliates and counting). You will be hard pressed to find many other programs with such an extensive list of quality clinical affiliate sites. It is in your best interest to visit the Athletic Training programs that you are considering. You simply can't learn all of the things you need to know by looking at a website or campus brochure. You can set up a personal campus visit (M-F only please) to discuss our program and see our facilities by contacting me directly at 614-247-6231 or through email. I pride myself in trying to meet with every prospective AT student who comes for a campus visit and I do not delegate this responsibility to others. I strongly believe that there is no better way to evaluate a program than to visit it and personally speak to the director. I can't imagine enrolling in a program whose director doesn't meet with prospective students. If you just want to be an Athletic Trainer, there are over 350 programs in the U.S. that can adequately prepare you for your national board exam. If you want more than just the ATC credential, but also want to be a leader and want to be pushed to become the best Athletic Trainer you can be - give us a look. I think you'll be glad you did. Athletic Training at Ohio State is more than just a great academic and clinical program - its a family where everyone knows you by name and where we take tremendous pride in the personal relationships we build with our students - relationships that extend far beyond your time in Columbus. "...Time and change will surely show, How firm thy friendship O-HI-O" - Carmen Ohio, the Alma Mater of The Ohio State University - Mark A. Merrick, PhD, ATC
Associate Professor and Director,
Athletic Training Division | 
