<p>overall where you would rather go.</p>
<p>factors to consider:</p>
<p>alumni network
proximity to city
sports
social scene
academics
grad school opportunities</p>
<p>i don't really care about your answer, i'm just trying to figure out for myself. Many seem to think penn st is better and appeals to smarter kids but the stats for pitt admission seem higher.</p>
<p>i have been mors interested in pitt just to answer my own question. Pittsburgh is headquarters of many companies and i want to study business. The athletics are sick at both places so that’s whatever. Penn state is more partying but supposedly pitt has no shortage of parties either. </p>
<p>Plus, pitt’s administration seems to be pouring money into the school. It seems they are trying to expand and make themselves more appealing. they offer a lot of merit aid and gauranteed graduate admittance to competitive applicants to raise their average stats which will onyl help them atttract more cmpetitive applicants. I have a feeling, whether i go there or not, that ten years down the line pitt will have an excellent name.</p>
<p>One kid graduated from PSU. PROs - Football, lots of activities, really pretty campus and nice shopping area. Good Career office, which was very active although his dept. told him not to attend the career fairs as a Jr when he was looking for an internship since the fairs were only for Srs. Kid had great relationships with professors when in classes for his major. Very strong engineering program. CONs - Huge, impersonal. Dorms weren’t great, even the allegedly good West dorms. Kid reported that the general ed classes were huge. TAs have a huge presence (Kid was a TA and a head TA. Grading was done using professor guidelines, but many students were upset about having their papers graded by another student. Kid wasn’t too thrilled about having a Jr TA grade his papers either when he was a Sr). Far from anything - long drive to Philly or Pitt.</p>
<p>Pitt: PROs - Basketball. Lots of activities, same as PSU. Urban campus. Walking distance to Carnegie Mellon and opportunity to cross-enroll in classes. Bus ride to downtown Pittsburgh. Numerous hospitals across the street, with corresponding research and volunteering opportunities if pursuing science or medicial fields. Impression from college tours is that its a higher energy campus. CONs - Walking up the hill. Traffic and traffic noises (ambulance sirens, etc.). Urban areas always have a greater concern with safety. While free bus passes to downtown, you’re still in Oakland not in Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>I’m sure others will add pros and cons. This is a perennial debate for many PA students (with Temple added to the mix for Eastern PA students sometimes). I’ve been browsing CC for about 5 years now, since my oldest was an applicant. I’ve seen this question every year! One of my kids preferred PSU, and one prefers Pitt. They do have different feels, so you may want to apply to both and then go to their admitted student days to see which one is more comfortable for you.</p>
<p>Temple. Go Owls!</p>
<p>bump- anyone else?</p>
<p>my brother goes to PSU so I’ll try and tell you what I know</p>
<p>alumni network- Penn State’s Alumni network is probably better because it’s HUGE
proximity to city- Penn State is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and Pitt obviously has pittsburgh.
sports- I would say the sports at penn state are better, just because of penn state football.
social scene- penn state is the #1 party school this year (according to princeton review, I think)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure penn state (university park) may be a little bit harder to get into, but their are pro’s and con’s to both schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not really; most of the kids I know at Penn State took mostly college prep classes and maybe a few honors classes, but few APs, if any. The kids I know at Pitt were almost entirely honors/AP/IB kids.</p>
<p>A large amount of the kids at PSU are there for the football, while the kids at Pitt care more about their education (and maybe some sports too).</p>
<p>PSU isnt hard to get into at all</p>
<p>
These schools are obviously too large to generalize like this, but my observations match yours exactly. Penn State is out in the middle of nowhere, which socially speaking encourages partying/drinking/cheering over the more cosmopolitan possibilities in a city. Pitt also has a med school, which draws some crazy premeds.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think I have the right to generalize, as my school is a pretty big feeder school for both PSU and Pitt.</p>
<p>this is largely based in opinion both are respectable schools. However, when i told my parents i was considering applying to penn state, my dad was shocked (ivy man, thinks this is still the 70s when a 95/100 average made u valedictorian with few APs), my mom went to a SUNY so she is a little more open minded, but still seemed weary of me applying there.</p>
<p>However,when i told them i was considering pitt, they seemed totally OK with it</p>
<p>i dont know what this says about the reputations of the schools, just a little anecdote.</p>
<p>bump- still interested in hearing some opinions</p>
<p>I think Pitt may be academically better, but if it were me, I’d go Penn State all day long. I like the in the middle of nowhere campus, it really adds to the college experience. I think if you ever leave PA, then the Penn State reputation and brand equity might searve you better than Pitt’s. In reality though, I think that graduates of either school in the real world compete for the same jobs and slots in grad schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You cant go wrong with any of the big three in PA.</p>
<p>alumni, sports and grad opportunities are penns state. largest alumni in usa/world? lol. pretty sure no decent city is no near penn state since its in the middle of the state. academics depend on major</p>
<p>^^^ I have no idea what you’re trying to say.</p>
<p>^ i filled in what op asked. summersomething laid it out nicely</p>
<p>Actually, you made a post filled with grammatical errors and missing words…</p>
<p>haha wow that was pretty bad. im delirious at 2 in the morning.</p>
<p>Penn State has the larger alumni network because itis the larger school. Pitt definitely has the city. Sports depends on your preference- Penn State for football, Pitt for basketball. Social scene is Penn State since it’s the party school. Academics are probably about even with differences depending on your major. Grad school opportunities are probably about even unless you get agraduate school/professional school guarantee from Pitt (don’t know if Penn State has anything similar). I would base the decision on whether you want an urban school or a very large (so there are always things going on) rural school.</p>