What is the appeal of Pitt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really interesting. I had several college friends who lived in Pittsburgh, but didn't want to go to Pitt and attended VT instead.

I'm sure they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really interesting. I had several college friends who lived in Pittsburgh, but didn't want to go to Pitt and attended VT instead.

Plenty of people want a new scene in college. Blacksburg is much different from Pittsburgh!

[Anonymous]

Primanti Bros

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Solid school academically. Urban setting with a campus feel. Great mid size city with good food and neighborhoods. Greek like is not dominant (but there if you are interested). A good mix of serious students but also a fun place to be for 4 years.

My kid is a first year CS major and very happy.

Is Pitt direct admit CS? Any special requirments to keep that major like UMD (C- in certain classes)

A student is admitted to the college—the School of Computing and Information. You need some four or so core classes to declare the CS major. Need a C or better in these classes to declare and then have a C or better in classes needed for major.

Fascinating. VT requires a B/3.0 to get first dibs on the major. UMD a C- in certain classes and Pitt a C in certain classes. UMD seems the safest bet to ensure a CS degree of these three. Even a smart kid can struggle with time management or get a poor teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Primanti Bros

Yum!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest question…I am new to this forum and wanted to know why does everyone talk about Pitt and apply to Pitt?. Any insight would be helpful. Btw, I have a sophomore in high school.

A quality out-of-state option, not too far, that keeps costs close to instate if stats are good (these offers have diminished over time). Rolling admissions, so quick response.

Yup. Rolling admissions is the biggest thing. Location next—nice city, not too far from DC. Solid school academically. It’s one of my kid’s three likelies (already admitted with merit), and it’s wonderful to know that they have a quality option.

+1. Both my kids looked primarily at SLACs, but really liked Pitt when they visited. Nice campus with a nice feel in is a nice part of Pittsburgh. Suburban, but easy access to the city. Adjacent to CMU and some ability to take CMU classes. And strong in my kids areas of interest (one STEM, one IR with a second focus in a critical language with a strong department at Pitt) The second kid was also direct admitted to the Public Policy Masters program.

Applied in early August and had a “yes” to a college they could live with and we could afford by mid-September. Merit aid brought the cost down to WM in state— maybe a bit lower. Knowing there was a decent option locked in took so much pressure off. Neither kid attended. Both both would have been okay if that’s where they ended up. And we would have been fine as well— it was a decent option.

One kid got into their college ED after the Pitt admittance and was done. The other kid also got honors college and only applied to one other safety/likely. There was no need to apply to more— the question became, do I like this likely more than Pitt? And the answer was generally no for safeties/likeliest. So, no need to find and apply to other likely was also a bonus. IME, finding financial and academic safeties is the hardest part of building the college list. Every kid can find reaches. And most kids have some decent matches. But lower tier schools kids actually like can be hard to find.

And to be clearl Pitt is rapidly becoming a match for many DMV kids. It’s just a match where you can get an early answer. And if your kid is deferred or denied, that tells you something to, and gives you time to recalibrate if your expectations are too high.

I’d encourage parents and kids to visit. I didn’t expect to be are impressed as I was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Solid school academically. Urban setting with a campus feel. Great mid size city with good food and neighborhoods. Greek like is not dominant (but there if you are interested). A good mix of serious students but also a fun place to be for 4 years.

My kid is a first year CS major and very happy.

Is Pitt direct admit CS? Any special requirments to keep that major like UMD (C- in certain classes)

A student is admitted to the college—the School of Computing and Information. You need some four or so core classes to declare the CS major. Need a C or better in these classes to declare and then have a C or better in classes needed for major.

Fascinating. VT requires a B/3.0 to get first dibs on the major. UMD a C- in certain classes and Pitt a C in certain classes. UMD seems the safest bet to ensure a CS degree of these three. Even a smart kid can struggle with time management or get a poor teacher.

UMD direct admit has to maintain C-. Starting Fall 24 current students that want to be admitted to CS have to get B- with NO guarantee.

[Anonymous]

My kid is engineering. Wants an R1 and wants to be an afternoon drive from home. Got a lot of merit. His list is Pitt, Bucknell, and VT, those are the only 3 he is applying to/applied to. He’s already accepted to Pitt so we shall see what happens with the other two. Pretty stress free process for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is engineering. Wants an R1 and wants to be an afternoon drive from home. Got a lot of merit. His list is Pitt, Bucknell, and VT, those are the only 3 he is applying to/applied to. He’s already accepted to Pitt so we shall see what happens with the other two. Pretty stress free process for him.

Smart kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Solid school academically. Urban setting with a campus feel. Great mid size city with good food and neighborhoods. Greek like is not dominant (but there if you are interested). A good mix of serious students but also a fun place to be for 4 years.

My kid is a first year CS major and very happy.

Did they get any merit aid last year? My kid is in (found out yesterday) to the School of Computing and hoping for aid. Not very high stats so keeping our fingers crossed.

[Anonymous]

Because Breezewood!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Solid school academically. Urban setting with a campus feel. Great mid size city with good food and neighborhoods. Greek like is not dominant (but there if you are interested). A good mix of serious students but also a fun place to be for 4 years.

My kid is a first year CS major and very happy.

Did they get any merit aid last year? My kid is in (found out yesterday) to the School of Computing and hoping for aid. Not very high stats so keeping our fingers crossed.

No merit award for my kid. He was solidly at the 50% level for SAT/GPA for SCI (Pitt breaks it down by college). I have read on College Confidential that Pitt gives little merit to CS majors. It does seem to happen occasionally, so good luck. My son received decent merit from Minnesota. It might be worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

Our child is a junior at Pitt and loves it. Pittsburgh is a thriving, vibrant city (not the depressed steel town I had imagined before visiting), there's lots to do, many different neighborhoods, and with public transportation. And yet, even in the city, there is a campus. Also right next to Carnegie Mellon and others, so there's TONS of students around

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Solid school academically. Urban setting with a campus feel. Great mid size city with good food and neighborhoods. Greek like is not dominant (but there if you are interested). A good mix of serious students but also a fun place to be for 4 years.

My kid is a first year CS major and very happy.

Did they get any merit aid last year? My kid is in (found out yesterday) to the School of Computing and hoping for aid. Not very high stats so keeping our fingers crossed.

No merit award for my kid. He was solidly at the 50% level for SAT/GPA for SCI (Pitt breaks it down by college). I have read on College Confidential that Pitt gives little merit to CS majors. It does seem to happen occasionally, so good luck. My son received decent merit from Minnesota. It might be worth checking out.

We are waiting on Minnesota. Didn't realize it was rolling so applied late.

Did not know that Pitt breaks down stats by college. DS is below the 25th percentile for GPA but well above the 75th %ile for SAT. Maybe that's why he got in. Cost is going to be the sticking point if there's no aid.

Question: Is the CS school the most in demand or is it Engineering?

[Anonymous]

Rolling admissions. Not too far away from DMV. Great reputation. Football. Strong alumni. Good location for jobs and internships. Decent campus with lots going on around it. Diverse. We loved all the options for 3 plus 2 programs. Not as expensive as Penn State.