I am trying to decide between Pitt and OSU. I am paying very little at either school (tuition would be almost identical), and my major will be Microbiology either way. I plan on going pre-med but I like the Public Health program at OSU as well. Pitt is 20 minutes from home while OSU is 3.5 hours, but I do want to get away. I like both campuses. So torn. I have 4 days to decide. Help?
@krausea9 I would not let “honors” be the determinative factor. Neither is an honors college but rather being in honors allow you to get priority registration, live in honors housing (with other top students stats wise and intellectually), and get to take honors sections of courses. There are also research opportunities and you need to maintain a high gpa to remain in honors. My son was in honors at Ohio State the first two years and then did not continue, because as a preprofessional student (fisher business) he felt the business courses were challenging enough without the added rigor of the honors sections; and he also didn’t want to do the required research and write a honors thesis senior year. He is graduating next week and has a great four years at tOSU.
The one difference between Pitt and Ohio State Honors is that non-honors students at Pitt are allowed to participate in honors courses and programs. I’d pick the school based on other factors such as your possible interest in the Public Health program at tOSU and comfort/fit—do you prefer being in a city environment or do you like the campus feel and greenery, mirror lake, of tOSU more?
Another advantage of tOSU is better top level sports teams and if you are a sports fan the football games at Ohio State are right on campus whereas for Pitt you have to take buses to the Stadium downtown where they play their games. And finally if it’s still a tie, consider that Pitt has lots of hills to walk up whereas the Ohio’s state campus is flat. And tOSU has all new dorms on North campus whereas the dorms at Pitt are old. As you know both are great schools and will provide you the academic foundation for med school.
Choose the one that has a higher success rate placing students into medical school. They likely both publish their stats.
Disagree, strongly. The reader has absolutely no way to understand how the numbers are assembled.
Pitt Honors is great. Pitt also has a top tier med school nearby for research and volunteer activities.
Have you visited each campus?
Since cost is not a factor, go with whichever you like best.
@bkuebayou, all one has to do is call the schools and ask. This isn’t rocket science.
I agree you should pick based on fit, i.e., where would you most enjoy spending the next four years? What did you think when you visited? Which campus / city seemed most appealing? Do both schools offer the kinds of clubs, activities, club sports, intramurals that you would enjoy? Do you care about D1 sports — a great college sports team adds a heck of a lot of fun to the college experience for many. (I was at Arizona during a great basketball period; my sons just celebrated winning the NCAA national championship at UVA). To get a decent impression of the student body in terms of humor, campus concerns, and entertainment, read their online school papers. And google “Top tens” and “best of” : “Ten best things about Pitt,””Ten best experiences at Ohio State,” “Ten best professors / classes at Pitt,” etc. It will give you a good idea of what students like best about their respective schools. And check out the course catalogs in your areas of interest. One program might sound more appealing than the other. Good luck!!
There is little if any information in med school admit rates.
To start with students are not randomly assigned to each school, so if the characteristics of the students differ so will the admit rate. I’m going to predict the Stanford admit rate is much higher than San Jose State 20 miles away.
Another big factor is the committee letter (for colleges that have them). OSU does not, Pitt does according to https://www.pitt.edu/~sorc/poms/committee.html The committee can decide what level of MCAT and gpa is needed for their top recommendation so they indirectly control who will even apply. Let me write the letters and I can get any college in the country an 80% admit rate.
To the OP I’ll say the real question to address at this point isn’t which college but why an M.D? When a lot of HS kids think of a career in medicine it becomes “I’m pre-med!” and they happily embark on a track that will take 11+ years of school/training plus enormous debt. Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, to name but just a few. as you can see on http://explorehealthcareers.org Unless you’ve considered the alternatives and spent time actually working in a health care setting (which is an unwritten requirement to get into med school, BTW) its better to think of yourself as interested in exploring a career as a doctor rather than someone who has already made the decision.
Most students entering college with the idea of med school end up not pursuing it. Those who have spent time exploring it & volunteering are more likely to persist. If this is you, great. If not, then I’d suggest heavily weighing which school you’d want to be at if your goals change.
If you’re premed, go with tOSU since they don’t have committee letters and Pitt does. Committee letters are used to “screen out” potential med school applicants. (The number of med school admits is faulty because it is “after culling abut 75% premeds and deciding which remaining students will get a committee letter, those with a committee letter were successful …% of the time”. It doesn’t tell your odds of making it to committee letter, let along med school.)
However, most premeds never make it to med school, so, if you were to switch majors and choose another path, which college would you prefer?
Then of course, are they counting any med school, including those off shore? I’m guessing that most aspiring premeds don’t aspire to attend Guadalajara.
Or, what about a lit/hum grad who attends a top Post-bac and then gets into med school? Is that fair to claim that person in the numerator?
So yeah, not rocket science, but the numerator and denominator can be manipulated, so telling kids to ask for med school acceptance rates is a waste of time, IMO.
Holy Cross has long touted its ~80% acceptance rate… do you really believe that they are better than HYP in med school placement (given that HYP recruit for the world’s strongest test takers which will do well on the MCAT)? Of course, not. But HC has a health Committee which essentially restricts lower stat kids from applying. (Sure, anyone can apply, but Med schools know that if a kid from HC does not have a Committee rec, they are not the creme of the crop.)
thank you everyone for your help! I took everything into consideration and have decided on Ohio State 
Congratulations!