<p>My son is considering Pitt (uhc and scholarship) vs Purdue for civil engineering. Any thoughts on that? Looking to understand coop opportunities and recruitment strengths for jobs after BS. Thanks</p>
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<p>Both great schools. At Pitt, they just started a new initiative where if you go through a few basic steps, you are guaranteed an internship. As for Engineering Co-Ops, SSOE holds two co-op fairs a year (one in the fall and one in the spring) with LOADS of companies attending, interviewing students, and offering spots. On top of that, the various departments will always email out information about additional companies that are looking for students and how to go about applying. To my knowledge I have never met anyone at Pitt who wanted to co-op and did not get one.</p>
<p>The nice thing about Pitt compared to Purdue (in my opinion) is that a lot of the co-op companies are located in or around Pittsburgh. This makes travel and housing easier since you can live in the same area, even take night class if you wanted, and still work during the day without having to completely relocate. </p>
<p>As for jobs, almost every single student who graduated with me this past spring either had graduate school or a job already lined up for them by the time they walked across the stage. In fact, my parents and sister (who attended a “better” public university) were all very impressed and commented on that fact afterwards.</p>
<p>Thanks - that is really helpful. Did you coop at all? What path did you take when you graduated?</p>
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<p>I did three internships in the summer instead of co-op (I really wanted to graduate on time). Pitt actually didn’t help me find them (I did that on my own). </p>
<p>The summer after freshman year I worked (for no pay) at the US Patent Office in Alexandria, VA outside of DC. It’s a pretty prestigious program that only accepts something like 30-40 people a year from everyone who applied. I was the youngest BY FAR, most exterms were in law school or were near graduating college.</p>
<p>The summer after my sophomore year I worked for 7 weeks at Lockheed Martin outside of Baltimore, MD. I was in their Nanotech lab. I would have worked longer, but I was out of the country when my paperwork was processed and they couldn’t start my background check until I returned, so that killed 3-4 weeks of work.</p>
<p>The summer after my junior year I went back to Lockheed Martin (the same group had become an LLC) and worked there for 13 weeks.</p>
<p>The summer after senior year (graduated April 2012) I took a month off in May to travel (go home, visit family, etc.) and then starting June 1 I joined a research lab that I would be formally part of when I started graduate school at Pitt in the fall. I got paid to do research in the summer ahead of time, though. (My PI didn’t mind especially since in the fall my fellowship from the DOE was going to take over). </p>
<p>So as I said, I went to grad school pretty much right AFTER graduating. A lot of people who did grad school took the summer off first (but since I was at Pitt and wanted to get paid I went straight into research ahead of time). Other friends had jobs that started early-to-mid May.</p>
<p>Pitt is definately a top choice of mine so i have a couple questions about the social life</p>
<p>-do most freshmen enter already knowing a couple friends? I ask because the at other schools i’m considering i have friends attending, while at pitt, i would be going in alone.</p>
<p>-honestly, as an Asian-american who has grown up with white friends in a fairly diverse area, will i have trouble finding white friends who truly see me as a fellow american, or will i be stuck segregated with the other asian kids? I have definitely seen this at many “diverse” schools, and i am much more american on the inside than asian. This is really only a concern of mine because i read up that asians make up for a very small percent of Pitt’s student body, and so i feel like i might stick out like a sore thumb</p>
<p>My daughter knew one other person when she went to Pitt. She had known the fellow since middle school where they had been very good friends, but they went to different high schools. They saw each other some because they did have a couple of lectures together, but they did not socialize.</p>
<p>You are correct that there is not a huge Asian population at Pitt. Down the street at CMU, the Asian population is much higher. My daughter’s BF is Asian and most of his friends are not Asian.</p>
<p>I’m white but my four of my best friends at Pitt were Indian, Colombian, Korean, and white. They were all American raised except for the Colombian. My Indian friend, for instance, really did not like hanging out with the click of Indians that segregated themselves…and that is what he would tell you they did, segregated themselves. So, from my experience, I wouldn’t think that you’d have any problems moving in and out of any social circles because of race. It is all depends on what you are looking for and what you are comfortable with. I can’t imagine you’ll have trouble making white friends or non-white friends.</p>
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<p>It depends. The in-state kids, and even some close-by states (Ohio, NY, and NJ) tend to know a few-to-a-lot of people coming in. I knew exactly 1 girl and I only ever saw her in the 2 minutes before chem class as she walked past me to her seat. I basically went to Pitt knowing no one. I met a LOT of people through class and my dorm (LLCs are a wonderful thing) which helped me get acclimated really easily.</p>
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<p>Not at all. I’m also Asian-American and the only shock I had coming to Pitt was how white it was (pardon the phrase). I grew up in a really, REALLY diverse area at a school that is also very diverse. Coming to Pitt was a <em>bit</em> of a culture shock for me in that sense.</p>
<p>However, between my dorm (UHC Housing) and major (Engineering) the diversity was actually much higher than Pitt in general. I think that helped me a lot. Even then, most of my friends are probably caucasian, especially now in graduate school. </p>
<p>Like wgmcp101 mentioned, I actually did not hang out in the “Indian clique” because I did not like the way they segregated themselves. They made me feel WAY more uncomfortable than just hanging out with my own random group of friends (a bunch of people- caucasian, oriental asian, and indian asian for the most part). My closest friends now are mostly caucasian.</p>
<p>Your posts have been incredibly helpful. Thank you for sharing your Pitt experience!</p>
<p>My son has been accepted at Pitt with a full tuition scholarship. He has been invited to apply to for the Chancellors, but has not heard anything as of yet. He is OOS, ACT 36, 4.0 unweighted GPA, 9 APs, private competitive high school. Many well rounded ECs, awards, leadership positions, NMF. </p>
<p>As grateful as I am for the full tuition scholarship, we were a bit disappointed that he was not offered any type of engineering scholarship (he wants to major in Civil Engineering). We asked the financial aid office and they said that his file was reviewed and no engineering scholarship would be coming his way. My first question is whether these scholarships are “redistributed” when Pitt receives feedback from current recipients that they will not be coming to Pitt? Are these scholarships targeting a certain something that my son does not have? Also, are there additional scholarships that become available after the first year?</p>
<p>Secondly, he has expressed an interest to double major in Philosophy/Politics, or something like that (apologies for not remembering the exact major). Is it feasible to graduate in four years with a civil engineering degree and a second bachelor degree? Since we will not qualify for financial aid, things start becoming much more expensive after the 4th year.</p>
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<p>Yes and no. It depends on the scholarship requirements which I’ll outline below. I will say that there are actually VERY few “big” SSOE scholarships given out. Most of them are small $2k-$4k “book scholarships” (which is what I initially received). See below for why…</p>
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<p>These are essentially the same answer. Yes, most of the scholarship winners have something your son doesn’t have. What it is varies though. See, the thing about SSOE scholarships is that they are almost ENTIRELY alumni based. That is, this one (amazing) woman in the alumni office for SSOE will travel around the country convincing rich alumni to donate boatloads of money to the school to help pay for students tuition/fees/etc. However, a huge caveat tends to be that the alumnus/alumna will get to hand-pick (with the aid of the school counselors) whom will receive the money.</p>
<p>That is:</p>
<p>Alumna A from California wants to pay for a California girl to go to SSOE just like she did. Boom. Done.</p>
<p>Alumnus B wants someone who is going to major in Civil Engineering to get his money. Boom. Done.</p>
<p>etc. etc. So, a lot of the times, the students who get money as freshman are both academically gifted AS WELL as having that “something extra” that varies from donor to donor. There are a few scholarships that can’t be given out until the sophomore level due to the donor WANTING a particular major (similar to the one I received). In fact, SSOE can even revoke scholarships if the recipient changes majors and the donor doesn’t like that. </p>
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<p>Gonna be honest, not really. I bet there is at least a need for an extra semester if not year. This is because SSOE has pretty stringent requirements on what a student needs to graduate, often leaving them with little-to-no extra room in their schedule for electives, let alone a second major. On top of that, this would be a cross-college discipline (SSOE and A&S) so he would have to complete all of the A&S major requirements, i.e. all those gen-eds PLUS the major requirements (i.e. core classes). That’s going to take some time. </p>
<p>On the plus side, if the full-tuition scholarship came from the UHC, there <em>have</em> been cases of successful petitions to extend the scholarship to a fifth year to aid in getting an extra major (especially when it involves cross-disciplines like you mentioned). HOWEVER, this was with the old dean, who was much more open to the idea of broadening your knowledge base. The new dean isn’t so nice (in fact, my old roommate tried to get a fifth year extension so she could double major in EE and Religious Studies and got turned down).</p>
<p>Very helpful…thank you for taking time to reply</p>
<p>Hi, AwesomeOpossum.
I have been admitted to pitts, but my major is undeclared. Will it be difficult for me to get a major especially a good major in the future?</p>
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<p>Side note, it’s “Pitt” or “University of Pittsburgh” not “UPitt” or “Pitts”. That’ll irritate a lot of Pitt-people fast ;)</p>
<p>As for the major, it doesn’t matter. As undeclared, you are in the school of Arts & Science. You’ll spend your first two years completing a lot of your general education requirements (language, sciences, etc.) But you should have an idea of what you would like to major in by sophomore year so that you can start working those classes into your schedule as well. For A&S declaring is simply filling out a form at the end of your sophomore that will place you in that department. There is no capacity for departments-- although sometimes classes INSIDE the departments will fill up fast. So, no, starting undeclared makes you literally NO different from someone who knows what they want to major in (except that they can start taking basic classes towards the degree).</p>
<p>Oh, I am sorry for my terrible mistake. Thank you for reminding me. And thank you for your answer. I’m not as worried as I was before.</p>
<p>I would add that some majors are VERY difficult to complete if you decide late. Languages and some sciences, for example. If you have some AP credit, that will give you some flexibility.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice, MD Mom. Yes, I am preparing for the AP exam that will be taken in May. :)</p>
<p>Couple questions if its not too much trouble!</p>
<ol>
<li>Have you ever been to a Sunday service at Heinz Memorial Chapel? If so, what’s it like and what kind of people attend? Other students or more faculty, etc? </li>
<li>I was wondering if you could tell us more about campus life. Dorms, gyms, libraries, eateries, things to do in spare time. Maybe a recap of your normal day? </li>
<li>About how far is the Oakland campus from downtown Pittsburgh? You can take the bus I assume, but how often do you get a chance to check it out? Would you consider yourself pretty fimiliar with the downtown part of the city? </li>
<li>Safety in general on a city campus? Both in Oakland, on buses, anywhere in the city?</li>
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<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
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<p>Never. I did not even realize that was a thing. I guess I’m used to only seeing weddings happen there on the weekend. I have been inside though.</p>
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<p>I’ll give you a recap of my undergrad day. </p>
<p>–Wake up, shower, off to morning classes.
–Eat lunch either in Market (the dining hall) or grab lunch on the go at an on-campus eatery (my go-to is Cathedral Cafe and Einsteins at Benedum).
–Go to afternoon classes. If I happen to have a break in them, I would go to the library or a study area and work on homework or read a book
–Go back to my dorm. Depending on time of year/etc. I would change and then go to the gym for an hour or so (sometimes I did this in the morning if I had classes later in the day)
–Come back, change again, go grab dinner
–If a weeknight: do HW for 2-3 hours
–Depending on the night, intermittantly leave dorm for meetings
–If a weekend: be lazy, hang around with friends, maybe go see a play or concert downtown
–Sleep</p>
<p>Some other things I did:
–Went to the public library (NOT Hillman, Carnegie) to study or check out fun books to read
–Joined a few clubs (Was part of the dorm version of SGA my freshman year and participated in a 24hr theater festival)
–took advantage of PittArts, a LOT (seriously. Check it out.)
–Did a lot of UHC activities (dinners, movie nights, etc.)</p>
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<p>It’s about 10-15 minutes depending on route and traffic (can be way more with traffic). Almost ANY bus will take you downtown. I went fairly regularly whether to see a play, the orchestra, ballet, etc. I never really went down there to eat or hang out-- EXCEPT for Light Up Night. I’ve also gone there for a few Baseball games, and that’s where the football field is (technically North Shore but you go through downtown). How often did I check it out? When I was doing PittArts stuff, at least once every 1-2 months I was down there for something. It’s great, but kinda dead at night except the cultural district (which is the only place I go anyway-- it’s where all the theaters are).</p>
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<p>Pretty safe. Never ever had an issue with the bus, I’m a girl, I take it alone, sometimes at like midnight. I’ve walked around campus at all times of day, never felt unsafe. I would say be a little bit careful in the outlying neighborhoods (South Oakland, North Oakland, etc.) super late at night. Walk with a friend if you can, especially if you have things like your laptop/phone/etc. with you.</p>
<p>Why did you prefer Carnegie over Hillman Library?</p>
<p>Thanks so much. My son got accepted to Pitt Johnstown and not the main campus. He has always wanted to go to Pitt since he was a little boy since his dad went there. He doesn’t want to go to Pitt Johnstown. Can he reapply for Spring?</p>