<p>I myself would suggest that you go ahead and submit an application to Pitt - I think it would be an excellent safety for your son, and it will ease any anxiety to know that he would have an academic and financial safety in his pocket by November. I would not worry about “taking” a scholarship opportunity from someone else, as Pitt is aware that most of the students who receive full tuition (and above),many with stats similar to your son’s, will have more prestigious options elsewhere.</p>
<p>If you visit Pitt in the next few weeks, you can probably arrange to meet and speak to students in the honors college who will be on campus doing research, and also visit some of the physics labs. It is my understanding that physics students at Pitt do lots of research as undergrads and can also find opportunities in labs at CMU, and that some have won some of the prestigious graduate fellowships (Rhodes, Marshall) in the past several years. Try to look at the web pages belonging to physics professors at Pitt who are active in research that appeals to your son, and see if you can schedule appointments to meet with them.</p>
<p>One advantage that some local students perceive in Pitt (aside from its urban location and proximity to CMU), compared to PSU Schreyer, is the large cohort of talented students to provide options for social experiences outside of the general state school party atmosphere - although with rising standards at both Pitt and University Park, even that is probably not what it used to be. Students also choose Pitt because the lack of financial pressure makes it easy to pursue two or even three majors. </p>
<p>I would anticipate that your son will have lots of fine choices come next spring (are you also looking at Rice and Chicago, both of which often award merit money to students with profiles similar to your son’s?), and it would not hurt to have Pitt as one of them.</p>
<p>My daughter is one who turned down offer offers to take the full OOS scholarship at PITT. No regrets. It’s really not that big and the honors college really takes under their wing those who want it. Because of the opportunities for things other than drinking PITT has an edge. We worried about the small rural, semi-rural schools that by no fault of their own, most activities took place on campus. That gets old after awhile.</p>
<p>D applied to Pitt as a safety a few years ago. She was accepted and we did go and visit - she did not care for it but on paper, we would not have known that. She had a friend who was attending and loved it. Of course, after we visited she got a full scholarship. Had I known that was coming I would have encouraged her to like it a little more. </p>
<p>Personally, I do not think your son should sacrifice an opportunity for what could be a true financial safety for your family. For us, while D ultimately decided to attend another school, it was very nice and reassuring to know that a true financial safety with an excellent academic reputation was available if needed.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from Pitt in May and loved her experience there. She went to Pitt for the strong Japanese program but ended up switching to psychology (another strong department at Pitt) as her interests changed. She had a full-tuition scholarship, and that was a real blessing for our family. I agree with everything lkf said previously in this thread.</p>
<p>My daughter is not a partier, and there is plenty to do in Pittsburgh that doesn’t involve drinking. We’re not particularly religious, but there are many churches near campus, and I get the feeling quite a few students participate.</p>
<p>I think Carnegie Mellon would be a great school for your son, but the scarcity of financial aid makes the school unaffordable for many. And although Pitt students can take classes at CMU, there are many limitations, and no student should choose Pitt with the hope of taking many or most classes at CMU.</p>
<p>You and your son should check out the strength of the math and physics departments. I have no idea how those are.</p>
<p>I’m sure your son will have many wonderful options when the time comes, but you are smart to line up safeties. Your son has nothing to lose by applying to Pitt, especially with the free application offer. We didn’t see the school either until after my daughter had been accepted and had been awarded the scholarship. Pitt has a lot to offer. Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>Guess I’m taking the contrarian position, but I think you have to take into account your son’s preferences when deciding which colleges to apply to. Your son is very qualified and obviously has worked very hard, and with his grades, test scores, URM status and other achievements, is likely to receive offers most places that he applies. I would focus on finding schools that are a good fit. Pitt may be a nice financial safety but it does not sound like it fits the profile of a school that your son wants to attend. You are better off finding a financial safety that is also one your son would be happy to attend. Let me tell you that in both cases I know of where the students received full ride offers at Pitt, they were also accepted at one of HYP and chose to attend there and pay full freight. It just was the fact that those students did not ever see Pitt as a school they wanted to attend. So their parents will be paying full freight at HYP. This might not be the case if they had chosen as their financial safety a school their child actually wanted to attend.</p>
<p>I would visit before striking them off your list. You really don’t know if you will like a school unless you set foot on the campus and explore. DS also turned down other full scholarships to go to Pitt. I never thought he would be interested in a “city” campus but he liked it when we visited. He loves it there :)</p>
<p>It is a well regarded school in many subjects. Since they are paying the bill, I think it is worth your time to visit.</p>
<p>poster lkf725 may be able to give more details on this, but our neighbor attends as an engineering major. He has not found it to be large classes or a big party scene. He dormed with “all engineers” as Pitt groups them together. He found this ideal. It avoided the issue of roommate partying when he had a big test. </p>
<p>As someone else said, it is rolling admissions and acceptances come out very early (Oct?). Free & Easy application.</p>
<p>While I agree it does not sound like a good fit now, kids change quite a bit between now and May. Right now your son is basing some of his “fit” on the current students he is around. These may not be the same type of student he finds at Pitt, esp the honors.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo “And yep, he’s 1/2 Puerto Rican, so yes, URM”</p>
<p>That only works if the father is Puerto Rican and has a Hispanic surname. It doesn’t work so well if the mother is Puerto Rican since most likely the kid will no longer have a Hispanic surname. It certainly helps if the son is fluent in Spanish.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that Pitt has a nationally recognized Physics department, but maybe your son should check out what research is being done at all of his colleges of interest before he makes a decision, especially since he is interested in Physics research.</p>
<p>While there is a party scene at all colleges, Pitt offers many other options. In fact, my kids felt that was one of the benefits of a city - lots to do that didn’t involve partying. My son and his friends were definitely not partiers and didn’t have time to party even if they wanted to. The engineering classes were small (as small as 6 and no larger than 50) and there was a big comraderie among the engineers. Pitt was originally a safety school for my son, too, but after visiting and attending a couple of programs at various colleges, it was near the top of his list. </p>
<p>If it is free to apply to Pitt, why not? See how much financial aid you get and perhaps you will have time to visit later on.</p>
<p>Quakerstake “Chris: Not true. Even a quarter hispanic is recognized. National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP)”</p>
<p>Wow, times have changed a lot. I’m actually half Puerto Rican but don’t look at all Hispanic nor do I have a Hispanic surname. I am far from fluent in Spanish so it’s hard to see how I would qualify for any underrepresented minority benefits. When I attended college in the paleolithic era we were told we would not qualify to report our ethnic group as Hispanic. So, now years later DS (only 1/4 Puerto Rican) and speaks French instead of Spanish could qualify as URM Hispanic?</p>
<p>My son has medium dark skin, Puerto Rican (at least in his case) being African, Native American, and Spain Spanish. He speaks a little Spanish but his prefered foreign language is Arabic. His biological father is from Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>Make sure he does whatever is required to get recognized by the College Board under the NHRP. That will help him. He’s Hispanic regardless though.</p>
<p>Pitt is medium sized: 18,300 some undergrads which compares to about 25,500 at Cal-Berkeley and ~29,000 at Wisconsin. So for a major public research university (it is 13th in federal research funding), it is actually on the small side. It is very urban, actually similar to Penn in that regard, but Pitt is adjacent to a very [large</a>, wooded urban park](<a href=“http://www.pittsburghparks.org/schenley]large”>Schenley Park | Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy) and the city’s major cultural institutions: the Carnegie Museums of [Art[/url</a>] and [url=<a href=“http://www.carnegiemnh.org/]Natural”>http://www.carnegiemnh.org/]Natural</a> History<a href=“not%20related%20to%20Carnegie-Mellon%20University,%20which%20is%20also%20adjacent%20to%20Pitt”>/url</a> and [url=<a href=“http://phipps.conservatory.org/]Phipps”>http://phipps.conservatory.org/]Phipps</a> Conservatory](<a href=“Carnegie Museum of Art”>http://web.cmoa.org/). All of these are free for Pitt students as well, as is the city’s public transportation. Having been at both Pitt and Penn (and having really liked both of them), I would tell you that, IMO, Pitt’s location is superior to Penn’s. BTW, I have know a few people that have turned down Penn for Pitt with no regrets, and if the financial costs are significant, I would seriously give Pitt a hard look.</p>
<p>Absolutely visit and see what you think. There is a good link posted around here before that shows pictures not just of campus, but also of the attractions adjacent to campus. You might want to take a look (its on an athletic message board so skip down past the sports facilities): [Pitt’s</a> facilities and campus](<a href=“http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=141&f=2455&t=5547158]Pitt’s”>http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=141&f=2455&t=5547158)</p>
<p>My son said today he would rethink whether or not a smaller campus is a requirement for him. Pitt is certainly still a lot small than our local UC. I think Pitt’s freshman class is a little more than half as big as UCSD’s freshman class.</p>
<p>Also, sorry to ask a lame question but what exactly is an honors college? What makes it honors? The “honors” courses at the local community college are nothing my son would ever want to take. He took an “honors” physics class two years ago and it was the least amount of work he’d ever done because he tested at 90% on the pretest so he only did one homework set all semester!</p>
<p>Someone pointed out that the travel reimbursement is only $250 and I realize that I was thinking it would be enough if it’s only our son that goes but it asks for a parent to go, too, so I’m not sure it will work after all since we don’t have $ for a flight. We’ve spent little on visiting colleges and just can’t afford to see all the schools on our son’s list.</p>
<p>At any rate, thanks for the input, everyone.</p>
<p>As much as I like Pitt, it is a really long way to go for a visit to a secondary backup school. Maybe there is something like Pitt closer to home? Or, your son could apply to Pitt and only visit later on if he needs to.</p>
<p>You might be right, lkf. I know my son just loves to travel so he got very excited about the possibility of visiting Pittsburgh again. I suppose it’s also possible to contact admissions and ask about extra travel allowance; what can they say but yes or no? :-)</p>