I am really considering pitt. I know its an amazing school and a lot of the pros, but what are the cons??
People like Pitt because it’s in an urban area, but while on foot you do have to deal with more traffic than other campuses.
My D is strongly leaning toward Pitt and is pretty excited about it. That said, here are some cons:
Hilly. Add typical PA snow and typical PA roads to that.
Also, like with most urban schools, traffic into the city will be annoying for us parents during move in & visits.
For us, minimal merit aid so cost. This is the biggest issue for us - have to figure out if she can do this without debt as she’d be turning down 3 full tuition offers to go here.
Distance from home (we are at the other end of the state) so medical emergencies will be nervewracking for me as mom.
Big school is a bit scary to my kid (comes from a small HS).
Cons:
-Off-campus housing in surrounding Oakland neighborhood is terrible. Bad landlords, crappy houses, jacked rent. I avoided this and rented in the Lawrenceville neighborhood (free bus pass for all students!) Thankfully, you won’t have to worry about this if you stay in student housing after your freshman year.
-I can’t really remember any decent grocery stores in the area besides typical corner bodegas.
-PARKING: It’s a nightmare. Almost all metered/permit. There is never any parking spaces. If you find one, you will get a ticket. (But if you’re an incoming college student, you have no reason to need a car. The public transportation is the bomb compared to other major cities I’ve lived in.)