<p>I will be attending Pitt in the fall as a freshman. I'm really excited, I loved the campus when I visited and I know the campus has a good linguistics department, which is what I want to study.</p>
<p>I do have a problem though. I'm from New York, and here almost nobody's heard of the school. It gets a little annoying and depressing. Someone will ask me "where are you gonna go to college?" and I'll reply "the University of Pittsburgh" (I used to just say "Pitt" but all that would get me was a confused stare), and the reaction of the person I'm talking to will look like I just said I'm going to Podunk U in the middle of nowhere. At first I'd just blow it off, but with friends going to Penn, BC, Brown, UCLA, UWash, even Penn State I can't help but feel a little let down by Pitt's name, regardless of the fact that the school can be said in the same breath as all of those above. </p>
<p>In its home state of Pennsylvania, is Pitt a little more prestigious? I mean, I'm realistic about it. I know it's not Harvard, but still. All I want is at least a little recognition that it's a good school that admits intelligent, high achieving high school students. It's criminally underrated over here.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about that, Pitt’s reputation is fine. There is a lot of regionalism in the colleges people know about, and it’s especially bad in New York. Unless somebody has researched college admissions for themselves or a child, most people know the Ivy League schools, MIT, and the sports powerhouses. Honestly I’m surprised your NY friends don’t know Pitt for basketball, but even if they did, that says nothing about Pitt’s academic reputation.</p>
<p>You might find this funny; one of my schools was RPI in upstate New York, but nobody from my home state had heard of it. One time I said the full name, and the person said “gesundheit”. Oh well.</p>
<p>UWash gets mentioned in the same breath in NY as those schools? Are you sure you haven’t got it confused with another school like GW which is really popular on the East Coast? Even WUSTL, which is often confused with UWash, is often not recognized by laypeople.</p>
<p>That just goes to show how prestige is very subjective. Sorry to say this, but a school’s reputation is often not linked to the quality of the school itself and it’s something you’ll have to deal with. I’ve seen many cases where people said the school they were going to and they didn’t get the response they wanted at all (eg UChicago and UPenn getting mixed up as public schools in IL and PA respectively, Northwestern getting mixed up with Northeastern, people blinking at the name of Emory…). </p>
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<p>Not mentioned in the same conversation in any case? Perhaps you are speaking of it in terms of the incoming freshman profile of these schools being stronger than that of Pitt, but I can think of a couple disciplines where Pitt can and should be mentioned with those schools.</p>
<p>We are also in NY and my son gets the same blank stares when he says I am going to Pitt to other students.</p>
<p>I guess it is a regional thing. He was also accepted to BU, NYU, Northeastern, RIT ad a couple of SUNYs but chose Pitt above all of them for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>I guess we have to teach those NYers to look past the popular stickers on the cars.</p>
<p>As an aside - I had a similiar situation way back when I went to college. I went to Muhlenberg which no one had ever heard of at the time. Now it is a more popular school and most have heard of it - so Pitt will come around in NY also.</p>
<p>I really have no idea how far the Pitt brand travels, but it has a very good reputation here in PA.</p>
<p>The only thing that may cause University of Pittsburgh to have a negative connotation is the assication with the city itself. Generally, outside of Western PA/PA, Pittsburgh doesn’t have a good reputation. It’s typically thought of as an old rust-belt town depressed from an economic fallout when the steel industry collapsed.</p>
<p>While the University of Pittsburgh brand is very strong, the city of Pittsburgh brand is rather weak.</p>
<p>But when it comes down to it, it’s just peoples general association from what they see and hear on TV or from other people.</p>
<p>That may be the cause of the some the “blank stares” you’ve been getting.</p>
<p>I’m from GA and I had the same issue - people would talk about UGA and GA State and whatnot, and I’d say “University of Pittsburgh” and other people (especially parents) would be like, “oh, sounds…‘great.’” When Pitt is actually a better school than 90% of GA schools (and both of those I mentioned). </p>
<p>When I came up here, Pitt definitely carries more prestige. I feel really proud saying it to people here, because they go, “oh, cool, how do you like it? Is the Dirty O still there?” or “Wow, Pitt, I want to transfer there soon!” or just “Oh, Pitt is a great school!” The friendly rivalry with PSU is cool too. </p>
<p>As for it having a negative connotation in eastern PA, it’s not entirely true. Most students I met this year are from the Philly-area, and say that Pitt (and Pittsburgh), while not super-economically-strong, is way better than Philly - because Philly has HORRIBLE crime rates. Most parents don’t want their students staying anywhere near Philly, unless it’s for something like UPenn. But yes, the city does tend to have that whole “steal town depression” tagged on it, but it’s working on that, and it’s definitely just a stereotype. </p>
<p>So, just keep your head up!</p>
<p>PS - I also think part of the “stigma” is that it has a city’s name in the title, and a lot of schools with city names don’t sound as prestigious as ones with state/separate names.</p>
<p>We are also from Georgia. My D got the blank stare and the “is that a community college” question ALL THE TIME when asked about Amherst! I will say it was slightly bothersome at first, but quickly became amusing. Pitt is a fine school, and as long as YOU know it and will be happy there, that’s all that matters.</p>
<p>A lot of people in the Pittsburgh area even don’t regard Pitt as very prestigious, probably because neighboring CMU seems to be the class of the city. I remember sophomore year I heard a kid saying “yeah dude you need like a 4.0 to get into pitt main” and I was thinking he was full of it, I had no idea Pitt was somewhat difficult to get into. But apparantely they’ve raised their standards over the past decade, I learned that the hard way.</p>
<p>^That actually isn’t what I have gotten being in Pittsburgh. Maybe it’s because CMU is a much smaller university, but I don’t hear about it very often so I feel like Pitt has more presence (and not just because I go there). I would think Pitt has some prestige in the area because of its name attached to UPMC which is all over the city.</p>
<p>I’m with Schrizto. Plus, I know people from CMU who regard Pitt very well (a few even saying that they wish that they had gone there). So while CMU may be higher in the rankings, it doesn’t seem to impact opinions very much. Pitt does seem to hold at least a relatively high place within the city.</p>
<p>No doubt Pitt has the largest presence, it has it’s own brand, unlike CMU.</p>
<p>I think prestige is really in the eye of the beholder, and the prestige can very from program to program. If you are living in PA, a degree from Pitt is widely recognized and respected.</p>
<p>There are 100’s of smaller schools across the country that have great local reputations, but most of us have never heard of. Part of the “prestige” of Ivy and “Public Ivy” schools is their ability to have a national reputation of excellence. You can go anywhere in the country and everybody knows about Harvard, Yale, Princeton, ect. Ditto for some large state universities. Pitt isn’t really in that national brand category, but few are. </p>
<p>I really think that anyone from out of state who looks down on Pitt probably does it because of the city of Pittsburgh’s perceived reputation.</p>
<p>Just talked to my DS about this thread and the blank stares he got when he told people where he was going.</p>
<p>His attitude - It’s their problem not his that they are ignorant.</p>
<p>Personally I am happy he is going to a school outside the circle of Long Island kids. Part of college is spreading your wings and meeting new and different people. What good is it if your college is identical to yout high school.</p>
<p>I am glad he is not going to one of the “hot” schools.</p>
<p>I totally agree that part of college is spreading your wings and perhaps moving out of your comfort zone. DS could have gone to our state flagship where all his friends went but he chose to go to Pitt where he knew no one! Safe to say, he has enjoyed himself thoroughly and looks forward to heading back to Pitt to start his junior year :)</p>
<p>I would say, “oh, i am going to pitt” (they would hear penn)</p>
<p>and then people would look impressed and say, “that is a very good school… a very good school” and nod slowly and approvingly.</p>
<p>and I would look at them nod and then respond earnestly, “yes, yes it is.”</p>
<p>and i wasn’t lying. In fact, if i was doing what I am doing now (research heavy philosophy) at u penn I would be working with a less well regarded faculty. </p>
<p>on a more serious note. </p>
<p>Once you get here you won’t care. I know a friend who was all set on Cornell and had guaranteed transfer and once he got here he didn’t even think about using it. The point is that it is just way different in college and prestige is SUCH a high school concern.</p>
<p>DonnaMom, I am an incoming freshman from long island too and agree with you that it’s important to explore new places. L.I. is like a bubble. people care way too much about labels whether it’s clothes, cars and now colleges.</p>
<p>The situation that the OP talks about only really is prevalent for the last one or two months left of high school when the kids who are going to the schools that everyone finds recognizable get to walk around like heroes. But really, after that, nobody cares.</p>