What about University of Pittsburgh?

[Anonymous]

DC is looking at Pitt and it seems solid. It wasn't originally on the radar screen for us but we've heard good things. Any personal experience with the school, its neighborhood, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Aren't there approximately 100 threads on this very topic? Seems like there is one a week. Have you searched the forum?

[Anonymous]

Love it! It’s a popular school for just less than stellar students in the area. For stellar students, there’s great merit aid available.

[Anonymous]

The best thing about Pitt is its rolling admission policy. Having one admission early in the process takes off a lot of pressure on your DC/parents. For good stat kids, a lot of full tuition scholarships but they don't give a lot of full rides...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best thing about Pitt is its rolling admission policy. Having one admission early in the process takes off a lot of pressure on your DC/parents. For good stat kids, a lot of full tuition scholarships but they don't give a lot of full rides...

True. And an early acceptance leaves a good feeling toward that school. It's surprising that more schools don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Oakland can be gritty but great if your kid prefers an urban campus.

[Anonymous]

Super hot at TJ. Which tell you something about their STEM. Last year more TJ kids applied to Pitt than VT and more ended up attending. First time ever that UVA/ Vat and WM were not the top three schools by far. Mostly engineering. Quite a few guaranteed admit med. Last year 110 kids applied and 109 were admitted. And the one red X on Naviance had good stats, so it would have been an honor code issue or something.

Selective? Maybe not. But offering full tuition to TJ kids who apply and great word of mouth. The word from Alums is that TJ kids love Pittsburgh (who knew? It’s really come back) and love that they can cross register at CMU. Counselors are saying the TJ kids who have gone through love it and are doing very well in grad school admissions.

We visited with DC and checked it out. I’m impressed. DH is impressed. DS is impressed. I’m not sure it’s his best option. But it’s not a bad option.

I don’t know how much kids loved Blacksburg, per se. And VT is on a new mission to make VT “more reflective of the demographics of the state”. They are also Coalition only. So kids just stopped applying. Pitt has aggressively recruited at TJ and benefitted from kids deciding VT was headed down/ just not worth it.

My kid is a senior. Rolling admissions is wonderful. He has already been accepted. Should hear about merit aid in the next month. Honors college in December. It’s not his top choice. But getting an acceptance to a school he liked, we liked and we could afford even with no merit (OOS it’s about 5k more than WM full freight) was such a relief. It also cut down his list some. We asked, what are better options than Pitt? His other two safeties aren’t and were dropped. And he has a strong case for why it’s better than a match. So that was dropped too. No need to apply when he knows he has a better option.

I’m obviously a big believer. But Pitt was the sleeper shock of college admission for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Super hot at TJ. Which tell you something about their STEM. Last year more TJ kids applied to Pitt than VT and more ended up attending. First time ever that UVA/ Vat and WM were not the top three schools by far. Mostly engineering. Quite a few guaranteed admit med. Last year 110 kids applied and 109 were admitted. And the one red X on Naviance had good stats, so it would have been an honor code issue or something.

Selective? Maybe not. But offering full tuition to TJ kids who apply and great word of mouth. The word from Alums is that TJ kids love Pittsburgh (who knew? It’s really come back) and love that they can cross register at CMU. Counselors are saying the TJ kids who have gone through love it and are doing very well in grad school admissions.

We visited with DC and checked it out. I’m impressed. DH is impressed. DS is impressed. I’m not sure it’s his best option. But it’s not a bad option.

I don’t know how much kids loved Blacksburg, per se. And VT is on a new mission to make VT “more reflective of the demographics of the state”. They are also Coalition only. So kids just stopped applying. Pitt has aggressively recruited at TJ and benefitted from kids deciding VT was headed down/ just not worth it.

My kid is a senior. Rolling admissions is wonderful. He has already been accepted. Should hear about merit aid in the next month. Honors college in December. It’s not his top choice. But getting an acceptance to a school he liked, we liked and we could afford even with no merit (OOS it’s about 5k more than WM full freight) was such a relief. It also cut down his list some. We asked, what are better options than Pitt? His other two safeties aren’t and were dropped. And he has a strong case for why it’s better than a match. So that was dropped too. No need to apply when he knows he has a better option.

I’m obviously a big believer. But Pitt was the sleeper shock of college admission for me.

Pitt is okay but not THAT okay...

[Anonymous]

It's in a great spot for internships too. Very strong in medical sciences.

[Anonymous]

“Full tuition to TJ kids who apply”? Did you intend to make it sound like every TJ kid was offered this? Because that’s not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Full tuition to TJ kids who apply”? Did you intend to make it sound like every TJ kid was offered this? Because that’s not true.

Don't let the facts get in the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Super hot at TJ. Which tell you something about their STEM. Last year more TJ kids applied to Pitt than VT and more ended up attending. First time ever that UVA/ Vat and WM were not the top three schools by far. Mostly engineering. Quite a few guaranteed admit med. Last year 110 kids applied and 109 were admitted. And the one red X on Naviance had good stats, so it would have been an honor code issue or something.

Selective? Maybe not. But offering full tuition to TJ kids who apply and great word of mouth. The word from Alums is that TJ kids love Pittsburgh (who knew? It’s really come back) and love that they can cross register at CMU. Counselors are saying the TJ kids who have gone through love it and are doing very well in grad school admissions.

We visited with DC and checked it out. I’m impressed. DH is impressed. DS is impressed. I’m not sure it’s his best option. But it’s not a bad option.

I don’t know how much kids loved Blacksburg, per se. And VT is on a new mission to make VT “more reflective of the demographics of the state”. They are also Coalition only. So kids just stopped applying. Pitt has aggressively recruited at TJ and benefitted from kids deciding VT was headed down/ just not worth it.

My kid is a senior. Rolling admissions is wonderful. He has already been accepted. Should hear about merit aid in the next month. Honors college in December. It’s not his top choice. But getting an acceptance to a school he liked, we liked and we could afford even with no merit (OOS it’s about 5k more than WM full freight) was such a relief. It also cut down his list some. We asked, what are better options than Pitt? His other two safeties aren’t and were dropped. And he has a strong case for why it’s better than a match. So that was dropped too. No need to apply when he knows he has a better option.

I’m obviously a big believer. But Pitt was the sleeper shock of college admission for me.

Pitt is okay but not THAT okay...

To each their own. Pitt offers a specialized science program in an area where my kid is doing research. It is legit very strong in his particular area. So we would have likely ended up there even if it didn’t have a buzz right now. He could go to a bigger name school and not get the classes and research he wants. We’ll see where the other schools doing good work in this area come out after applications. He may well not land at Pitt. And his interests are a bad match for VT anyway.

Realize: Pitt is clearly trying to make a move like CWRU and Tulane. It is aggressively recruiting talented kids, throwing money and opportunities at them, and making applying rolling decision as easy as possible. No CA essay. No waiting for LORs and school recommendations. You can do it yourself in August without your school, and get a decision a couple weeks later. Making the process easy and stress free also creatures goodwill.

My guess is that we see Pitt make a jump in rankings in the next 5 years. Because they are going for it aggressively and being smart about it. Recruiting talented kids is better in my book than trying to manipulate yield through extensive ED. But you do you.

[Anonymous]

So, I have a question about Pitt and their rolling admissions. It seems like EVERYONE applies there now. So …

1.) Is this damaging to kids like mine, who I would call a TRUE fit for Pitt? Not top of the class, just a solid student.

2.) Is this messing up their yield? Like, are the kids who might also get into UVa or Penn, etc., using it as a safety school, getting in, then deciding on better colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Full tuition to TJ kids who apply”? Did you intend to make it sound like every TJ kid was offered this? Because that’s not true.

Don't let the facts get in the way.

Okay. To be clear, every kid is not getting full tuition. But it seems that every kid I know who applied got an initial offer that undercut VT. Superstars maxed out. And kids who were in the top 2/3 or so (say 4.0w/1500) and who hung on until April and evaluated their options— just didn’t give them an early answer— got an unsolicited merit offer raise in the spring, often to full tuition. They being aggressive with merit aid. And most (but not all) get an honors college offer.

Better?

[Anonymous]

We were very surprised at how much we liked it when DC visited. Good academics, nicer campus than we imagined, and a very positive vibe from the students. It reminded me of Richmond to the extent that both are working aggressively to break into more of a national ranking, except Pitt seems more generous with aid which is probably a function of size. Give it 4-5 years and Pitt will probably be much more difficult to get into.