<p>We are taking Pitt's full tuition/honors program offer very seriously for the College of Arts and Sciences, and are planning a visit--but want to decide with eyes wide open, so, what would you say are the both the strengths and weaknesses of the school and/or student body? Did you compare Pitt's Honors Program with those at other colleges? Our other choices are likely to be full ride at state flagships, and some other full tuition offers (top 100 privates), vs. nearly $35K/yr to full freight at a top 20 universities.</p>
<p>What is your student thinking of studying?</p>
<p>When my son and I went for our visit after receiving the same offer we met with the head of the dept he was interested in, went to the Honors College Open House, did the tour and asked a lot of questions.</p>
<p>He also went a visited a club team that he was interested in and spent some time talking to students there.</p>
<p>He liked what he saw and heard that day and that made his decision easier.</p>
<p>If your son got into the honors program and is being offered full tuition I would take it, although I don’t know what his other options are. I’m a Freshman here at Pitt and I’m already in love with it. The academics are way underrated. While obviously not every professor you get is going to be amazing, I feel like I’m getting a great education and since your son would be in honors he would have even more options of what he can take. Because Pitt is so big there are so many options of majors, minors, and certificates and so many different and interesting classes that you can use to fulfill your gen ed requirements. Besides academics, the food here is pretty good (although I’ll admit I’m a little tired of the main dining hall, but there are plenty of other options), great facilities, you get free transportation and other free or discounted things around the city with your student ID, and oakland is such a good college town, not to mention there are plenty of other places to explore around pittsburgh. Generally almost everyone I’ve met is friendly and it’s so easy to make friends and find things to do on the weekends. If you have any other questions let me know.</p>
<p>The honors program is different than some other colleges’ honors programs because it is open membership, except for entering freshman. It tries provide the tools for anyone who is capable and intellectually curious enough to take advantage of its offerings, but it doesn’t punish students who don’t want to take advantage of it (losing scholarship money, etc) and it isn’t a closed community, although it offers honors housing, etc, like other schools. It is also does an extremely good job of getting students into meaningful undergrad research and is very successful grooming its students for high profile awards like Rhodes (3 in the last five years), Marshalls, Trumans, Fulbrights, etc…if you read their publicity, Pitt has churned out more Rhodes and Marshalls than any other school in PA over the last decade, and there are some good schools in PA.</p>