<p>I'm trying to find good reasons to pick UPitts over MIT/Rice. Money is a factor. If I go to U of Pitt, I go entirely for free. If I go to Rice, I've probably got an 8-10k loan per year. MIT - 13-15k per year. All of this even with financial aid. So, any reasons why I should pick the University of Pittsburgh over MIT or Rice?</p>
<p>What is your intended area of study?</p>
<p>Ahh, Astrophysics. Second choice: anthropology.</p>
<p>i wouldnt go to pitt, actually i dunno how u feel about it, its my safety school and i woul dhave a free ride too but if i get accepted elsewhere i will have to do some serious considering</p>
<p>deepnds how much money is a factor.....
see how much ud be in debt or how u can pay off the debt or so if u go to mit/rice
but personally... if i got into mit and if that had been like my dream school. ..yea id go and id work as hard as i could and not mess up once im there
its small factors that will influence ur decision now
glcuk</p>
<p>Does Pitt even have astrophysics? In a recent Gourman Report (if you believe these things), MIT is #1 is astrophysics with no mention in anthropology. Pitt is #23 in anthropology with no mention for astrophysics. Overall, MIT is #5 for Physics and Pitt is #33 for Physics. I know people on this board love Rice, but Rice is not mentioned as a top program for either astro, physics or anthro. I would see if MIT would get me into a better grad school than Pitt, assuming you could get the same grades at each university. (Look up or ask where the students go upon graduation). I think that once you are in graduate school, no one will care where your undergrad was from.</p>
<p>Hmm, all good reasons to make MIT a solid 100% instead of the 99% it is right now. Well, I'm looking at probably a 30-50k debt after undergrad at MIT. And I'm 99% sure I'm going directly to grad school (Oxford is top choice b/c it's my grad dream school). So...any thoughts on that? thanks for the feedback, btw.</p>
<p>I would go to MIT - although you may not to repay the loans, an MIT education and the jobs and doors that it will open for you are endless and truely priceless. But that's just my $0.02...</p>
<p>It seems we have something in common, but I found the decision a no-brainer. Two years ago Pitt generously offered me an Honors Scholarship which covered out-of-state tuition, I then interviewed for a Chancellor's(with Alex Stewart) and for the med school guarantee. However, when my acceptance came from MIT I was out of there...End of story and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Just a couple of things about MIT. First, they provide the best financial aid packages you are likely to get from anywhere, so don't rule it out on the basis of cost without seeing their aid package. Secondly, be prepared to work harder than you have ever worked in your life...and not just on the tech side...there are more req.s than I could ever imagined...there are no gut courses... they generally don't curve anything... I have written more pages of essays in one semester here than I did in 4 years of high school...I had never come close to failing an exam certainly not a MATH exam...but I failed my first two(everyone else here had 5s on the AP exam too, plus many had competed in the math olympiad,or did number theory as a hobby!). But you WILL come to love it here, the people, the community the culture, THE WORK. After getting completely toasted in my 1st year, I was amazed that I couldn't wait for the summer to be over so I could get back. And as a course 16 major(aero/astro)you will get more hands on experience than most of the PhD students at Pitt. I don't mean to be arrogant but I am constantly amazed by the way people respond when they know you're from the better Cambridge school! Finally, an MIT degree is without equal when it comes to the job market...everyone recruits here because we learn marketable skills both in our classes and in our UROPS.
Good Luck</p>
<p>wow thanks for the feedback. ourclan, you especially. its good to hear from someone with experience in these matters.</p>
<p>answer: you shouldn't</p>
<p>/thread</p>
<p>dude GO TO RICE. you live in Texas! It would suck to travel all the way up northeast all the time. You are lucky that you have the opportunity to go to a prestigious university close to home. Also, Pitt is a very urban campus. Being from texas, i dont know how the transition of lifelstyle would be, unless you live in Dallas or something</p>
<p>stay down south... i would go to Rice....Pittsburgh is a nice place though I am in the same situation as you but I am deciding between Pitt and Michigan.</p>
<p>hmmm. well to complicate matters, i got accepted to Harvard a couple of days ago. though I havent received fin aid yet, i hear they are good about that.</p>