Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always heard Pitt for medical related fields, nursing, PT, speech pathology, etc. It is very well known for those areas.

Exactly.

Pitt - >Pre-Med track, bio, nursing, etc

Penn State - > Business and Engineering

Anonymous wrote:I always heard Pitt for medical related fields, nursing, PT, speech pathology, etc. It is very well known for those areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any insights into Pitt Vs Penn State for student interested in business? DS is reading through Fiske to understand the differences but any guidance would be appreciated. We have recently moved to the US and are not very conversant with colleges here.

They're both good schools but very different in feel. The academic stats for students at Pitt are higher than at PSU (1350 SAT/31 ACT/4.07 GPA vs. 1265 SAT/28 ACT/3.58 GPA), but it's not a night and day difference. I think most kids would have a strong preference between the two as one is integrated into a mid-size city and the other is a classic college town in a rural part of the state.

That seems like a pretty big difference.

I’m not sure these stats tell the full story. It seems likely that Pitt is reporting weighted GPAs while Penn State is not. Additionally, the 50th percentile for Penn State on the most recent Common Data Set is slightly higher, with a 29 ACT and 1310 SAT. Based on our out-of-state school’s Naviance scattergram and stats, admissions profiles for Pitt and Penn State seem very similar.

However, the challenge with Penn State is that many applicants we know are offered 2+2 programs or summer starts. Getting a fall start at University Park isn’t guaranteed and may not be straightforward. This dynamic likely skews Penn State’s acceptance statistics due to branch campus and summer start offers.

In terms of education quality, I’d expect both schools to be quite comparable. Penn State does have greater national and international name recognition, which could be a factor if that’s important to you. Ultimately, I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice—unless top-tier football is a priority, in which case Penn State clearly has the edge.

Just fyi, Penn State stats are for main campus, fall start, only, so you are comparing apples to apples.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any insights into Pitt Vs Penn State for student interested in business? DS is reading through Fiske to understand the differences but any guidance would be appreciated. We have recently moved to the US and are not very conversant with colleges here.

They're both good schools but very different in feel. The academic stats for students at Pitt are higher than at PSU (1350 SAT/31 ACT/4.07 GPA vs. 1265 SAT/28 ACT/3.58 GPA), but it's not a night and day difference. I think most kids would have a strong preference between the two as one is integrated into a mid-size city and the other is a classic college town in a rural part of the state.

That seems like a pretty big difference.

I’m not sure these stats tell the full story. It seems likely that Pitt is reporting weighted GPAs while Penn State is not. Additionally, the 50th percentile for Penn State on the most recent Common Data Set is slightly higher, with a 29 ACT and 1310 SAT. Based on our out-of-state school’s Naviance scattergram and stats, admissions profiles for Pitt and Penn State seem very similar.

However, the challenge with Penn State is that many applicants we know are offered 2+2 programs or summer starts. Getting a fall start at University Park isn’t guaranteed and may not be straightforward. This dynamic likely skews Penn State’s acceptance statistics due to branch campus and summer start offers.

In terms of education quality, I’d expect both schools to be quite comparable. Penn State does have greater national and international name recognition, which could be a factor if that’s important to you. Ultimately, I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice—unless top-tier football is a priority, in which case Penn State clearly has the edge.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any insights into Pitt Vs Penn State for student interested in business? DS is reading through Fiske to understand the differences but any guidance would be appreciated. We have recently moved to the US and are not very conversant with colleges here.

They're both good schools but very different in feel. The academic stats for students at Pitt are higher than at PSU (1350 SAT/31 ACT/4.07 GPA vs. 1265 SAT/28 ACT/3.58 GPA), but it's not a night and day difference. I think most kids would have a strong preference between the two as one is integrated into a mid-size city and the other is a classic college town in a rural part of the state.

That seems like a pretty big difference.

Anonymous wrote:Penn state is better

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any insights into Pitt Vs Penn State for student interested in business? DS is reading through Fiske to understand the differences but any guidance would be appreciated. We have recently moved to the US and are not very conversant with colleges here.

They're both good schools but very different in feel. The academic stats for students at Pitt are higher than at PSU (1350 SAT/31 ACT/4.07 GPA vs. 1265 SAT/28 ACT/3.58 GPA), but it's not a night and day difference. I think most kids would have a strong preference between the two as one is integrated into a mid-size city and the other is a classic college town in a rural part of the state.