<p>Someone said earlier than no one ever posts here, so I thought I would.</p>
<p>I live in Baltimore and am going to make it up to Pittsburgh on the 30th to attend the Getting Ready program. I was wondering if anyone had ever gone to one of these, and if so, was it a worthwhile experience? When they say "scholarship presentations," are they just telling you what the scholarships are or are they going into greater detail about how you would go about becoming likely to receive one? </p>
<p>Really I'm just looking forward to touring the campus and Pittsburgh, as well. I'm not one for guided group tours, but we'll be arriving sort of late, anway, since if we wanted to get there when the program started we'd have to leave at three in the morning. So my mother and me doing the tour on our own won't be a problem, I don't think. I just wanted to catch some of their spiels (especially the ones about aid and scholarships, because I could never attend Pitt without some form of aid...out-of-state tuition blows...), which seem to run throughout the day. </p>
<p>We'll be spending the night in Pittsburgh, so as students, are there any places in Pittsburgh that you would recommend me definitely making a point of visiting? </p>
<p>And general opinions about the school would be appreciated, too! My mother is oddly frightened by the Cathedral of Learning...how could I convince her to go in?</p>
<p>I don't know anything about the Getting Ready program, but it sounds like it is geared toward HS juniors. I thought Pitt did just about the best job of tours and programs of any college we looked at. Tell you mom not to be intimidated by the Cathedral of Learning. It's really awesome architecture. The first floor has the Nationality Rooms (they give tours or you can look on your own) and the top two floor are newly renovated and house the Honors College. It has been standing since the 1930's, so your mom is probably safe! Maybe the admissions office can give you a self-guided tour map, or maybe a Pitt Pathfinder (tour guide) can take you individually on a tour. Ask about this...they are very accommodating and probably will take you individually. This way you will see alot more of the campus.</p>
<p>Pitt gives out university scholarships and the individual colleges give them out, too. If you have a high gpa, rank and test scores, you can compete for the Chancellors Scholarship which is a 4 year full ride.</p>
<p>My son is going to study engineering, I attended Pharmacy and my husband got his MBA at Pitt. I think all of the programs were good. I know about alot of other programs at Pitt, so feel free to ask if you have any particular interests.</p>
<p>The area immediately surrounding Pitt has lots to do (although these are not really student hangouts). There is the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Scaife Art Gallery, the Phipps Conservatory and Schenley Park. If you go outside of Oakland, you can visit the Carnegie Science Center, the Heinz History Museum and others. You could dine and shop at Station Square (ride the incline if you go here) or the Waterfront (visit Dave and Busters if you go here). Too bad the Pirates are not in town that day, or you could take in a baseball game. We have lots of cultural events with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and the Civic Light Opera, but not on your visit day. Shadyside is a nice place to visit, and close to Oakland. There is upscale shopping and some nice restaurants. They have a street art festival in mid-August.</p>
<p>There are other colleges in the immediate vicintity, in case you want to look while you are in the area: Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Carlow and Chatham come to mind.</p>
<p>Good luck with your visit...hope this helps!</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! I'd love to ride the funicular (I was recently in Europe and was on one about every other day, it seemed). </p>
<p>I've read about all the different types of scholarships, and while I definitely don't qualify for the Chancellor's Scholarship, I was hoping I might have a chance at a University Scholarship. But it seems like you've got to be in the top five percent of your class to be considered. Tests scores aren't really a problem for me, but my GPA is somewhere between a 3.4-3.5, putting me in the top...eight percent or something. I really don't know, I can never keep up with all the numbers. I was kind of hoping my heavy involvement (inside and outside school) in foreign languages would help me. We'll see! </p>
<p>Again, thanks for all the wonderful tips! I'm thinking of double-majoring in Spanish and some other subject--Anthropology, Linguistics, etc. Actually, I know that you can study Linguistic Anthropology...I thought I might enjoy that.</p>
<p>The spanish department is a lot of fun and has a great summer abroad opportunity with la universidad de alcala in spain where you take 3 classes straight towards your major. Linguistics is pretty light major from what I hear so doubling up won't be that hard. I'm a spanish and math major and am not finding the work to be unmanageable. Also you should have a shot at getting a pitt grant from the school since you're from out of state. You won't find the information for it anywhere, but I'm from out of state too and they ended up giving me a grant for 7000 dollars.</p>
<p>Well, I had an excellent time! The program was nicely organised and the students were very accessible. The gentleman who gave the admissions and financial aid presentation was informative, but not especially engaging...and he rather made it out to be that receiving a scholarship was basically impossible unless you were academically flawless, but if that's the truth, then that's the truth. The gentleman who gave the extraordinary opportunities presentation was very personable and kind of funny. He definitely made it sound like Pitt has much to offer internationally. </p>
<p>I liked the campus, too. The cathedral was utterly...massive. I thought the inside was really wicked, and we checked out all the nationality rooms. We spent some time on Craig Street then. We went to this really inexpensive noodle restaurant that gave us so much food that I think I finished about a quarter of it. Then there was this little used bookstore that we spent about an hour in. </p>
<p>Before we left this morning we walked around Schenley Park and through some of the gardens at Phipps. Really beautiful.</p>
<p>That's great, ats7321, that the school gave you such a generous grant. Grants are based on financial need, though, aren't they? I know I probably don't qualify for any financial aid, unfortunately If it were just for being out-of-state, though, then hey, that'd be wonderful!</p>
<p>potente,
I'm glad you had such a good visit! There's always alot going on in Oakland. If you intend to apply, apply early because Pitt has rolling admissions. It will be a load off your mind if you can go into Christmas break with one acceptance under your belt. If you have a 3.5 gpa, a 1350 on the SAT and are in the top 5% of your class, you will be invited to apply for that awesome Chancellors scholarship. Even if you don't get it, you will get at least a couple thousand for being a chancellors nominee.</p>
<p>yeah the grant was based on financial aid but I think they tend only to give it to out of state students since we have to pay so much to go there. Glad you liked the school, and I see that you found lulu's noodle shop, I love their food! Good luck with everything!</p>