Help me select: UPitt vs Penn State for CS

College Search & Selection
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I have to select between the following schools soon. I’ve been admitted to both UPitt and PSU for CS. I understand ranking is better for PSU CS/Engineering school, but all the top tech companies will come to Pitt as well since they come to CMU next door. With PSU, while the CS/Engineering may give more opportunities in research and number of faculties available, Pitt may give exposure to many more companies hiring CS graduates.

Both are OOS. The other options with admit so far are: Clemson, Indiana (Luddy), GMU (in-state).

Also, wait listed at the two most wanted schools, VT and Purdue.

Parents are OK with paying tuition. More students from my school are going to Pitt than PSU if that matters, and heard campus life is better at Pitt than UP. If it means job prospects are same after 4 years for both places, then preference is for school with more friends attending/better campus life.

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City that Pitt is apart of or small town that the college is all of

That’s the real consideration here .

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Pay attention to any secondary admission requirements if you do not have direct admission to the CS major.

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Direct admit to CS major, at both places in question, and all the other schools listed.

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Gm = George Mason ? In state ? Go there. Save $$. Css people could go to northern Guam u and get a job

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University of Guam does have a CS major, but with a very limited list of CS courses: Computer Science Courses | University of Guam

GMU has a much larger list of CS courses:

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U missed my point. Any school in America that u earn a CS degree from will lead to a good future.

GMu is an underrated school. Go there. Dave $$. Just bcuz u can afford more doesn’t mean you need to

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Penn State slightly above Pitt in CS; probably go with the campus that fits you best. Both significantly above George Mason. VT better than Penn State. Purdue best of the bunch by a mile if you get off the waitlist.

Between Pitt and Penn State, campus life depends on what you want; both styles have big fans.

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What are your sources for “companies that come to CMU will come to Pitt”?
I’ve never heard of it but it’s not impossible. Hoping you can shed light, I’m interested.

Have you been able to visit either campus?

Pitt has a compact, urban campus in a cool neighborhood in a major city. It has more commuters but it’s got real campus life. Magnificent high rise called Cathedral of Learning. Good sports team. Strong STEM. More regional in reach, more midwestern. Good scholarships for top1% scorers.

Penn State is in a quintessential college town, everything is there to make college students’life pleasant. Very, very large campus with an arboretum, a mix of historical and brand new buildings, landscaping, the whole thing - called “Happy Valley” for a reason. Great stadium, basketball/concert arena, and library. Football fans. Professionally, the reputation of Penn State engineers stretches all along the Eastern seaboard, you can’t find a company in PA, NYS, Md, DC, VA who hasn’t had a Penn state engineer.

Basically, there’s no wrong choice, it really depends on what you like best.

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What are your sources for “companies that come to CMU will come to Pitt”?
I’ve never heard of it but it’s not impossible. Hoping you can shed light, I’m interested.

Current student who has attended some of these job fairs. Both campuses are next to each other, so the recruiters who visit to CMU also offer interviews to Pitt students. I don’t know, like you have to top student at Pitt to get a job that way. You get some free stuff though.

How does the campus culture at PSU compare, is it too isolated or rural, what about sports, and clubs all that .

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Good to know about the job fairs!

It’s strange, because it IS rural but it doesn’t FEEL rural because between the campus and the town, it doesn’t feel like you’re in a rural area (mostly because unless you’re in the College of Ag, you don’t see a lot of the “rural” parts of State College). First, you have a HUGE campus, if you walked from one end to the other it’d likely take you 2 hours. Then you have 35,000 undergrads together plus grad students plus faculty, so there’s always people on the move, things getting organized, concerts, big games or intramurals, conferences, big guest speaker lectures, career fairs, club meetings, outdoors trip, free films, etc, etc so there’s even more to do for college kids than in a typical city. Finally if you really really miss high-rises, you can take the Megabus to NYC (it’s something like 5 hours I think), Philly is about 4 hours away as well as Pittsburgh - but in reality, there’s so much to do students rarely go elsewhere.
As for sports, career fairs… @jlhpsu can probably tell you more.

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As a lifelong Pittsburgh resident and bleed blue and white Penn Stater - I’d say Penn State beats Pitt hands down for atmosphere and campus beauty. Pitt is in Oakland which is not a very nice part of the city. It’s a pretty urban environment with all that brings (homeless, crime, etc). It’s smaller than Penn State, its football stadium is not on campus which makes for somewhat lacking sports enthusiasm. Penn State fills up 110,000 people every Saturday. Pitt averages about 40,000 per game and most of those are not students. Pitt is a good school, but the buildings are interspersed with other city buildings and there is no defined Pitt “campus”. It’s a great school for medicine, but if you are going for CS, I still think Penn State edges out Pitt.

Given that Penn State and Pitt are both good academically - the question to ask is what type of college atmosphere do you want.

A lot of people (who’ve never been there) think Penn State is “rural” or “in the middle of nowhere”. Yes, it is a college town, but there isn’t much you can’t find that you need in State College. It is a bustling town full of opportunities. State College Metro area has over 160,000 people.
Also, Penn State has the largest career fair east of the Mississippi River. Companies are on a waitlist for YEARS just to get in. You will not have ANY trouble whatsoever connecting with companies.
Penn State also has national and international draw in that it’s more well known globally than Pitt.

One thing to note, however, is that you aren’t actually a direct admit at Penn State. Nobody is (unless you are in a direct entry major such as nursing, etc). You will still have to complete the entry to major requirements to get in at the end of sophomore year. But as long as you meet the requirements, you are in. In some schools, the requirements are to STAY in the major. At Penn State the requirements are to get IN to a major and then after that you just need to graduate or keep up the GPA that is required by that major. For CS, the entry to major requirements are:

29-55 graded Penn State credits (excludes transfer and AP credits)
completed with a grade of C or better: CMPSC 121 or CMPSC 131, CMPSC 122 or CMPSC 132, MATH 140, MATH 141, PHYS 211
earned a minimum cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.10

So if at the end of your sophomore year (or whenever you are in that credit window) and you’ve met these requirements, then you are in.

I know tons of kids who’ve gone to Pitt. It’s just a different experience than Penn State. More rough around the edges and less school spirit and cohesiveness. For me, Penn State blows that out of the water. But again, if you are looking for a city school then Pitt may be right for you.

Penn State is a 4 hour drive to NYC, Pittsburgh is 2.5 hours, Philly about 3 hours. Harrisburg and DC also not far. You can be anywhere in an afternoon. But more than that, you don’t have to be. The companies come to you. I promise that won’t be an issue. Everything else you need to consider, but whether you will be exposed to companies at Penn State is not a concern.

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@jlhpsu Thank you, that’s so great to hear. Can I ask you if high tech companies hire from Penn State, and who some of them are? I was hoping to get into Purdue originally since their CS program is known to have opportunities at some of the major tech companies, unfortunately I’ve been waitlisted at Purdue. VT was my next choice, and they too have waitlisted, unless I get pulled off the waitlist these two (Pitt & PSU) are the options to chose from.

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Why not call each school’s career department and talk to a counselor.

So much recruiting is done on-line today. My son got his internship at a major automotive OEM - it was all online. That’s how most kids are finding stuff.

Penn State is a career monster. I promise all the biggies are going - and even if not, they all post jobs directly and that’s how most kids are getting gigs today. Pitt will be solid too.

Focus on the right school for you as a person as you’ll be there four years. The career stuff is going to work out anywhere.

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High Tech companies definitely hire from Penn State. There will be tech only job fairs as well as research, internship and co op opportunities. Penn State is a powerhouse at career recruiting. Purdue likely is as well.
When you get up to the caliber of schools of Penn State, Purdue, Virginia Tech…They are all great options and I don’t think you could go wrong at any. You won’t have any fewer opportunities at Penn State vs the others. College is usually what you make it anyway. The opportunities are there at Penn State.

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Dont go here your saving on average $7k a year but the connections you make at pitt are worth the while

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Sorry! Didn’t realize this was an old post!

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I’m guessing he’s now in school since it was 9 months ago he wrote. @iam4trying where did you end up ?

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:woman_facepalming:t2: