<p>I've determined my college decision is likely going to come down to Pitt and Penn State; I've been accepted into both for business. </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone has insight or experience with the business school at Pitt and what some of the pros/cons are. I know that Penn State's business is higher ranked, but I feel that the internship opportunities available in Pittsburgh would make up for the difference in ranking. Any thoughts?</p>
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<p>I think you might be right there, Pittsburgh is a pretty big city for job opportunities and there are a lot of suburbs to go to as well for internships. State College is pretty isolated in comparison I would think.</p>
<p>Agreed, AwesomeOpossum. Definitely a factor that I will take into serious consideration in making my decision. </p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>
<p>I’d be leery about going to PSU these days. Fair or not, there is a stigma attached to that school now, particularly outside the state of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>wgmcp101, you’re right, Penn State’s reputation has taken a major hit recently amidst all the chaos. However, I feel that by the time that I would graduate (4.5 years from now) that most would have moved on from the scandal, so I’m going to try to not let that influence my decision.</p>
<p>That scandal isn’t going away for years. It’s going to be tied up in the criminal proceedings for over a year or more, and then the civil suites will be additional years. You have still have investigations by the Commonwealth, the FBI, and the Department of Education, not to mention the school itself and possibly the NCAA not including all the reporters milling about, some of them just getting started. Heck, they haven’t even gotten to the preliminary hearings. It is not a stretch to call it the worst scandal in higher education and sports history. Even if it is over in five years, people will be studying it and talking about it and writing about it for decades. If you think of school as an investment, it is not a frivolous concern worry about the trajectory of the perception value of a PSU diploma, as a major part of that institution was wrapped around the image of their football program. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good experience and a great education there, but I would seriously evaluate equivalent options, Pitt or not. Fair or not, perception is reality. Just my personal opinion.</p>
<p>I grew up very close to State College and now live in San Francisco. Talking to people back home, there seems to be a major disconnect between how people view the scandal around that area and how those outside of that sphere of influence view it. Part of that clear disconnect is why PSU has looked so bad in all of this to outsiders; there seems to be a sort of an alternative view of reality there. I can’t begin to tell you how bad the scandal and subsequent happenings made PSU, and even the entire state, look to outsiders, but no one can predict the future in how all of this will play out.</p>
<p>I guess we’ll have to see how it all plays out. Luckily Im accepted into Pitt and PSU so I have a lot of time to think about which school would be the best for me. </p>
<p>Anyone with any insight into Pitt’s business school?</p>
<p>I’m a current freshman in the business school, and I really enjoy it. First off, The Katz School of Business is the graduate business school at Pitt. The undergraduate school is called the College of Business Administration (CBA). Pitt isn’t known for its business school, but it’s actually the second largest school at Pitt behind A&S. There’s a lot of opportunities to get involved in the business school early on in clubs and such, but you don’t start taking business courses until sophomore year usually, so I can’t speak to how those are. From what I hear though, the professors are passionate about what they teach. CBA really excels at getting companies in to recruit students, and Pittsburgh is a great city for business students. There are 8 fortune 500 companies in downtown alone (Dick’s Sporting Goods, PNC Bank, Heinz, etc.) that recruit heavily from Pitt and offer a lot of internships for undergraduate students. Just this first semester I attended the Fall Career Conference and met with several employers about possible future internship opportunities, and I have a couple friends that already have internships lined up for the summer. Overall it’s a great program that’s becoming more and more well known, and I definitely suggest you enroll!</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback zmvnyy, very much appreciated.</p>
<p>FYI, Katz essentially runs the undergrad College of Business Administration. At Pitt (and at many other places), the hierarchy is that colleges are components of Schools, and Schools are components of Universities. Likely, Pitt is waiting for someone to make a giant donation, like Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences and Swanson School of Engineering, and will then it will be called something like the ZMVNYY College of Business Administration, but it is a component of Katz.</p>