Strong Departments Outside of Engineering, Biology-related majors and Philosophy?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
1

Hi,

My DD is going to pursue an engineering degree and she is going to apply to Pitt. If Engineering turns out not to be her thing, what other areas in Pitt are strong?

Thanks!

2

Information Science
English Lit and creative writing
Social Work
Education
Psychology
Chemistry
Economics/business
Anything that can be combined with UCIS (University Center International Studies)

3

Also, Philosophy; Slavic Languages; Neuroscience; East Asian Languages; History & Philosophy of Science; any of the health-related professions; Romance Languages; Art History

4

Less commonly taught languages: http://www.lctl.pitt.edu/languages.html

Music - particularly Jazz. http://www.music.pitt.edu/undergraduate

5

Anything Health Related! Pharmacy, Nursing, PA, OT, PT etc. They have strong Medical and Dental Schools so any undergrad major that would lead to one applying to these schools are great programs. There are 3 UPMC hospitals on or near campus so there are many opportunities for internships and practical experience .

6

Thanks everyone - when I typed Biology in the title I should have added health care. The quality of Pitt in those areas are unquestioned.

Does anyone know about the math or physics departments?

7

Along with most of the health sciences, the programs I mentioned above, like info science, education, psych, social work, etc can hang with some of the best programs in the country…public or private…top 10-20-30ish range.

I’m not personally familiar with math and physics, but I’d say they’re not quite of that caliber at Pitt, although they’re solid enough…like around 50ish. In fact I think Pitt’s grad program in physics is ranked 50th in US News, so that is an indication of the level of faculty.

I will say that back in the 50s and 60s, Pitt had one of the stronger physics departments in the country, including one of the top nuclear physics lab that had, at the time, perhaps the best Van de Graaff partical accelerator in academia. It has a tradition in nuclear physics because one of the largest companies in the nuclear industry, Westinghouse, was founded and based in Pittsburgh. It’s had some pretty amazing names associated with it too: Samuel Langley, one of the pioneers of aviation and astrophysics; Reginald Fergussen, regarded as a father of radio broadcasting; Lee Davenport, who helped pioneer early radar; Vladimir Zworykin, considered by many to be the father of television; John Wistar Simpson, a nuclear energy pioneer, and Paul Lauterbur, who invented the MRI.

In the intervening years, the physics department stagnated a bit, but in recent years it seems to be finding a niche in nanoscience (in collaboration with the engineering school) and particle physics. I will say this about the astronomy component of the department…there are few, if any, departments in the country, where undergrads have access to an observatory like the one available to Pitt undergrads. Pitt’s Allegheny Observatory is a historic, and still functioning (doing real research) observatory located just a couple miles from the main campus in a city park. It isn’t mothballed or relegated to mere show-and-tell exercises like those at most universities. Pitt has many undergrads doing research projects in the observatory, and that is an opportunity for time and experience on older, but still valuable telescopes that I don’t believe undergrads would find anywhere else in the country.