Pittsburgh Honors or Penn State Schreyer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
1

<p>May 1 is approaching fast and I'm still having trouble deciding where I want to go. I have been accepted to Boston University (Honors), Villanova, University of Delaware (Honors), University of Pittsburgh (Honors), and Penn State (Schreyer), but I think I've narrowed it down to Pitt or PSU. I plan on majoring in engineering but could see myself possibly switching to business if I don't like engineering.</p>

<p>I'm in-state and received a full-tuition merit scholarship from Pitt and 15K/year merit from PSU, so they're basically equal in cost.</p>

<p>I know PSU Schreyer is more structured than Pitt's honors program, but other than that it seems that their programs are pretty comparable (although PSU tends to be ranked higher). I think they are both great programs, although Schreyer seems to have a bit more prestige.</p>

<p>That makes the major difference the campus--urban or college town. I have visited both and I liked both.</p>

<p>Are there any major differences that should make me lean either way?</p>

2

<p>I was accepted to PSU non honors and Pitt non honors. I chose PSU just because of the traditional college experience. </p>

<p>Now for your case, I cannot say anything about the honors college as I don’t have any experience. Schreyer does have the reputation if that’s what you want. Pitt honors is stats based (1450+ SAT and Top 5% rank) but PSU’s is not. You have to do a lot of work to get accepted to Schreyer meaning you need great ec’s, essays and stats. At Pitt, anyone can take the honors classes, you just have to ask the person but honors classes are exclusive to honors students at PSU> </p>

<p>Just decide based on fit. My vote goes for PSU honors…</p>

3

<p>SHC has more honors-specific programs. Especially study abroad programs and scholarships to do so.
SHC students are assigned a special honors adviser who is a tenured professor in the department of the student’s major. These advisers only advise SHC students and have fewer advisees than non-honors advisers. SHC has a separate SHC- specific advisers available to you. SHC advisers have greater latitude to amend or override requirements and grant course substitutions (of course they have to be reasonable).
PSU has more faculty than Pitt. This means there are greater opportunities to choose a research mentor.</p>

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<p>Do SAT scores matter for SHC? My friends with low stats but good ECx, LORs, essays have got in.
what do you think?</p>

5

<p>SAT/ACT scores are not reviewed as part of the Schreyer admissions process, although they are necessary for initial admission to Penn State.</p>