I went to Ohio State for political science and was in the Honors program. My daughter is looking at both schools. So far she has gotten into Pitt out of state with merit but it will cost more than OSU since we are in-state. I love both schools and think they have very different vibes. I love both cities and the opportunities in both of them. So far she is strongly leaning Pitt because she likes the smaller size in both enrollment and size of campus. We are much more concerned with crime at Ohio State as well (if you are on the parent boards at OSU you can see there are a lot of issues going on right now). She also likes that there seem to be less weed out classes at Pitt (but that would affect her major and not likely political science). For positives for OSU, I would say she likes the scholars program options better than the LLC’s or honors options at Pitt. Also, as a political science major, it was nice to be a state capital city. I was able to work as a student at the Capital building, meeting many Ohio politicians as well as important political figures who would visit from outside Ohio.
A couple of other differences that I thought about as reading other answers:
Pitt guarantees campus housing for 3 years. Some stay for 4, but it isn’t guaranteed. Most live in off campus housing after 2 years but may move off after 1.
I believe that Ohio State both guarantees and requires two years on campus.
If your daughter is looking to work after college, my sense is that recruiting at Ohio State skews more to the Midwest/Columbus/Chicago, and Pitt is more Pittsburgh/Philly/East Coast. That’s my gut after visiting both and not a fact, so definitely check their stats and top recruiters to see if one is more appealing.
Ask about advising. The advising at Pitt has been fantastic so far, but she is in a smaller college at Pitt than your daughter would be as a political science major. My older daughter is at a T25 school, but has not had the really personal, informed advising that my Pitt student gets. Good advising can make the difference for some kids in finishing on time with a double major or needing an extra semester even after cobbling together classes to fit a major. It’s an aspect of colleges people often don’t research enough.
Adding to @CCName1
Check the career center for where the recruiters come from.
GSPIA is a well thought of program at Pitt. There are cross enrollment opportunities with CMU if that’s appealing.
What makes Pittsburgh are the different neighborhoods. Pitt is an odd campus. I wouldn’t call it urban or suburban. It has elements of both. It’s walkable. Even Cardiac Hill.
The nice thing about Pitt is the public transportation. Convenient and you can get just about anywhere… or just Uber.
School spirit would obviously favor Ohio State.
I think in the end, sometimes OPs want us to pick.
But a place where you will spend four years……three hour drive apart….OP has to take his kid. That’s a small investment to make given the enormity of the overall impact in one’s life. Only the student can decide.
On a tangent, I’ve always known Syracuse and Indiana and then Harvard to be the top MPA schools. So I pulled up the ranking Pitt shared and neither SU or IU was present….they dominate US News year after year.
I was thinking more about how GSPIA fits at Pitt. It’s not an afterthought like some departments and majors. International Affairs is where GSPIA does well.
For some GAP programs at Pitt scholarship money for grad school is pretty much a given. Not sure they advertise that much. Don’t know about GSPIA.
True. But back to OP I think most agree he can’t put the decision onto us :). His daughter needs to go !!
I can start a thread top MPA 
I am from Pittsburgh and daughter is a junior at tOSU. There were some great points made. Ohio State is definitely self contained and once you’re on campus, it feels like a college campus. Pitt is spread out with the city running in between it. Here are a few things to consider: class size and instructors. Daughters general ed classes have been huge, like 600 students huge and they still have some virtual classes that students can choose from. Her friends that go to Pitt, tend to have smaller classes. Recitation labs at OSU’s business school, tend to be taught by undergraduate TAs (which I don’t personally like, the TA could literally be a sophomore who did well in the class) I don’t hear this about Pitt. If she wants school football spirt, tOSU hands down. Pitt plays at the Acrisure Stadium (which is home of the Steelers) so the stadium is not on campus but there are buses to take them to the stadium. OSU guarantees housing for 2 years but crime has been an issue off campus. Strongly look at housing costs. OSU has developers building really nice off campus luxury apartments but the price is steep $900-1200 per student but there are cheaper off campus options available. She can’t go wrong with either school but she needs to know what feels right for her.
Pittsburgh native here with 2 kids at Pitt currently. The education is pretty good but both my kids are not thrilled with the “campus” or lack there of. Tons of construction going on right now. If you like an urban setting with 24/7 traffic then Pitt is your place. Just like NYC, you either love it or hate it.
S19 ended up at Pitt with a merit scholarship too good to pass up after not getting off Ivy waitlists, D22 chose Pitt because she wanted to be close to home and Pitt had the program she wanted. She comes home to our suburban neighborhood often to recharge and escape the busyness of Oakland.
Pitt is a great mid-sized school and the campus and Oakland as a whole is a great neighborhood. It abuts Carnegie Mellon and the neighborhood to the north, Shadyside, is amazing, so there is a lot to do outside the campus. The school is really condensed on about an 8 by 8 block area, which is nice because everything is close.
Ohio State is a gigantic Big 10 school in a sprawling more suburban city of Columbus.
I have been to both cities for fun and work, and like Pittsburgh more.
Scholars is not a step up from Honors at tOSU. It’s a different program- you can choose to apply to Honors or Scholars but not both. I don’t know too much about it but I am trying to learn more. It seems really nice- I think it’s sort of like instead of the extra ACADEMIC commitments and opportunities of Honors, it involves community service commitments and opportunities, with social events too. whether that helps one get any merit $ or not, I don’t know.
https://honors-scholars.osu.edu/scholars
https://honors-scholars.osu.edu/scholars/programs
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