<p>My D is interested in both schools. Is there a reason one school would be better than the other for healthcare related careers (possibly premed)? My D is a hardworking student and will have taken AP Chem and AP Bio by the time she graduates, but is still ramping up to her potential. She will take Calculus in college. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Well, Pitt’s medical school and major hospital are right there, and it is relatively easy for undergraduates to get involved in research. The Pitt medical school also (I believe) attracts significantly more funding than Penn State. Penn State’s medical school/hospital is 90 miles away.</p>
<p>That said, I am influenced by the fact that I know much more about Pitt and know many more kids at Pitt than at Penn State, and it’s mainly because they don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere, not because they did a specific analysis that Pitt was actually superior to Penn State. Penn State definitely has plenty of successful pre-med students. It can’t be too bad!</p>
<p>I would definitely choose Pitt over Penn State for a health career. Pitt has a world class medical center right there, and because of that there will be a wealth of opportunities as compared to Penn State’s medical school / hospital which is much smaller and as JHS noted, 90 miles away. UPMC (Univ of Pgh Medical Center) is not only one of the largest in the world (with facilities overseas as well) but also very high up in terms of research</p>
<p>U. Pitt was one of my favorite schools when we were in the midst of seeing just over 40 schools. I just loved the school and the city was a great size for kids wanting city life but not necessarily N.Y. I don’t know anything about their health career programs but I would certainly think that having a major hospital right there is a benifit.</p>
<p>My daughter has a close friend at Pitt and she loves it (she’s a little Southern girl). She chose Pitt at the time mainly because there was an opportunity to be guaranteed admission to their med school through a program. I don’t know all the specifics but you may want to look into it; I remember it was a separate program she had to apply for and was accepted. </p>
<p>This girl was NMF and received generous merit aid - close to a full ride I think. She has since changed majors a couple of times (she’s now a senior) first to engineering then math but she’s had great research opportunities and spent a semester in Hungary.</p>
<p>The Pitt guaranteed admit for med school is very attractive. D was invited to apply for it last year but unfortunately she did not like Pittsburgh. If memory is serving me correctly, when you apply to Pitt you must indicate an interest in “pre-med” on your application. As applications are reviewed, students are selected to apply for the guaranteed admit to med school. A separate application process is then required and students are then invited for interviews on campus. Decisions are then made at that point. So: first you must be accepted to Pitt and then you must be accepted to the School of Medicine’s program. I believe only 15 students are accepted (it is a very small number). You will want to get your application in early ( the interviews will start in January/February) as well as for merit aid consideration. Once accepted it is a very rigorous program and you must maintain a 3.5 GPA. Pitt is also very generous with merit aid- D was offered full tuition there as well. Another nice note- when D decided not to matriculate there the med school sent her a nice packet of information to “keep us in mind for the future.”</p>