tell me about Pitt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I think the IVY poster gives a lot of insight. She / He actually spent time at the school, had family there, visited, met people.

No one else on this thread comes close to having that kind of insider knowledge.

I know some of its depressing OP, but its worth considering. For sure.

The IVY poster is basing her knowledge on a few visits. I'd rather hear from her happy, successful Pitt brothers on this!

Like all schools, a visit on a sunny July day or cool October day will not show the reality of a gray February day. Oakland is a really fun area; Pittsburgh is a true college town; and there are a lot of kids from out of the area -- enough that they sponsors charter buses to the DC area, Philly, etc., for breaks. http://www.pc.pitt.edu/transportation/buses_thanksgiving.php

[Anonymous]

All I know about Pitt is that they eat a lot of s***

lol jk its an insult from WVU fans. (me)

i think they have a good medical school though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I think the IVY poster gives a lot of insight. She / He actually spent time at the school, had family there, visited, met people.

No one else on this thread comes close to having that kind of insider knowledge.

I know some of its depressing OP, but its worth considering. For sure.

The IVY poster is basing her knowledge on a few visits. I'd rather hear from her happy, successful Pitt brothers on this!

Like all schools, a visit on a sunny July day or cool October day will not show the reality of a gray February day. Oakland is a really fun area; Pittsburgh is a true college town; and there are a lot of kids from out of the area -- enough that they sponsors charter buses to the DC area, Philly, etc., for breaks. http://www.pc.pitt.edu/transportation/buses_thanksgiving.php

That's helpful. That didn't have that when I went there. We either flew or parents came and got us or got a ride with a friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brothers went there for engineering. I guess it was a good enough school, and I am jealous of my student loan free brothers, but I wouldn't have been happy at Pitt. It had a gritty, almost ghetto feel that I didn't like.

But I went to an "Ivy" and was a bookish kid who hated the gregarious fratty types that seemed to swarm my brothers' dorms and the Pitt campus. I once overheard one of my college profs advising a student about where to apply for grad school, and he responded to the student's suggestion of Pitt by dismissing it as a "working class school in a place no one wants to go, but that's what makes it affordable." I concur, but didn't share this with my brothers.

My brothers have great careers now and both make a lot more money than I do, so presumably the engineering department is fine.

What are you talking about? Pitt has changed a lot since I went 20 years ago. It was a nice campus then. Sections where there was private housing was not that great nor were the areas with the frats but it was by no means ghetto, unsafe or bad. Pitt is huge and only a small part is Greek. I was never Greek nor were most of my friends. I only went to a handful of fraternity parties and most were with my dad when he visited his fraternity. The only negative is you can only get housing for a few years and then have to go off campus. My friend and I senior year had a really nice 2 bedroom apartment. It is far from working class. It wasn't cheap out of state and they attract a lot of kids from MD and other local states. They are well ranked for many majors. You sound like a huge snob.

I am a huge snob, probably. So? That doesn't change Pitt's caliber. But the difference between the average Pitt student I met while visiting the campus and staying with my brothers or high school friend and the average student I knew at Harvard was immense. By "fratty", I mean the type of person who is boorish and clearly not smart. There was an immaturity and lack of social grace that was prevalent, though of course not applicable to every Pitt student I met (and I met a lot). One of my brothers had something called a "cathedral suite", I believe, which he "won" in a housing lottery, and this was regarded as luxury housing by Pitt students...but the Pitt campus was tatty and ugly compared to my school, and the schools of my other friends. The "nice" Pitt dorms I saw were OK, but they were only "nice" compared to other Pitt dorms and the Pitt campus. This was in the early 2000s: I doubt the student body has changed that much, and the campus certainly has not.

As I said, my brothers did fine for themselves, and they loved Pitt, but you are delusional if you think it is a "nice campus." Or you haven't visited really good schools with beautiful campuses. Pitt is OK.

Translation: "my brothers graduated debt free and have great jobs and my barista job barely covers the student loans on my worthless Art History degree."

Haha, no. I chose a career I knew does not pay well. For anybody who chooses it. But I love my job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

If it makes you feel better, I also went to a lot of frat parties at MIT. The MIT campus is much uglier than the Pitt campus. Much, much uglier. The bit you see on Good Will Hunting is just a small showpiece, and rest of the campus is hideous. So there you go: MIT has nothing so lovely as the Cathedral of Learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

This isn't about you and your hometown pitt family hate. I went to BU and Pitt. I far preferred Pitt. It had a campus. BU didn't, Same with BC. Your comments are not of any value. Pitt was a much much better school in terms of classes than BU. BU cost significantly more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

If it makes you feel better, I also went to a lot of frat parties at MIT. The MIT campus is much uglier than the Pitt campus. Much, much uglier. The bit you see on Good Will Hunting is just a small showpiece, and rest of the campus is hideous. So there you go: MIT has nothing so lovely as the Cathedral of Learning.

And I went to Pitt and rarely went to a fraternity party. I only went to my dad's and I had a few friends in it. It is not a school where you have to be greek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

This isn't about you and your hometown pitt family hate. I went to BU and Pitt. I far preferred Pitt. It had a campus. BU didn't, Same with BC. Your comments are not of any value. Pitt was a much much better school in terms of classes than BU. BU cost significantly more.

What are you even talking about? BC has a gorgeous, self-contained campus with classic quad and lovely, landscaped green areas. The buildings are gorgeous: I remember a friend taking me to see the little Irish maze one evening after a party. BC has the classic college campus. You've just discredited yourself with your (false) assertion that BC has no campus.

I found BU to be very similar to Pitt. Both have buildings strewn through the city...but I prefer Boston to Pittsburgh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

If it makes you feel better, I also went to a lot of frat parties at MIT. The MIT campus is much uglier than the Pitt campus. Much, much uglier. The bit you see on Good Will Hunting is just a small showpiece, and rest of the campus is hideous. So there you go: MIT has nothing so lovely as the Cathedral of Learning.

And I went to Pitt and rarely went to a fraternity party. I only went to my dad's and I had a few friends in it. It is not a school where you have to be greek.

You seem to be missing my point. No, you don't "have to be Greek" at Pitt, but Pitt has a fratty feel to it just the same. If you don't know what "fratty feel" means, I can't explain it because you clearly don't have scope for comparison.

I'm glad you loved Pitt. That's great. It is nice to be able to look back on your college days and smile. I'm sure you would not have thrived at my school, and I would have hated the Pitt experience, so it is a win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

If it makes you feel better, I also went to a lot of frat parties at MIT. The MIT campus is much uglier than the Pitt campus. Much, much uglier. The bit you see on Good Will Hunting is just a small showpiece, and rest of the campus is hideous. So there you go: MIT has nothing so lovely as the Cathedral of Learning.

This is actually a good comparison. My husband went to MIT and I spent a lot of time on that campus over several years. They are both rather spread out, urban with some green spaces and a few eye catching buildings amongst a lot of brutalism. I remember MIT's buildings were set up that it was easy to get from one end of campus to another without going outside much. One either appreciates an urban campus or not. My son really loved Pitt but didn't love GWU when we visited, much to my surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due respect, but your college prof knows absolutely nothing about Pittsburgh and needs to get out more. How old is the prof?

He was probably in his early 30s, and had done his doctorate at Yale, then become an assistant prof at Harvard by a young age. He knew plenty about academia and the reputation of different schools and departments, and I don't think he would have needed to even visit Pittsburgh or "get out more" to enhance his credibility.

Pitt is an OK school with an OK, not spectacular campus, and some good departments. Depending on your goals and the schools with which you are comparing Pitt, it might even be a "good" school. If you are comparing it to the Ivy Leagues and the most selective schools, it is just OK.

My brothers loved it and have no student loans, and are happy they went there. Even they will freely admit that my house at Harvard was in a different league than their Pitt dorms, and Pitt's campus is not great compared to those of other schools. But they don't care: they liked the grittiness, and they didn't want student loans, and they are very successful now.

But I would have been so depressed at Pitt.

Dang, you must have been awfully sheltered if that would be enough to make you "so depressed." Maybe, and I mean this in all seriousness, your brothers' success is based more on them being more resilient than you.

Choosing to go to the best school to which I was admitted, and being thankful for a great experience there--especially when I was able to compare my university to my brothers' university, and know theirs would not have been a "good fit" for me--does not make me "awfully sheltered" or less "resilient." We grew up in Western PA, and my brothers went to Pitt with a lot of our high school friends: to me, this was "awfully sheltered." I worked super hard to get into Harvard, and choosing to go there over Pitt does not demonstrate a lack of resilience.

My brothers loved their Pitt experience, and they are both successful engineers now, but I would not want their experience for myself. It is right for a certain kind of kid, and wrong for others, but bleating on about snobbery and defending Pitt against all criticism, no matter what, is stupid and not fair to your kids.

I still maintain that Pitt is an OK school with an ugly campus. I am not only comparing it to Harvard, and I do agree with the other PP who pointed out that it is not reasonable to compare Pitt to Harvard at all. OK. However, I visited friends at Penn State, Boston University, Boston College, Mount Ida, and UMass, and ALL of these schools had a "feel" that would have suited me better than Pitt, with its gritty, ugly campus and gritty, ugly feel. Knowing the "feel" of a campus and knowing what suits you before you choose a school is not "awfully sheltered", but a sensible thing to do.

My brothers were smart kids who were very social, and they loved the relaxed atmosphere at Pitt. They would have hated an intense, pressure cooker of an academic environment, and I respect that.

You need to consider what type of kid you have when helping them choose a school.

If it makes you feel better, I also went to a lot of frat parties at MIT. The MIT campus is much uglier than the Pitt campus. Much, much uglier. The bit you see on Good Will Hunting is just a small showpiece, and rest of the campus is hideous. So there you go: MIT has nothing so lovely as the Cathedral of Learning.

This is actually a good comparison. My husband went to MIT and I spent a lot of time on that campus over several years. They are both rather spread out, urban with some green spaces and a few eye catching buildings amongst a lot of brutalism. I remember MIT's buildings were set up that it was easy to get from one end of campus to another without going outside much. One either appreciates an urban campus or not. My son really loved Pitt but didn't love GWU when we visited, much to my surprise.

I loved the MIT guys! They were PROUD of how ugly their campus was, and the fact that the buildings had numbers instead of names. I remember being a freshman and talking with a group of MIT guys on the T, and I asked them if MIT had a school mascot (like the Panthers or the Crimson). They looked at each other and (pretended?) not to know because they didn't care about sports, then finally concluded it was the Beaver. Adorable. If I were into math/science, I would have loved to go to MIT, which may have had the coolest campus vibe I know.

[Anonymous]

Wow. "Ivy" poster is insufferable. Apparently, if s/he has the final word. On everthing.

I grew up in Pittsburgh and no one was more surprised when DS loved the campus from the moment he arrived. He had a great 4 years and got great job.

[Anonymous]

Great museums in Pittsburgh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I know about Pitt is that they eat a lot of s***

lol jk its an insult from WVU fans. (me)

i think they have a good medical school though

When I went to WVU it was "Penn State sucks, but Pitt swallows"