<p>What is favorite thing about Pitt? On the other hand, what is your LEAST favorite thing about Pitt? (Things that affect your daily life/overall college experience.)</p>
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<p>I could say a LOT of things about why I love Pitt and stayed here for my Masters after doing my Undergrad. However, the one that I always seem to mention is this:</p>
<p>I applied to almost exclusively smaller (<10,000 students total) schools except for Pitt. Pitt is a larger school sitting around 18,000+ students. However, not once have I ever felt overwhelmed or “lost in the crowd”. Almost daily I would run into someone I know while walking to class or eating a meal. Even now as a grad student, I see people in the hallways, on the bus, crossing the street. Pitt is the biggest “little campus” I have ever been at, and I’ve never felt like “just a number” or “just another student”. At least from my experience, I have a good group of friends, and professors/staff that really got to know me and keep in touch with me throughout the academic year and onwards. Even now there are still professors or old staff that will give me a hug, not just a hello, if I run into them. That’s pretty impressive.</p>
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<p>Two things (really three) that I had to adjust to:</p>
<p>1.) Lack of Diversity in the <em>general</em> student body. I grew up in the DC Metro area, which is incredibly diverse. Pitt is almost 80% Caucasian, so for me to come here and often times be the only non-white person at an event took a while to get used to (it doesn’t even cross my mind now). It helped that I was in SSOE because Benedum itself tends to be a bit more diverse than the campus as a whole, which helped. </p>
<p>2.) The large number of smokers here. I jokingly tell friends I had to re-learn how to “walk and breathe” because of the insane (in my opinion) number of people who smoke here. I don’t even know if I knew a smoker before college. True story.</p>
<p>3.) It’s cold. I mean, REALLY cold, in the winter. And there are a LOT of days of no sunshine. Luckily I don’t really suffer from seasonal depression, but quite a few students do their first year or two, and that can also be a shock.</p>
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I believe the overall Caucasian US population is about 78% and probably larger as a percentage of the typical college.
[USA</a> QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau](<a href=“http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html]USA”>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html)
Perhaps it’s actually Washington DC that is over represented by non-Caucasians.</p>
<p>Greater Pittsburgh, that is the 7 county area, is 87% white per the 2010 census. The city itself (which is only 58.3 square miles) is 64.8% white.</p>
<p>At the university, the student population is 70.2% white across all schools per last year’s numbers (77.7% white when restricted to undergrads).</p>
<p>In comparison, the Washington, DC metrpolitan area is 54.8% white with the city itself 30.8% white.</p>
<p>The 2010 US census reported 72.4% white nationwide.</p>
<p>Thank you wgmcp101!</p>
<p>So in summary:</p>
<p>The US is approximately 72.4% white nationwide.
The University of Pittsburgh is approximately 70.2% white in the <em>general</em> student body.
Washington DC metropolitan area is about 54.8% white.</p>
<p>It would seem that diversity at Pitt more closely mirrors the national average than the Washington DC metropolitan area and doesn’t necessarily indicate a “lack of diversity”. JMPO…</p>
<p>AwesomeOpossum, Thanks for the response. My son is considering Pitt and we are from the DC area. What you listed on having to adjust to would also be something he would notice. I was pretty sure the campus would not be as diverse as what he is use to but never thought about the smokers. I don’t think he knows anyone who smokes either. Thanks!</p>
<p>AwesomeOpossum-- thank you as always for your thoughtful responses. They always offer an honest perspective on the school. We loved Pitt and my son was so excepted to be accepted into Dietrich. I am a little bit concerned about the size but based on your comments, it seems very personal and manageable. Friendly students too. But I am so surprised about the smoking. We only visited once but we did not notice that at all. It is a bit disappointing I must say. We will be more vigilant when we go back for an Admitted Student day but that could really be a huge turnoff for my son. </p>
<p>I know students can’t smoke in buildings but do they congregate outside of the doors? Or is it just everywhere as you walk down the main streets?</p>
<p>I don’t think it the students who smoke so much - rather the non-academic employees who congregate outside the hospitals and other buildings.</p>
<p>I have to say in all the times we visited in the last four years, I’ve only seen people smoking once or twice outside of a restaurant on Forbes. I’ve never seen smokers near academic buildings or near either Sutherland, Panther or Bouquet where he lives now. I asked my DS and he has only seen a few kids that smoke here and there. He’s very anti-smoking and he hasn’t complained about it.</p>
<p>if you’ve been to Pennsylvania in the last five years (since controls on public smoking have gone into force in several other northeastern states) and haven’t noticed that PA has few prohibitions about public smoking, then the public smoking there probably won’t bother you. I notice it every time I go, but it is no more a problem there than in NC. It is a PA issue, not a uni or city issue.</p>
<p>Aglages, in 2010 nation-wide post-secondary 4-year school enrollment of whites was at 63% nation-wide, so Pitt is less racially/ethnically diverse than the average 4-year post-secondary school. </p>
<p>Pitt’s numbers are likely a reflection of where it is drawing students from, and it draws most students from its home region, as do most publicly supported schools. The Pittsburgh area is less diverse than the average US metro region.</p>
<p>As for smoking at Pitt, I disagree, as I have before, that there are any more smokers at Pitt than the typical college campus. However, Pitt is a much more concentrated campus than most so you are likely to see more smokers huddled into one of the few areas they can escape to, and this includes visitors to the medical center. Smoking policies at the school include a prohibition of doing so within 15 feet of all university owned or leased buildings and a similar policy exits at the medical center, which makes it difficult to find smokable areas within a campus of such urban density. The medical center will implement a new policy that even bars employees from smoking on their breaks beginning this July 1, which means it is essentially initiating a campaign to stamp out smoking among its employees.</p>
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<p>Right! The diversity thing was something I specifically noticed because I grew up in the DC Metro area. I have many friends who came from other parts of PA (or other states) for whom Pitt was <em>more</em> diverse than their home county/town, which was great for them!</p>
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<p>In the nice weather it’s not really noticable because they’ll walk around or go somewhere with ashtray trashcans. In the winter or miserable rainy weather, I do notice them congregated on the Patio of Benedum (most of which is in violation of the 15 foot rule) and close to the doors of the Cathedral of Learning (again violating the 15 foot rule). Just a bit irritating, but nothing bad.</p>
<p>As for the walking down the street thing, that is more in line with what wgmcp101 has said. Since the campus is “shared” with businesses, the hospitals, etc., if you are walking down a particular sidewalk, the person smoking in front of you is <em>much</em> more likely to be a city resident/worker compared to a student.</p>
<p>Hope that clears up confusion- I will say I’m not sure if it’s that I’ve gotten used to it or if it’s actually decreased, but the smoking thing isn’t really an issue to me (I mean it never really was, I was just shocked to see so many smokers). The diversity thing also no longer bothers me the way it initially did, but again I work mainly in Benedum which helps a lot.</p>