<p>U. Pitt has an honors program, which many people like. Penn State has highly competitive admissions to its Scheyers Honor College, which many people love and which offers 3.5K a year of merit money. As a PA. resident, I would apply to them in addition to UVa. However, both are huge universities with branch campuses, which may be somewhat viewed as watering down the degree.</p>
<p>While UVa has many large first year classes, you may find that some other larger public universities have larger 2nd and 3rd year classes. Also, the budget cuts at UVa have not been nearly as severe as at many public universities.</p>
<p>In response to a comment above, a student graduating from VCU with several years of work or military experience may be more marketable than a brand new UVa grad who went to college straight from high school. However that is not exactly comparing apples to apples. To be a fair comparison in that scenario, you would need to compare that new VCU grad to a UVa grad with a couple years of work experience. </p>
<p>Again, different colleges and universities are ideal for different majors and different personality types. Apply to many different types of colleges to keep your options open and so you can compare aid packages and NET PRICE.</p>