UMD vs Pitt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For an education Maryland

Pittsburgh is such a great town for college aged and young adults.

College park is the pit of the state but good school

That’s why Maryland is so rich. The Pit of the state (PG) is the richest African American community in the country. The county has a Big Ten University, an NFL team, NASA, IRS, Andrews AFB, FDA, USDA, Census Bureau, Homeland Security, Interior, ATF, NOAA. Etc...

Plus to add insult to injury... Charlottesville has almost twice the violent crime rate as College Park. Maryland is such a hard state to compete with... all lacrossy and rich.

College park is a tiny part of pg county. and everyone in pg county knows that it is a pit and not Pitt

FDA headquarters are in Montgomery Cty. There are some employees you work in PG but headquarters (and vast majority) are in MoCo.

FDA's main research campus is in southern and eastern-most part of Montgomery county, close to College Park. Its closer to college Park than Bethesda. Their Center for Food Safety/Nutrition is in College Park.

Right. Not PG county.

Lol.. FDA has a installation actually on the UMD campus. Also on campus are NOAA national weather prediction center, Homeland Security’s international foreign language center, installations from NASA, Raytheon, the national Archives and the American Physics institute.

It’s almost not fair to compare other schools. UMDs location is steeped in geniuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For an education Maryland

Pittsburgh is such a great town for college aged and young adults.

College park is the pit of the state but good school

That’s why Maryland is so rich. The Pit of the state (PG) is the richest African American community in the country. The county has a Big Ten University, an NFL team, NASA, IRS, Andrews AFB, FDA, USDA, Census Bureau, Homeland Security, Interior, ATF, NOAA. Etc...

Plus to add insult to injury... Charlottesville has almost twice the violent crime rate as College Park. Maryland is such a hard state to compete with... all lacrossy and rich.

College park is a tiny part of pg county. and everyone in pg county knows that it is a pit and not Pitt

FDA headquarters are in Montgomery Cty. There are some employees you work in PG but headquarters (and vast majority) are in MoCo.

FDA's main research campus is in southern and eastern-most part of Montgomery county, close to College Park. Its closer to college Park than Bethesda. Their Center for Food Safety/Nutrition is in College Park.

Right. Not PG county.

Lol.. FDA has a installation actually on the UMD campus. Also on campus are NOAA national weather prediction center, Homeland Security’s international foreign language center, installations from NASA, Raytheon, the national Archives and the American Physics institute.

It’s almost not fair to compare other schools. UMDs location is steeped in geniuses.

so you've said over and over...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These threads always make me chuckle. If you haven’t been to College Park in the last few years, you really don’t know what you’re talking about.

So much new building in CP. Apartments are high end now (for college kids at least). Like Terrapin Row and UView. There are others too.

Now Pitt is nice too, but less new sparkly buildings on and off campus.

You may argue that UMD has some nice programs for students, but it is not known for pretty campus. The surrounding environment is not that nice either.

UMD's center of campus is certainly pretty. The rest, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Whenever is in-state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These threads always make me chuckle. If you haven’t been to College Park in the last few years, you really don’t know what you’re talking about.

So much new building in CP. Apartments are high end now (for college kids at least). Like Terrapin Row and UView. There are others too.

Now Pitt is nice too, but less new sparkly buildings on and off campus.

You may argue that UMD has some nice programs for students, but it is not known for pretty campus. The surrounding environment is not that nice either.

UMD's center of campus is certainly pretty. The rest, not so much.

I wouldn’t say the brand new engineering and comp Sci buildings are in the middle of the UMD campus. I think they are gorgeous - maybe not your style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These threads always make me chuckle. If you haven’t been to College Park in the last few years, you really don’t know what you’re talking about.

So much new building in CP. Apartments are high end now (for college kids at least). Like Terrapin Row and UView. There are others too.

Now Pitt is nice too, but less new sparkly buildings on and off campus.

You may argue that UMD has some nice programs for students, but it is not known for pretty campus. The surrounding environment is not that nice either.

UMD's center of campus is certainly pretty. The rest, not so much.

I wouldn’t say the brand new engineering and comp Sci buildings are in the middle of the UMD campus. I think they are gorgeous - maybe not your style.

Yeah, but the rest of the 1970s mordernist buildings look terrible

[Anonymous]

Take a drive on over to College Park, maybe when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Definitely worth a look at the new development. You might be surprised. Also interesting to see where Purple Line is going in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take a drive on over to College Park, maybe when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Definitely worth a look at the new development. You might be surprised. Also interesting to see where Purple Line is going in.

For education and personal advancement, it is the best location. Not good for shrinking violets though since it is a little hardscrabble. Maybe that’s why UMD grads are better inventors and creators than other schools because the students are generally more resilient and tougher from the beginning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a drive on over to College Park, maybe when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Definitely worth a look at the new development. You might be surprised. Also interesting to see where Purple Line is going in.

For education and personal advancement, it is the best location. Not good for shrinking violets though since it is a little hardscrabble. Maybe that’s why UMD grads are better inventors and creators than other schools because the students are generally more resilient and tougher from the beginning.

Can you elaborate on the "hardscrabble" part. you make it sound like they have fight their way to class and/or have their lunch money taken away in the hallways..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child was admitted to both last year (honors programs with merit aid in both cases). I thought he would like Pitt because of the location- it feels like a college town. He just did not like it. I am not sure why - if I had to guess, the emphasis on school spirit/sports at the accepted students presentation might have turned him off. Otoh he came back from the UMD accepted students day full of enthusiasm. I can’t tell if the OP’s child is trying to decide between the two but I hope your child has an opportunity to get a feel for both places so they can get a sense of whether it would be a good fit. They are both good schools.

Pitt fells like a college town? I never thought I would hear someone say that.

Me neither. I haven’t been there in a long time but I did live in Oakland in my 20s. I only felt like it was a college campus at the Cathedral of Learning. Guess I need to visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pittsburgh has changed a great deal in the decades since your brothers went to school there. Your a data point is outdated and invalid.

Mom of happy Pitt student who loves the city.

H2P

My youngest brother graduated 6 years ago, so hardly “decades ago.” I was very involved in his admission process because our mother had died by then. There really was no fundamental change in Pitt it the caliber of student it attracted by then from the time the older brothers had attended. It is a good school for kids who are upper average, but not academic powerhouses. It isn’t a lovely campus, and the housing is adequate but devoid of charm, which is consistent with Pitt’s working class roots. Pitt is not an excellent school, but it is good enough. I was disappointed my youngest brother couldn’t do better, sure, but he had loads of fun and now has a good Job as an engineer. He’s happy. If your kid could have gotten into somewhere better, you would have encouraged him to go; I am sure he will get a fine education at Pitt, but let’s not pretend Pitt is excellent. It just isn’t.

Pitt is excellent for all the pre-medical fields. Not all majors are the same.

[Anonymous]

For pre-med, the easier the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For pre-med, the easier the better.

Probably for that reason, people say VCU is good for pre-med, and they often give generous merit based financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a drive on over to College Park, maybe when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Definitely worth a look at the new development. You might be surprised. Also interesting to see where Purple Line is going in.

For education and personal advancement, it is the best location. Not good for shrinking violets though since it is a little hardscrabble. Maybe that’s why UMD grads are better inventors and creators than other schools because the students are generally more resilient and tougher from the beginning.

Can you elaborate on the "hardscrabble" part. you make it sound like they have fight their way to class and/or have their lunch money taken away in the hallways..

Hardscrabble ... what a funny way to describe UMD. Now the students are super-competitive (a lot of them are basically cream of the crop from MD’s top high schools). The MD high schools send a lot of kids to UMD and they bring the overachiever mindset (some of them, but not all, also bring their dads bmw). It’s a big school so kids need to be a self-starter and resilient. Is that hardscrabble? Don’t think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a drive on over to College Park, maybe when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. Definitely worth a look at the new development. You might be surprised. Also interesting to see where Purple Line is going in.

For education and personal advancement, it is the best location. Not good for shrinking violets though since it is a little hardscrabble. Maybe that’s why UMD grads are better inventors and creators than other schools because the students are generally more resilient and tougher from the beginning.

Can you elaborate on the "hardscrabble" part. you make it sound like they have fight their way to class and/or have their lunch money taken away in the hallways..

Hardscrabble ... what a funny way to describe UMD. Now the students are super-competitive (a lot of them are basically cream of the crop from MD’s top high schools). The MD high schools send a lot of kids to UMD and they bring the overachiever mindset (some of them, but not all, also bring their dads bmw). It’s a big school so kids need to be a self-starter and resilient. Is that hardscrabble? Don’t think so.

It’s a good state school no doubt but to say it’s the “cream of the crop” from the top high schools is a bit stretching it. Readers on this site have to recognize that some folks on this board seem to have a vested interest in boosting UMD.