<p>That older topic seemed to die awhile ago, but it was pretty informative, so I figured I'd make a similar topic.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman at Pitt and I'm from Pittsburgh, so I can answer pretty much any question about Pitt and the surrounding area. </p>
<p>I may not know much about specific things (I'm not in the Honors program, for example, although I know they live in Forbes).</p>
<p>In any case, ask away.</p>
<p>My D is considering Pitt and we are going to see it soon. She is interested in a medical career, possibly as a Physician Assistant. She wants a good campus life but likes the idea of a city with theatre, arts, etc. Do you have any input on the sciences at Pitt and the advising? She would need a lot of advising to keep her on track for her goal since most Grad level PA programs have a lot of requirements and like their candidates to have some clinical experience (another good thing about being near the city).</p>
<p>How’s the social life? How difficult are your classes?</p>
<p>EPTR, Pitt is known for its medical sciences resources because of the medical school and UPMC. You won’t find a dearth of places for clinical experiences here.</p>
<p>As for advising, for most schools, it is usually up to the student to keep track of what classes they need to take for the graduate school they are aiming for. An advisor could help, but the student still needs to do much of the planning themselves.</p>
<p>I personally am not involved in the medical sciences; however, I have had only good experiences with my advisor. I basically came into each meeting with my classes already in mind (I think there’s 2 or 3 mandatory per semester) but they make sure you are fulfilling gen ed requirements.</p>
<p>At Pitt, if I understand it correctly, every student in the Arts and Sciences school has an advisor within A&S, until they select a major. At that point, they get assigned an advisor within the major department. So I’d imagine that an advisor in Biology/Chemistry/etc. would be very knowledgeable about grad school reqs.</p>
<p>Social life: pretty good. I live in the Sutherland dorm, which to be honest isn’t really for me. It’s the perfect place for a group of friends, but it’s kind of hard to meet people on your floor simply because of the layout (rooms are further back from the hall.)</p>
<p>That said, I spend a ton of time in Towers and have met a ton of interesting people (most of which are from my classes).There’s always a lot to do in Oakland, and if you’re up for exploring, there’s a multitude of colleges and neighborhoods to visit within walking / bus distance. A few weeks ago a friend and I briefly went to CMU, Point Park and Duquesne for a night to check them out; we were back in 4-5 hours.</p>
<p>Classes: I didn’t particularly like one or two of my classes, although that’s because they aren’t in subjects I’m interested in. Overall, the professors are good, even in the subjects you may not like. For example, I was in a microecon course (a hated subject) but still managed to get out with a C+ because of the curve.</p>
<p>I’d say in general the classes are relatively difficult, but not too much so.</p>
<p>just to add on to pandem’s response… </p>
<p>social life… pretty easy to meet people. if you’re in towers and friendly you’ll find a nice group of friends on your floor to eat with, hang out in rooms, and go out on weekends… as for weekends… a majority go out to parties and drink, but you can also go to the waterfront for movies and great places to eat. there are museums/art and whatnot around the campus and city. a lot of sporting events(pens, pitt bball/football,steelers,pirates) and concerts throughout the year. </p>
<p>classes… UHC classes are difficult. regular classes are not difficult but aren’t easy either. basically if you go to class, do your homework, and study you can get a solid B.</p>
<p>How is the political science/history program there? And also how are the extracurricular activities?</p>
<p>Not sure on the ranking/etc. Pitt has a decent law school though. I do know a lot of bright people who are majoring in PoliSci, if that means anything. Another possibility is the Politics and Philosophy major, which basically combines PoliSci and Phil courses. Pitt is 3 or 4th in the world (!) in undergrad philosophy.</p>
<p>Lots of extracurricular activities. There’s always something going on. There’s a giant fair at the beginning of every year where every club has a stand and recruits members. It takes up a huge space (pretty much the entirety of the Towers-Posvar bridge, the inside of Posvar and the outside of Posvar.) </p>
<p>The 2009 Students Activities Fair was held this year on August 30th and was a great success. There were over 260 organizations represented and about 4000 students in attendance. We would like to thank all of the University staff members who helped make this event a success and look forward to an even greater event next year. See you in 2010!</p>
<p>Posvar is a pretty big building, so I’d say there’s a lot of clubs/etc. going on.</p>
<p>There’s also OCC (Out of the Classroom curriculum) which basically means you can swipe your Pitt ID at pretty much any event and receive a special marking on your diploma or something similar like that.</p>
<p>Check out these sites:</p>
<p>[Division</a> of Student Affairs](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/]Division”>http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/)
[Outside</a> the Classroom Curriculum: Your Pitt Pathway](<a href=“http://www.occ.pitt.edu/]Outside”>http://www.occ.pitt.edu/)
[Student</a> Organization Resource Center](<a href=“http://www.sorc.pitt.edu/]Student”>http://www.sorc.pitt.edu/)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info and the good links. Also the Politics and Philosophy major sounds pretty interesting, so I might have to look into that.</p>
<p>PS and History are among top 40 undergrad. Can’t remember where I saw the listings, but it was this year.</p>
<p>Yup.</p>
<p>Here’s more info on that major. Looks like it includes 3 econ courses as well.</p>
<p>[Politics</a> and Philosophy Major](<a href=“http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/courses/politics-philos.html]Politics”>http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/courses/politics-philos.html)</p>
<p>I think I read in U.S. News and World Report that Pitt was ranked high in those fields, but it might have been for Graduate. Not sure what the connection is between Undergrad and Grad though.</p>
<p>Do you have to choose the premed option on the application to be considered a premed student when you enroll for fall classes or can you just tell your advisor of your intent to go on to Medical school after you graduate from undergrad?</p>
<p>I really couldn’t tell you; sorry. I’m not in a science-related major.</p>
<p>On another thread someone said Pitt is a “commuter” college. Would you agree?</p>
<p>About 30 percent of Pitt students are from out-of-state. I would not say Pitt is a commuter college although being in a city, certainly some students are local.</p>
<p>It’s a state university intmof…obviously there are going to be a lot of locals due to the relatively low cost of attendance.</p>
<p>Yes, but a “commuter” college is usually one where the students generally don’t live on campus, but live at home, so there is very little activity on campus, especially on weekends.</p>
<p>I would not call Pitt a “commuter” college. There is plenty of people living in the dorms that stay during the weekends. Commuter colleges – few students residing in dorms and they commute back/forth from their home to school.</p>
<p>Nope, I wouldn’t call it a commuter college. Of all the people I know, only 1 goes home every weekend (because his girlfriend lives back home.) But she’s going to a nearby school once she graduates HS, so he most likely won’t be going back home. He still lives in the dorm though.</p>