Trip reports - Univ Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon

Parents Forum
1

<p>I know CC has some new-fangled thing for trip reports, but I'm too lazy to figure it out! Sorry! </p>

<p>My head is spinning having just returned from two more college trips, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon. I forgot my camera (!) so no links for photos - sorry. Here is a brief summary of my impressions of both schools:</p>

<p>University of Pittsburgh</p>

<p>We were there all day and did an information session, tour, interview, and engineering info session. Staff was friendly and helpful. Sessions were well run.</p>

<p>Campus - Smack in the middle of the city. Well, not really downtown, but in an adjacent part of town. Very urban - streets intersect the campus all over the place. Not a lot of green, or quads in the traditional sense. The Cathedral of Learning is beautiful (but I heard bad things about the elevators) but most of the rest of the buildings are sort of 60's nasty. Large medical complex adjacent to campus. Very hilly! Frats and gyms seem to be up at the top of the hill. It's interesting though, the neighborhood was really growing on me by the time we left. There are students everywhere. It has a comfortable, well-worn and loved feel to it. Lots of unique eateries, cafes, bars - student hang outs. I liked it a lot.</p>

<p>Dorms - We only toured the Towers. Wow. Small. Very small. But apparently kids like them just fine and they are fun. Very secure. Air conditioned. After freshman year housing looks better. There are some very nice on campus apartments that are new and quads, suites and singles. Lots of very scary looking off-campus student housing in the neighborhood. (Don't even think about living there.) Housing is guaranteed three years (although I also heard four years), and it is not a commuter school.</p>

<p>Students - Very friendly. Very normal looking. Not preppy at all. Very diverse. Seem to have a lot of freedom in a good, urban kind of way. All buses are free for students, so they can really get around. Seems to be plenty to do. Overall students seem very happy with Pitt.</p>

<p>Engineering program - I really liked the engineering program a lot. It seemed very personal, very nurturing, very good. First year students are not committed to a specific area - they can explore all areas of engineering. (When they do commit they are guaranteed a spot in the major they choose - that is not the case in all engineering programs.) They have a Freshman Engineering Conference that looks like great fun. Freshmen engineers can live on an engineering floor in the Towers. There is an entire office for freshman engineering students, called B-80. It felt like a clubhouse! They get all their advising or tutoring or just a shoudler to cry on there. It is also home to the co-op office. There were kids there having a snack, using the computers, chatting, and doing homework together. Classes are guaranteed for engineering students; no scrambling.</p>

<p>Cost - In state tuition is reasonable, out of state runs $29,300 for everything. Lots of scholarship money and financial aid available.</p>

<p>City of Pittsburgh - For some reason, I had never been to Pittsburgh before and I was impressed. I thought it looked like a fun, vibrant city - but certainly of manageable size and cost. Very hilly - we have a standard in my husband's car and it was burning! Lots of good ethnic, authentic, non-chain restaurants around (always my barometer of a good city).</p>

<p>Let's see, what else- Here's one of the best features - At breaks they have a charter bus that runs to our city (Rochester NY) for only $100 round trip! Sold!!!</p>

<hr>

<p>Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>I'm going to keep this very brief because this is a school that we really can not afford no matter what, so I really gave it only a cursory look-over (my son really wanted to go see it).</p>

<p>We attended only the information session and campus tour.</p>

<p>Campus - I've seen prettier and I've seen uglier. It is in the same neighborhood as U Pitt - literally across the street. It has a much more distinct campus than U Pitt. Most of the buidlings are a pretty yellow brick, but there are a few ugly 60's buildings thrown in. The Fine Arts building was really lovely, although we couldn't go in because there was a fire alarm going off.</p>

<p>Dorms - Mysteriously, none were on the tour, so I know nothing about them. Apparently there is no real cafeteria or student union eating area. Kids eat from carts or something above the pool??? I don't know, maybe someone else can tell more about that.</p>

<p>Students - Hard to say. Our tour was at noon on a Saturday and there really weren't many students around at all. Judging from the student photographs in the engineering building it is a very international student body. Very few girls and white boys. Our tour guides (there were three) ran from very polished, very preppy, to very full of himself. </p>

<p>Engineering program - Fabulous I'm sure. They also don't have students specialize until after freshmen year. Lots of co-op, internship possiblities. Obviously, great recruitment opportunities. CMU has an amazing mix of concentrations on campus - the finest of the Fine Arts to the very technical Engineering and Computer Science departments. I'm sure it's a very stimulating educational environment.</p>

<p>Cost - It seemed to me that the information session emphasized two main things: How hard it is to get into CMU and how little money they give out. No merit money to speak of. Any need based financial aid will be at least half loans. Total cost estimated in excess of $46,000 per year. At least 40% of families paying full freight. (Well, I thought, can I leave now?!) Too rich for our blood. </p>

<p>Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything too important. (Did you care that bag pipes and kilts are a big deal at CMU or that U Pitt has a merry-go-round on campus?)</p>

2

<p>Thanks, Weenie. Pitt is on my d's current list: urban, good gym team, diverse, and business/accounting major, four of the major elements. I visited the area (was actually speaking there) three years ago, and was very impressed. It was lively, students seemed happy, and while some areas were "well-worn", it didn't feel at all unsafe (of course, I grew up in NYC.)</p>

3

<p>I agree mini - it felt very safe to me. (But we "do" cities - maybe if a kid had no street smarts it might feel differently.) Some of the side streets looked a tad scary - but then I realized it was ALL students living there.</p>

<p>Also, mini, if you end up visiting, we got a great hotel for $50/night on Priceline. (We even splurged and got two rooms.) It was the Wyndham and within easy walking. The other one Priceline gives out a lot is the Holiday Inn - even closer and nice too.</p>

4

<p>I went to CMU back in the '80s. I always felt safe back then late at night and I grew up in a suburb. The campus has changed a lot since 20 years ago, mostly for the better.</p>

5

<p>I figured that I would answer weenie's questions since I'm a Carnegie Mellon student.</p>

<p>At CMU, rather than having a real cafeteria, there a bunch of food court-esque places on campus. The largest number are located in the University Center, and one of the dining areas overlooks the pool. Freshmen are required to be on a meal plan that consists of dollars that can be spent any place on campus on anything, and blocks which are like combo meals. Upperclassmen who are sick of campus food (and its price) often eat at the trucks, which are on a street on campus and sell cheap ethnic food.</p>

<p>Dorms range from sort of small to very spacious and include everything from on campus typical double rooms with floor bathroom to off campus (10 minute walk) apartments. There is one female only and two male only dorms, but most students live in areas that are coed by floor or wing or rooms-that-share-a-bathroom. There is a wellness dorm as well as a 24 hr quiet dorm, even though all of campus has quiet hours something like 10 PM - 8 AM on weekdays.</p>

6

<p>weenie: thanks for the report. In terms of scholarhip money, did they mention about $ for out of state students? I notice on the website they describe some "full tution" scholarhips and I was wondering if that only gave the out of state student that instate tution? Thanks again for your facts and impressions.</p>

7

<p>Weenie, sorry I didn't see you at the Wyndham (but I did see my alma mater's volleyball team there!). We were hardly ever there, we got there late on Friday and were exploring Oakland from sunup to way past sundown on Saturday! I had not been to Pittsburgh for over 25 years and it has really improved since then. Pitt is the one urban campus I have no qualms about my D going to...it definately does grow on you! Did you notice how many kids had there Pitt gear on? (although it was a football day Sat. but I saw a lot of kids wearing Pitt gear on Sun. also). DD just loved how friendly and laid back everyone was. We took a peak at CMU on Sat. (just walked around) and we actually liked Pitt's campus better. Took the Duquesne incline on Sun. before we left; the sun was coming out, the view was gorgeous and DD decided right then and there Pitt is her #2 choice.</p>

8

<p>Springfield Mom:
I looked for you too! We actually didn't see a lot of people anywhere in the hotel, though. Yes to the U Pitt clothes! We were laughing about that. We were joking about the Pitt bookstore having a Tall Men's department, as clearly that is where everyone buys their clothes and son is 6'5".</p>

<p>I hope Pitt moves up on my son's list, not that he has a well-defined list. I think he assumes I'm going to spend a million dollars on applications so that he can apply to every school that has an engineering department. (Of course he'll never actually get around to it though...)</p>

9

<p>bluejay:
Yes, Chancellor's does cover out of-state:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/opportunities/chan-scholarship.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/opportunities/chan-scholarship.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It does have a 3.0 GPA requirement to keep it though (for eveyone).</p>

10

<p>(1) The neighborhood Pitt and CMU are in (or next to) has always been one of Pittsburgh's nicest and has never been high-crime.</p>

<p>(2) I know at least one kid who got enough merit money at CMU to lure her away from Penn.</p>

<p>(3) Caution: Anecdotal Evidence! My daughter knows a number of kids who went to Pitt, and Pitt was her safety school (because she liked and respected a number of kids who planned to go there). Two years later, none of those kids are happy with the school -- not challenging enough.</p>

11

<p>I wouldn't assume that those engineering students at Carnegie Mellon are necessarily international. A lot of them are probably Asian Americans. Carnegie Mellon's factbook says that it has only about 11% international students.</p>

12

<p>"Carnegie Mellon's factbook says that it has only about 11% international students." The photos were just of all the undergrad engieering students. They were the only students I really "saw." ;)</p>

13

<p>CMU does offer merit money. Also, they have a reputation of considering advanced HS juniors. They also accept AP credits, so kids can graduate in 4 years with a M.S.</p>

<p>It could be a plus or minus, but the programs e.g. engineering, CS, and science, are separate colleges. Thus is a benefit for focussed kids, but less beneficial for the explorers.</p>

14

<p>Weenie, I just thought that if your son is seeking a very international environment, he might be disappointed to learn that a lot of the seemingly exotic faces in that picture actually belong to Indian-American and Chinese-American kids from places no more exotic than Silver Spring, Maryland.</p>

15

<p>See the thread in the Carnegie Mellon Forum entitled, "Overvew of My Visit to Carnegie Mellon." The concept of merit money and debt is also discussed in the latter posts of that thread.</p>

16

<p>Well, might as well chime in my 2 cents...</p>

<p>Re: safety</p>

<p>I never really felt unsafe during the day during my 4 years at Pitt, but the nighttime in South Oakland (approx. 10 blocks away from campus) though it wasn't unsafe (I felt reasonably safe knowing I was in an area with nearly all college kids and elderly that didn't want to leave the area), I did have some interesting experiences. </p>

<p>Re: clothing</p>

<p>
[quote]
We were joking about the Pitt bookstore having a Tall Men's department, as clearly that is where everyone buys their clothes and son is 6'5".

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Acutally, most students don't shop at the bookstore or the other on campus places (unless they have a good chunk of money). The cheapest place for Pitt gear is at the offstreat vendor (corner of Forbes and Bigelow) by the Cathedral. He has the best prices in town! The clothing is not 'official' since Pitt is stupid and won't allow 'official' merchandise be sold outside of their vendors, but it is good and lasts for some time (I still commonly wear my Pitt shirt I got there over 6 years ago).</p>

<p>Also, it is quite normal to see students walking around in Pitt gear. Maybe not as much as say UNC or other 'big name' schools, but there is definately a sense of school spirit even outside of game day.</p>

<p>Re: housing</p>

<p>
[quote]
Lots of very scary looking off-campus student housing in the neighborhood. (Don't even think about living there.)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It really depends on what landlord you get. My senior year I had a really nice (albeit small) about a block from Bouquet Gardens (campus sponsored 'apartments') with a great landlord (Kelly Realty). My junior year, I wasn't as lucky, lived about 10 blocks into South Oakland in a place owned by a slumlord (we almost had to go to the city when the heat wasn't turned on and it became 45 degrees in the apartment). The place was ok a little far to walk, but I managed for a year...</p>

<p>However, the best places in Shadyside and Squirrel Hill tend to only be available for graduate students (wouldn't even consider a mature undergrad like myself...I never partied). So, if you are concerned about the housing issue, make sure your kid makes friends and try to get into a campus-supported apartment by junior year. Don't move off campus for a year, they won't allow you to move back if you want to! I tried this, but gave up because it was too much of an uphill battle for me to deal with.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Overall students seem very happy with Pitt.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I was happy about my experience at Pitt. Though it wasn't top in my field, I feel I was better prepared for grad school than many of my peers at other 'better' institutions (such as Bryn Mawr, Rochester, BU, etc.). This experience has lead me, someone that thought I was going to get my BA and leave school forever, earn a BS (not the BA), an MS, and enroll in one of the top PhD programs in my field! I'm Pitt proud (but still have a weakness for dem heels ;))!</p>

<p>Re: food</p>

<p>
[quote]
Lots of good ethnic, authentic, non-chain restaurants around (always my barometer of a good city).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>So, where did you end up eating? Just curious...</p>

<p>I must warn you about the campus mean plan. When I was there (not sure if they changed it or not, doubtful they have) the meal plan sucked! The food got boring very quickly and the dining dollars are very inflexible (i.e. not usable at outside eateries). Pantherfunds are a must though, if just to make laundry day easier!</p>

<p>Re: cost</p>

<p>Unless something has changed drastically over the past few years, beware that Pitt likes to raise tuition like noone's business! The 10% range is normal, but can go higher. Just wanted to give you a head's up.</p>

<p>Re: academic vigor</p>

<p>
[quote]
Two years later, none of those kids are happy with the school -- not challenging enough.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>They aren't taking the right classes then I must say. There are tremendous opportunities to supplement your classes with undergraduate research and undergraduates are encouraged with grants to complete research. They are at the perfect time to take advantage of those opportunities, they would be able to complete some great research and likely yield an excellent honors thesis (if not publications) before graduation. It would look excellent on a graduate school application! Also, there are plenty of opportunities for internship at Pitt to supplement coursework. I tried to take advantage of both of these opportunites and never had a spare moment for myself (didn't get that until grad school :p).</p>

<p>Re: Engineering program</p>

<p>I know many graduates of the engineering program and they all had wonderful experiences. There are a lot of clubs for them to join as well as great internships and co-ops available during the summertime in Pittsburgh. I have a friend whose internship turned into a job with them reimbursing his graduate school tuition (also at Pitt).</p>

<p>Though I wasn't in the engineering school, I was even allowed to join clubs in their school and my senior year helped the civil engineering undergraduates build a concrete canoe! It was a great learning experience, even if I didn't have time to see it in action :(.</p>

<p>Last comments:</p>

<p>I just want to thank those that are visiting Pittsburgh for giving the city the chance it deserves. My mother was nearly appaled that I would like a college in Pittsburgh. She was raised during a time when Pittsburgh was thought of as a 'dirty' steel city that nobody in their right mind would want to live in. They have done a lot to try to eliminate this school of thought and have beautified the city into a quaint city great for college students.</p>

<p>Also, if anyone would like more insight on Pitt, feel free to PM me. I have lots more that I can say about my alma matter! :D</p>

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<p>ophiolite:
What a great, upbeat post. Thanks for sharing.</p>

18

<p>Weenie,
I've been waiting for your Pitt review, so thanks! We're headed down there in October with a tour, info session, honors college appt, and engineering dept appt scheduled. For some reason my D and I are both very excited to visit; she's thinking she's gonna love Pittsburgh. From your description I think she may be right. I'll let you know how it goes.</p>

<p>PS My d is 6'! She'll be happy to hear there ARE tall young men around! There aren't any at her hs and she was beginning to despair......</p>

19

<p>ophiolite:</p>

<p>Yes, thanks for your very informative post. I wasn't "laughing" at all the Pitt Gear; DD and I found it very refreshing after seeing so many preppy campuses where the girls were dressed to the nines---she's just happy she wouldn't have to dress preppy every day at Pitt!</p>

<p>I will keep you in mind if DD has any more questions!</p>

20

<p>If anyone has any experience with Pitt's undergraduate business program, I'm all ears.</p>