Visiting Pitt on summer "Blue & Gold Day" or not?

[Anonymous]

Wondering if I should take my son to see Pitt on one of the summer "Blue and Gold Days" or just a regular tour during the school year. It seems like a summer day, even if they are making a big production out of it, isn't as good to get a real taste of the school. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

It was a good day to visit. Got to do a visit to the business school ( or whatever your kid was interested in). There was a lot of Rah-rah.

Last year one was on the same week as "Spend a summer day" at Penn State, so we did one day at PSU, and then went over to Pitt. Very different campuses, but after going through this process, would always recommend doing the special days over just a tour if possible.

We did special tour at VT as well, Open house in the Fall and it was great.

My kid ended up at Tennessee. We were able to do a tour there, but on top of that a tour at the business school. If we had not done the business school tour I don't know if it would have sealed the deal. We also did a dorm tour same day as well.

My advice is to really research what every school has available. GL!

[Anonymous]

Visit on B&G day — you’ll both have much better opportunities to meet and talk to people you want to. Otherwise summer tours can be dead and (also) misrepresent the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Visit on B&G day — you’ll both have much better opportunities to meet and talk to people you want to. Otherwise summer tours can be dead and (also) misrepresent the school.

Yes that’s my worry - in summer there are no real students there. I get it will be crowded but with other prospective students not actual students. But Pitt offers no weekend school year tries so we might have to do one of these - it’s hard to pull juniors out of classes.

[Anonymous]

I went to Pitt in parent times.

I'd go to the special day.

I did college tours with my own kids recently.

I like to see schools make an effort.

We were not able to get to Pitt for an official tour because we live six hours away. We visited for two days after spending Thanksgiving with relatives and made our own tour for our kids. The hack was we used a Cathedral of Learning Nationality Room tour to get inside the Cathedral. That's the only building we went inside. All the others were shut. Local attractions like the Carnegie Museum and the Phipps Conservatory are open.

We were not concerned about seeing real students since we can vouch for the product. A special day would probably be more exciting than summer. However, there are definitely summer classes at Pitt. And the medical center is always busy.

[Anonymous]

We were there in July 2 years ago. I can't remember if it was a Blue and Gold day but it was very well attended and there was a good, vibrant vibe on campus. Def didnt feel we were missing out. The weather was also lovely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was a good day to visit. Got to do a visit to the business school ( or whatever your kid was interested in). There was a lot of Rah-rah.

Last year one was on the same week as "Spend a summer day" at Penn State, so we did one day at PSU, and then went over to Pitt. Very different campuses, but after going through this process, would always recommend doing the special days over just a tour if possible.

We did special tour at VT as well, Open house in the Fall and it was great.

My kid ended up at Tennessee. We were able to do a tour there, but on top of that a tour at the business school. If we had not done the business school tour I don't know if it would have sealed the deal. We also did a dorm tour same day as well.

My advice is to really research what every school has available. GL!

Any idea when Penn State will post the “spend a summer day” events for this summer? Or does the fact that it says there are none mean they have filled up?

We were hoping to do the same thing — line up a Pitt B&G day and a Penn State SASD event into a trip this summer.

[Anonymous]

We went in late June a couple of years ago. DD has just finished her junior year. It was fabulous. Highly recommend it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visit on B&G day — you’ll both have much better opportunities to meet and talk to people you want to. Otherwise summer tours can be dead and (also) misrepresent the school.

Yes that’s my worry - in summer there are no real students there. I get it will be crowded but with other prospective students not actual students. But Pitt offers no weekend school year tries so we might have to do one of these - it’s hard to pull juniors out of classes.

Sorry I missed your response- I’m the pp. It’s not a worry - but a good thing to go on a summer B&G day. There will be lots of current students there to ask questions but also faculty and department heads. Maybe not 100% ideal but very good -

[Anonymous]

Went to B&G day last summer. DC learned lots from students and faculty. Was a great time to visit!

[Anonymous]

Pitt is a very lively college. I'll bet a summer visit is fine, esp. on a Blue & Gold Day.