With my 29 ACT score and PA resident, all three schools will be approximately the same price. Parents are willing to pay the difference after my loans and any grants for each of the three colleges.
Which one would you recommend? What are the biggest differences? How will my employment prospects/internships/co-ops be affected with Pittsburgh ranked 62 vs Alabama ranked 96 (USNews)?
I have been accepted to U of Pittsburgh already and will apply to Alabama before the December deadline. I did apply to Ohio State EA before the November 1st deadline.
Major undecided, but I prefer the science non-engineering fields.
Do you qualify for federal financial aid? You might also qualify for PA state grant which could save you another couple thousand a year.
Go ahead and apply and file FAFSA (and PHEAA grant app) in January or soon after and see what your award letter ends up being for each school.
You have until May 1 to make your decision, visit if possible each campus and talk to current students and the particular department you are interested in.
For the OOS schools travel costs will be higher and you need to investigate if your current health insurance policy will be accepted or if the school will require you to buy their policy which can be costly.
So get all the info to make an informed decision for the best choice for you.
I might be able to help you with some info since I have experience with all three campuses.
UA: We visited UA, met with the honors staff and had a personal campus tour with an honors student. UA had a beautiful campus, warm and welcoming people, and they seemed to care that their students were successful. I am not sure that their academics would be as challenging as OSU or Pitt. Large campus, located in a more rural area (small city that is distant from a larger city)
OSU: I am a graduate of OSU. Nice campus- but I don’t think it as beautiful as UA. I liked the city surrounding Pitt better also. People are more distant and it can be hard for people from out of state to make connections. A friend of my daughter (we are out of state now) recently came home after a year and will continue her education at our current state flagship university. (I think she was lonely). When I attended OSU, they had 100,000+ students and no one seemed to care much about the undergrads. This is a large research university and the professors cared about their research and the grad students who helped them with their research. As an undergrad, you were really pretty much on your own. Their graduation rate was dismal. However, I understand that things have improved since then. Graduation rates have improved and average GPAs have gone up.
OSU has fantastic football and school spirit. The entire city shuts down on football weekends and everyone watches or somehow takes place in the festivities (not just the students). Academically, they are highly ranked. They have a large alumni base which helps when looking for a job. People have a lot of respect for OSU graduates and I can say I have had some pretty easy job searches; I have received phone calls right away after sending out resumes when I returned to work after children were older, moving, etc. Although I was not really impressed by their recruiting activities on campus, I think you would have no problems finding work in your field upon graduation.
Pitt: We recently visited Pitt and were awed by their campus and their beautiful surrounding city. It is probably pretty demanding academically and similar to OSU. They seem to specialize in medically related fields. I think you should explore the strength of this university in your chosen field. I will add that my d loves Pitt, is interested in the health field or medical research and has good chance of ending up at Pitt.
I think your employment / internship prospects would depend specifically on the strength of the department in which you major. I would look at the websites for your chosen majors and then perhaps call the department and ask what companies the students do internships for. Also keep in mind your post-graduate job opportunities will be greater in the area in which you attend college. Where do you want to end up? Do you want to live in the Midwest, Northeast, or the South?
I have two college students, one is a jr in civil engineering at UA, the other a freshman engineer at Pitt (has not declared major yet, they do that in the Spring). If you’d like to PM me with questions, you are welcome to! They are both great schools with a lot to offer.
I am just a high school student so I will just give my opinion on pitt and Ohio state
They are both surrounded by big cities hoepwveee Ohio state has more of a campus fell than pitt, however, when walking around Pitts campus in between classes you do know you are on a college campus. From what I understand, academics for the science Fields are very close and I don’t think you could go wrong at either one. For sports, obviously football is bigger at Ohio state whereas basketball is bigger at pitt. The size is also a big deal, with there being much more students at Ohio state. However, both my mom and I agree that Ohio state’s tour made it feel like a small university. Overall, you can’t go wrong with either it all just depends on preference. I personally would choose Ohio state because I know they offer those fantastic oos scholarships, however, choose whichever one you like best.
P.s. Although I have never seen Alabama, I do know Greek life is very prominent there and runs a lot of the social scene, which I am not sure if you like or not. At pitt and Ohio state I do know that it is not as big but still there and very enjoyable if you would like to join.