My daughter has been admitted to both schools of business. While the Smeal business school has a better reputation she feels U of Pitt is a better campus fit…we are 5 1/2 hours from U of Pitt and 3 1/2 from PSU. This is the first one I’m sending off so I battle with her comfort level…any advice?
psu has a good business school. no doubt about it. however, Pitt should have pretty good program as well and from a non-business major, if she feels pitt is the better fit, i;d say go to pitt.
I personally don’t know a lot about either business school. I would think there are more opportunities for scholarships at Pitt because it’s in a City. If she feels more comfortable at Pitt, I would roll with it 
Titan, did you mean internships instead of scholarships. Much easier and convenient to do internships in a city where the school is located.
There’s a danger in relying too much on rankings, particularly for undergrad programs. It is not like either are in the top crust with places like Wharton.
The campuses are very different (picturesque Middle of Nowhere, PA, versus Pittsburgh) so I would definitely take a strong feeling about that into consideration. Pitt’s campus was too citified for me, personally. If she prefers that over PSU, Pitt might serve her better.
If you’re not big into football culture and partying, I would think the city of Pittsburgh would offer more opportunities for activities other than that.
And for the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would want to voluntarily associate themselves with that football culture.
Penn State obviously has a bigger sports culture than Pitt, but I wouldn’t say it’s an either/or situation. Basketball is pretty big at Pitt and the city has big-time major league sports.My son is definitely into sports but likes that Pitt also offers so much as a small city, all easily accessible by a free bus ride. He’s also looking at business and being in a thriving city makes internships much more accessible, at least during the school year.
“And for the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would want to voluntarily associate themselves with that football culture.”
Apparently, there are 40,000 students who think differently. And even more alumni.
It’s a cult. -shrugs- I’m here for the honors college.
Didn’t notice your strategic italicizing of “culture” before. Very punny. 
I’m looking at both PSU and Pitt currently for Industrial Engineering. I had first set mt sights on Pitt until I recently visited Penn state and realized how good the Industrial Engineering program is. Have you visited both already? Also the atmosphere says a lot. They’re both very “cult”-ish, but you hear of Penn State pride more just because they’re bigger. My sister lives in Pittsburgh and wants me to go there because there’s always so much stuff to do, while students at Penn State resort more to partying. I visited a friend at Penn state for Halloween weekend and being someone who likes to party, I absolutely love it;however, I’m afraid that I’ll get too distracted. Penn State is better for business in the rankings, yes, but they’re both ranked so close to each other that Pitt is going to serve her just as well. If you already visited both campuses and she feels that Pittsburgh is a better fit, then Pittsburgh sounds like the right choice.
If you think Pitt is as cultish as Penn State, you’ve not spent much time at either. “Cultish” is not a compliment, and it goes well beyond pride and affects basic discernment.