<p>I've been reading positive things about Pitt which is why I am asking the question. It sounds like a great place for those that want a large school in a city environment and don't want to pay private school tuition.</p>
<p>Good question. We're paying out of state tuition for our daughter to attend Pitt. She's a first term freshman now</p>
<p>She liked Pitt for its city environment. . .and smaller size than our in-state school (OSU) in a city environment. She did not like any of the small liberal arts colleges we visited, or colleges in college-towns.</p>
<p>Her academic interest is in life sciences, microbiology. Pitt seems academically strong in the area, so it seemed like a reasonable choice to us parents.</p>
<p>I guess time will tell if it's worth the additional $$$.</p>
<p>Definitely a good question. I can't answer directly as D has a scholarhip that pays the OOS tuition for us. If she didn't have that and we had to pay full freight, well, let's just say that would have made the decision a lot more difficult, considering what her other choices were.</p>
<p>What would you be comparing Pitt to? A lot of the answer depends on what your other choices would be in that price range.</p>
<p>Also, consider that Pittsburgh has a terrific public transportation system and you definitely do not need a car there. That saves you a lot in both car payments, gas, parking fees and insurance. We just got our renewal for our cars and you might save enough just off not having a car to fund the difference in tuition.</p>
<p>Plus your parents get a discount for OOS driver with no vehicle (at least our insurance company does that).</p>
<p>One other thing. Do you actually have the money to pay the OOS tuition? I personally am not a big fan of student loans at the undergraduate level and finances is what I meant when I said the decision would have been more difficult. D would probably still have Pitt the #1 choice (assuming we would have spent the money to go see it w/o a scholarship or other interview), but financially it would have been a whole different picture, especially as the local state u. has a good honors college and she qualified for a total free ride there (which would have freed up the cash for the car she would have needed to attend).</p>
<p>I agree with chrisd that for life sciences, medicine or anything health care related Pitt has an awesome reputation and outstanding facilities. The nursing school is top ten, Bio E is now #14 USNW and the Philosophy dept. is second behind Princeton. All the sciences are good.</p>
<p>A lot of this depends on your finances and your major and your alternatives.</p>
<p>My d is a nursing student and we are paying out of state tuition. My d was admitted to many top-notch universities for nursing and other private elite lacs, as well. Even though some offered her presidential scholarship awards, she opted for Pitt. Pitt has some outstanding academic opportunities. The city is very welcoming to college kids. The students are friendly, smart, and nice. Pitt has so much to offer and its location is an added bonus. It is worth it!</p>
<p>My kid is looking at Penn State, Ohio State, and Indiana. He likes Big 10 schools. They are all out of state. He wants the rah-rah. City schools also appeal to him.</p>
<p>He will probably major in business; although, he might change his mind. </p>
<p>Chrisd, interesting that your daughter chose Pitt over OSU. Hmmm.</p>
<p>D's roomate is from Ohio and the roomate's older brother goes to Ohio State. We moved in before the roomate did and the roomate's mom asked D (H and I were gone by then) if they had to move out in between semesters. Apparently she meant as in get ALL of your stuff out, every last little thing. The mom said that at Ohio State they have the quarter system and they make you completely move out of the room in between each session so they can clean it. And then you move back in when break is over - to the same room!</p>
<p>Maybe chrisd will know if this is true, but hey, that one thing would scratch them off my list if it were true - especially with a girl and all the stuff they bring with them (honestly it looks like she has moved out permanently and is never coming back).</p>
<p>Mercymom, totally cleaning out a room.... how does OSU get 50,000 students that can do that? :)</p>
<p>Hmm, I have never heard that about OSU. The idea that the university would clean dorm room between quarters sounds unbelievable to me, particulary given the state of $$$ in Ohio higher education. I have heard of that practice at other colleges, but it's because the college rents out the dorm room over break to conferences, etc. </p>
<p>Dstark. . . .my daughter's reasons for Pitt over OSU include the huge size of OSU, numerous people from her h.s. there, versus Pitt's more moderately sized student enrollment, Pittsburgh seemed more interesting than Columbus, and even tho it's not quite as far from home at OSU--it's NOT OHIO. Are these worth thousands of dollars more per year? </p>
<p>From our parent perspective: Pitt was the only school she visited (out of seven) that she really was excited about after the campus visit, Pitt's strong in her area of intended study, and it is cheaper than many private schools.</p>
<p>Well, I checked the OSU housing handbook and there is something about how to set up your fish tank (if you have one) in your dorm room so the fish don't die over break, so they obviously count on you leaving something there. Maybe D misunderstood, but the Ohio mom was greatly relieved to find out that only her daughter had to come home for Christmas.</p>
<p>We had a similar experience as chrisd, ie, when our D visited Pitt it became the only school she'd seen that felt like "home" to her and pretty much stayed that way. She couldn't wait to get back for Pittstart and then again in August.</p>
<p>Maybe that's why she took so much stuff with her. Maybe she really isn't coming back!</p>
<p>Anyway, look around until your kid gets that "home" feeling. You never know where it's going to hit them. If ya'll decide to become part of the Pitt family, we would love to have you.</p>
<p>Mercymom, chrisd, and nurse 123, thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>I am an out of state student at the University of Pittsburgh this year and I love the college and atmosphere. I am here on a merit scholarship though. I dont know if the university would have been worth the out of state tuition especially just for undergraduate....i could go to the University of Michigan for the in-state tuition which is half of pitt out of state costs. </p>
<p>But this is the place you will be spending the next 4 yrs of your life so it is important you are happy there.</p>
<p>i am also an out of state student @ pitt, and i as well think i came to the rigth place! But it is NOT worth the 22k or whatever for out of state tuition....im here also on a merit scholarship. Pitt cares about its students, but i dont believe as much as maybe a private school does. They have so much money, yet dont seem to spend enough for the students...this is just a biased view, and im sure there are other students who disagree with me....</p>
<p>but i love pitt, and am happy i came here</p>
<p>neelesh, you love the school, you are happy you chose Pitt, but it's not worth the oos tuition. Hmmm.</p>
<p>Did you get a large scholarship?</p>
<p>i am basically paying in-state tuition right now from pitt, and i think that even though that is still a little expensive, it is worth it for that price.</p>
<p>i think that pitt is great, but for the oos price, you could go to a private college which offers a little more, with a similar environment to pittsburgh.</p>
<p>So you feel the personal attention, the advising, the relationship with the professors is lacking?</p>
<p>I'm putting words in your mouth. What is lacking?</p>
<p>honestly, the advising kinda sucks at pitt....i could give students better advice than they could......they really dont know the classes personally well, and so cannot sometimes give the top advice about what to do. Many of the professors are decent, but when it comes to office hours, are horrible....I went to my ochem profs office hours like a month ago, and he seemed like a friendly guy in class, but @ office hours, he was scary as heck, and seemed very condescending. There are many professors like that, which make me sad. Don't get me wrong, there are some AMAZING professors at pitt that help you a great deal as well. I also think Pitts math dept. is not very good, as a lot of the profs um...dont speak english very well, and neither do the TA's...</p>
<p>the food is also horrendous.......ok, well its not that bad, but for the prices, it is bad...a box of cereal costs more than one block.....my RA calculated that you pay around $10.50 for a block, while you only get $5.50 to spend for food.......and sometimes the food is not cooked right, the workers dont care about the students, etc.</p>
<p>the security is good, but sometimes i wonder if it is good enough...for example, last year, somebody got shot by the "O", and this is less than 1/2 a block from all the dorms.....and this year, just a couple weeks ago, soembody got raped at Chevron, our chemistry building.....</p>
<p>those are just some of the things i feel pitt could do better at, but dont get me wrong, it sounds like pitt is horrible, but it isn't.....</p>
<p>I appreciate reading your thoughts.</p>
<p>neelash, if you are still out there, what is it like to be an oos student at Pitt? Is being an oos a non-issue?</p>