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.

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.

Out of state cost of attendance: 45K. Also, I believe the school only guarantees dorm space for the 1st year.

Anonymous




Thanks for all the replies! My DS is interested in environmental science, and is also interested in studying abroad for a semester. Anyone have any information about these kinds of programs?

A family friend currently attends Pitt from a highly competitive NOVA high school. She absolutely loves it and chose it over the VA in-state schools. She has studied abroad and loves the urban environment that Pittsburgh offers.

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.

Lol, everyone should live in an urban environment at least once in their lives. Anyway, the engineering school is very good, great in fact.

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

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.

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.

My DH went for undergrad. He loved it enough he took for a visit. I fell in love with it! It is an excellent school. Everyone I know who went there went on to get their PhDs. I might have a biased sample though. The campus is urban but there is still plenty of green space. I would check it out. I know their hospital pioneered organ transplants and they have done really cool things in Bioengineering.

I went there. Loved it except for one bad professor. I'd be thrilled if my child went. It gets very cold in winter.

Between the Sandusky/Paterno scandal and the growing preference for urban environments, Pitt seems to gaining ground at Penn State's expense.

Someone just told me their DD loves that school! She is a freshman this year.

I live in Pittsburgh. Good school and lots of good programs.and quite competitive these days to get admitted. What major are you interested in?

Anyone have any information about its reputation locally, nationally? Many thanks.