<p>Hi, all:</p>
<p>DD got accepted to 3 PA safeties. We need to decide among them. Pitt, IUP, Bloomsburg.
Major: anthropology. Note: Bloomsburg, despite being a small PA-state school, has a really good Anthro dept. </p>
<p>I just want to get more feedback than from just us. </p>
<p>Yes, very disappointed about the LACs, but such is life.</p>
<p>I live in Central PA, and here’s my take on the situation:</p>
<p>Pitt: Definitely the best all around school. If your daughter likes bigger cities, and isn’t positive that she wants to do anthropology (or if you think there’s a possibility that she might want to do something a little different, like biology) this is probably the best of the three options. (and there will probably be very good connections and oppurtunities at pitt.</p>
<p>Bloomsburg: Good school, and quite good in anthropology as you said. My only fear in suggesting this one is that your daughter will want to change majors, which, if she does, Bloomsburg isn’t the greatest. I know plenty of succesful people who went to Bloomsburg, but I also know loads of people who only go to school to get drunk go to bloomsburg.</p>
<p>IUP: If you really want to go to a small school, but aren’t locked in on anthropology, this is probably a decent option. In my opinion the lesser of the three.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Pitt is an all around great school, although I have no clue what their antro department is like. It has the best reputation and I have friends who go there who really like it. I also have friends at Bloom who like it and the area is nice. The only thing I know about IUP is that it’s a bit of a party school, but like IR09 said, so is Bloom. I live in northeastern PA, if that matters.</p>
<p>If she goes to Pitt, make sure she takes a cultural anthropoly class with Richard Scaglion, he’s one of those “must have” professors. I think the Anthropology department over all is pretty good. It might be useful to look up each of the departments on rate my professors . com and see how the students rate the professors.</p>
<p>I love IUP. It’s the school I plan on getting into. If she is disappointed about not getting into her LACs, try going into the Robert E. Cook Honors College at IUP. It’s one of the best Honors Programs at a public school out there. I know a friend who is anthro at the RECHC and she has the opportunity to study abroad during the summer.</p>
<p>Plus, who can forget about that beautiful oak grove in the middle of campus? :)</p>
<p>Thanks for your input. </p>
<p>We have a day at Pitt next Saturday, and at IUP later in April. We visited Bloomsburg in Feb, but it was rainy and cold and she didn’t get a good impression of the school. </p>
<p>I agree with the problem, ‘what if she changes her major?’ Pitt is probably the best re: that possibility. I believe that there is a good chance of her changing her major. Truth is, she doesn’t have a real clue what she wants to do. Right now, she is waxing lyrical about Art History. Her previous selection of Anthropology was kind of random. </p>
<p>I’ll prob suggest Pitt. And to transfer if she hates it. Maybe by sophomore year, she’ll have more idea. </p>
<p>The gap year in Italy with her dads family doesn’t strike her as feasible as she does not speak the language…</p>
<p>I was hoping that her being tucked away at some delightful LAC would cover all the possibilities: anthro, art history, something else.</p>
<p>We live in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Both my husband and I have a degree from IUP and one from Pitt. DH got a BA in English Lit from IUP, I got a BSN from IUP. DH got a BS in CS from Pitt and I got an MSN from Pitt. DH attended Pitt as an adult student in his 40s, and I attended Pitt as an adult student, also. No idea what undergrad-living-on-campus at Pitt is like. IUP nursing was great, but that is a very directed major. My dh loved his 2 semesters at William and Mary in the early 1960s, before he flunked out from spending too much time in the student union coffee shop discussing literature and politics with other slackers!! ;)</p>