DS is choosing between Pitt (OOS) and University of Maryland (in state) for engineering, probably mechanical but not definite, second choice probably Civil. (I just read about Pitt providing exposure to all engineering freshman before they have to decide on a specific engineering which sounds really good.) He was accepted into both honor colleges, and his merit scholarships are making the price of both schools about the same. Here’s my question: I am familiar with UMD’s excellent engineering career services, internship placements, and job placements, but I’m not as confident that Pitt and its geographic region will offer as many choices as Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia do, but I could be completely wrong. Any thoughts? Thank you. 
Hopefully some graduates and/or parents still participate here and will post some responses.
Our D chose Pitt because of their commitment to exposing the engineering students to all of the disciplines and THEN allowing them to choose their major. This is huge. There was a professional conference in the fall (make sure he has professional slacks, etc. when you drop him off at Pitt because the conference is in late September). They have weekly presentations and then in the spring it gets even more detailed with open houses for the different departments. My daughter went from being convinced she wanted bioengineering to having her eyes opened to other possibilities. We know absolutely she would not have had the same experience at some of the other schools where she was accepted.
Thank you @carachel2, your answer is very helpful. Because DS isn’t sure of which type of engineering, those first year conferences, presentations, and openhouses sound extremely valuable. Does the engineering school have an effective career center, if you know? Thanks!
@Sarahsavid We have heard that it is very good but no personal experience yet. I follow a few of the Pitt pages on Facebooks and the specific engineering career fairs, resume prep, interview practice looks solid so far.
@Sarahsavid Like @carachel2, my student is a Freshman Engineering student and agree fully that the first year experience is invaluable - although my son is sticking with his original Computer Engineering track. I remember during the various orientations that we attended, Swanson is committed to honoring all freshmen requests for an engineering major - provided they successfully complete their freshman prerequisites.
Although he has not yet attempted any experiential learning, and is leaning more towards a co-op rather than an internship, one of Pitt’s selling points is that if you “check all the boxes” (i.e. attend a sufficient number of Internship Prep activities) - they guarantee your student will obtain an internship or other experiential learning opportunity.
@ohmomof2boys Thank you for your reply. Taking a co-op rather than an internship is an option I haven’t learned much about yet. It is pretty amazing that as long as they “check the boxes” they can receive a co-op.
Are they still likely to graduate “on time” if they do a co-op? Does a co-op cover both a summer combined with one semester?
Also, your positive feedback about freshman year exposure to options matches @carachel2 experience and I must say that program sounds hard to beat - especially since my son isn’t completely sure which program he wants. I just read about the Engineering Science program - I’ve never heard of that before and I’m not even sure if my son has or not - it sounds fantastic, (and challenging).
Do you have an idea if the co-ops are mainly in the Pittsburgh area or if they are spread out, for instance closer to the DC area? If they are living on campus do they move out of their housing for the semester and then move back in? (clearly I have not done much homework LOL.) Thank you for taking the time to help.
I’m a mom who is feeling apprehensive about his going outside the school decision box that I assumed had been “logical” and air tight, and trying to be completely supportive of a Pitt decision if that’s what’s best for him. 
Co-ops are becoming more and more popular in engineering and yes, extends out the graduation to 5+ yrs perhaps but also you would graduate with practical engineering work experience which helps in job placement. While the engineering co-op office provides employers with access to resumes, hosts a co-op job fair, helps with understanding how to fit a co-op into the schedule (it really is not a one sized fits all but custom to what the employer wants and what the student wants). the actual interviewing and securing the coop position is on the student. They will help review the resumes, send out emails giving heads up about coops that were posted, but they don’t hand a job over to the student.
If the student wants to co-op at a specific company or sees a coop offered in a company say closer to home…they can apply. Most companies hiring for interns seem to now have also a co-op program for engineers/CS. During the coop, students do not pay tuition and if they want/need to live elsewhere, it is on them to get that secured. Here is a listing of employers at the spring fair held recently:
http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/Student/Student-Programs/Coop/Job-Fair/coop-Listing—Page-Content/
Also there is a nice FAQ on that page. Noone is forced to do co-op but it’s an option. They do not typically choose this option until after the first year at least, so you don’t need to be apprehensive (yet). My dd decided as a jr. that she’s interested in doing co-op which is pretty late in the game. She’s in the midst of interviewing with two Pittsburgh companies and her co-op would be for a full year, before returning to finish. Knock wood this will work out for her. She lives off campus so a Pittsburgh location works for us.
Thanks for the great info and first-hand experience @amandakayak - best of luck to your DD - sounds exciting!
@sarahsavid - As far as housing, I think that during either Pittstart or orientation, the Co-op speaker mentioned that if you are still on campus, and end up with a co-op outside of Pittsburgh, they will work with you for the semesters that you are not on campus. My son will be off campus next year, so we’ll just have to figure it out as we go along.
Regarding the length of the program with co-op, my son is pursing a Computer Engineering degree. Their co-op page indicates that their co-op students normally graduate in August instead of April - so just a few months later. At this point it looks as though my son will finish on time due to his AP credits, even with the co-op. But we’ll need to see how it plays out in real life!
Also if you have a merit scholarship, the semester you coop won’t use your scholarship because no tuition is charged for a coop semester, just a coop fee I think.
Just a quick follow up - daughter got the coop and will be working in a local biotech startup (spin off from CMU) for the next year. Coop office has been very helpful and I am really excited for her!