Hello all, this is my first time posting here, but I thought I might as well to get some opinions from people who have some experience. I’m looking into a degree in engineering, and I have been accepted to Pitt as well as some other good schools that I would love to attend. So now it comes down to the selection process.
Pitt has offered me many incentives to attend, which I can elaborate on if necessary, and I think I would love to go there. Unfortunately, the only thing that concerns me is the environment at Pitt. All the other schools I have applied to have tradition college campuses with large quads and open spaces. Pitt is smack in the middle of the city, and when I visited, I noticed a distinct lack of green space. This isn’t a deal-breaker for me, it is just unusual, and not really what I had in mind for college. Yet, I want to be open minded and give every place it’s fair share.
So, I have to ask, anyone who goes to Pitt, went to Pitt, or has any knowledge on the subject, where do students go to relax or just chill? I see on a lot of other campuses, people hanging out on the quad, perhaps sitting in a hammock reading a book, or throwing a frisbee around. What’s the equivalent of that at Pitt, given its very urban setting?
Although I don’t go to pitt, I can check some light on the subject. So in my opinion, Pitt has three small quads, the one by the cathedral, the one by Carnegie library, and the one by the soldiers and sailors museum. If you visit when it’s warm out, most people will be laying down in the grass by Carnegie. I always see people hanging out by throwing frisbee by the other two green spaces. Also, schenly park is very close to pitt and I know students like to hang out there.
Schenley Park, which is adjacent to Pitt, is beautiful. Plenty of green space there! You’d hardly know you were in the middle of a city.
Really good online tour from a sports website (starts with sports facilities, then goes to campus etc.) http://csnbbs.com/thread-564078.html
I can add some of the activities our student (a current Freshman Engineer from the South) has enjoyed. Just Friday she took a long walk through Schenley Park. Said she and a friend thought about ice skating there at the rink, but enjoyed the walk so much, they just continued. She said it was beautiful. She has also enjoyed Kayaking along the river downtown. Even though Pitt is an urban campus, it has a unique feel because it does have the impression of a traditional, more defined campus in most areas of the campus. Bordering the campus are some beautiful residential areas (check Shadyside on Google maps) When we have visited we have enjoyed walking nearby Oakland and also the city of Pittsburgh, it is very pedestrian friendly with lots of beautiful parks all over. The Pittsburgh bridges are all walkable and there are two inclines that take you up in all 4 seasons for spectacular views. You definitely do not get a feeling of “all concrete” or big industrial city. It is really neat and beautiful!
When you visited, did you take the upper campus tour? Honors housing is in Sutherland on upper campus and there’s an expansive lawn in front of that - to the side of Peterson Events center - lots more green space than I would expect from a city school actually.
Thanks for all the replies! I’ll look into Schenley park and the other areas in Pittsburgh as well as the upper campus. Unfortunately, when I visited, we were in a time crunch so I didn’t have a chance to visit that part. The rest of the campus, despite the urban setting, I really liked.