@momofthree321 Thank you!!
Got my acceptance video!! Really hoping for good aid, I want to go here so bad so fingers crossed
@bulldogs33 congratulations!!!
I have now just made my academic deposit. What should I expect to receive in the future? Anything about housing, admitted students days, move-in day?
@SpartanAzure, all the info about accepted student days is on the Pitt website. There are different days for different schools at the university.
Our daughter was accepted into the Swanson school of Engineering.
We are OOS, her stats were 3.9 UW GPA and 1340 SAT, 700 math. EC’s were marching, Pep, and jazz band.
We have family in Harrisburg and Yardley, but haven’t been on a formal campus visit yet.
She is currently deciding between Texas A&M, Baylor, Cal Poly Pomona and possibly SLO (still waiting), Embry-Riddle Prescott, and University of Utah.
So many diverse schools- she’s having a tough time deciding. We need to visit Pitt.
Any thoughts on the Engineering program?
She plans to study Mech Eng.
Thanks!
@bulldogs33 congrats! Do you mind sharing your stats?
@pct3 Sure!
I took the SAT three times and my combined score was a 1200
OOS (Massachusetts)
International Bacculaureate Diploma Candidate (All IB Classes)
Extracurriculars: Student Council, Key Club, Animal Welfare, School Newspaper, Health and Science Club
Captain of Varsity Softball Team
Multiple visits and letters to Pitt to show interest
Hope this helps! My test scores were low but I made up for it by getting almost all A’s in my IB classes and continually showing demonstrated interest in Pitt.
@rockmom21 no one in Texas ever thinks of Baylor when they hear “Mechanical Engineering.” I wouldn’t pay that much for an engineering degree from Baylor and Waco is the complete opposite of Pitt. A student attracted to Waco would really not be the type of student interested in Pitt…a great city with museums and an urban location.
Texas A&M is strong for engineering but your student will be one of thousands who are packed into the program in an attempt to grow the largest engineering class (i.e. “25x25”). Your student will also have to apply and compete for their major at the end of freshman year. She will need that 3.5 to feel strong about her spot in Mech E.
At Pitt she will get to choose her specific engineering major in the late spring of freshman year.
Feel free to message me if you want. We are from Texas and my daughter turned down engineering admissions at UT and TAMU in order to attend Pitt. She had a merit scholarship though which made the cost of attendance roughly the same. You guys are going to be full freight pay and in that case your in-state option might be the best bet.
@carachel2 thank you so much for your candor. It is very helpful! We were in Pittsburg last summer and we enjoyed our short time there! I think a visit is a must. No merit aid so far, so full OOS is pricey, yes. (She plans on joint Pitt band so maybe there will be a little there?) We have been looking at Pitt Engineering online and it looks great.
My daughter really enjoyed TAMU and was offered Blinn Team Eng which cuts her OOS tuition… but I’m concerned about the size of the program, and the fact that she isn’t guaranteed her major.
We have great local options too… so thank you for that reminder.
@rockmom21 I’m sure there are a few kids who do it, but as the parent of a current engineering sophomore student I really cannot fathom Band + First Year Engineering unless you have a true STEM naturally gifted student on your hands who has already scored a 5 on AP Calc BC, AP Physics (Calc Based) and AP Chem. The average GPA in Pitt engineering after freshman year is like a 2.84 or something similar. It is very very very time consuming. They are required to take 17 hours per semester…actually 19 hours because of a required seminar class that is no credit.
First year was brutal for my kid and very time consuming.
With an SAT <1400 the chances for merit are super slim. I’ve never seen that happen in 2 years of looking at merit on CC. Perhaps there might be a bit for band participation.
We were also concerned about the size of the program at TAMU and it was just a horrible fit for my girl who doesn’t give a whit about football. Of your choices though, the TAMU option is going to be the better one than Baylor for engineering.
@carachel2 – does that mean that most freshmen at Pitt didn’t have time to participate in any clubs? I know my D is interested in working on the race car team and some other clubs. Or do you just think that the band is more time consuming than those activities?
On a related note, are clubs competitive at Pitt? Do you have to try out to participate?
No not at all! There is time for clubs and activities! I didn’t mean to be so negative.
I’m just saying that some of the mega time consuming activities like band, etc. (which requires at least 20-30 hours per week, missed classes for travel, etc.) require some serious consideration. I’m sure there are kids who do it and do it well but the average smart kid may find it to be quite the challenge.
First year engineering at Pitt is no joke. It is a 19 hour load (17 hours plus a 2 hour/week non-credit seminar class). Your student needs to be seriously prepared for the load. That’s all I’m saying.
@pittsburghscribe Mine has experience only with engineering clubs and she has not found those to be competitive for entry. Officer and leadership positions are competitive though. I would suspect maybe some of the business and law clubs are competitive but I don’t know that for sure.
@Bulldogs33, congrats!!! Would you mind sharing your overall GPA? Thanks!
@Indiana6 My GPA is a 3.63, but I believe it went up a little bit because of my strong first and second term.
Hi @pittsburghscribe and hello to my old CC friend @carachel2!!! @pittsburghscribe , are you referring to club sports at Pitt? Yes, those can be competitive and require a try out. My D did not make the club volleyball teams (there are 2), and she felt she had very good open gyms with them and a very strong try out. She was thinking that maybe they didn’t need anyone at her position? It was a let down, but at least she tried, and she could try out again if she wants to. But I don’t think she will because she has found groups like Women in Healthcare, and a club for Pre Physician Assistants. So many wonderful organizations to join. She also was just hired as a volunteer research assistant with a professor. She happened to see a blurb in an Honors College newsletter and applied. Lots and lots of recreational and pre-professional organizations at Pitt to jump right into. But, club sports can be competitive. I cannot speak for every club sport, though.
Thank you @Winky1! (Love your pooch by the way). I was talking more about non-sports clubs – like some of the engineering teams that build and race a car, or Engineers Without Borders, that kind of thing.
Any thoughts on typical class sizes at Pitt? Quality and accessibility of professors?
@pittsburghscribe , my D has classes with 20 students in a classroom in the Cathedral of Learning and in the Frick Fine Arts Building (her freshman composition class, I think, and her Russian Fairytales class). Then her Chem 1 and Chem 2 classes have had a couple of hundred students. I think this is typical for those types of classes, unfortunately. She does have smaller labs, and she attends smaller review sessions. Put it this way, even though some of her classes are large, she feels like she can approach a professor or find help if she needs it. That might be a bit vague, but I know that’s how she feels. The professors do have office hours as well. I know she emailed a professor before she registered for her 2nd semester because she had questions about his class, and she wasn’t certain if it was what she was looking for. That professor got back to her right away and was very helpful. I do not think she took his class after gathering the info. If you D is proactive and is not afraid to make contact, I think the help is there when needed.
She has had some boring professors already (Chem 1) and others she really likes (Chem 2, her composition teacher, and a professor for some sort of Prison class that compares the American prison system to the Gulag and concentration camps. (Fulfills some type of cultural requirement, I believe.)
Has your D taken AP classes? The reason I ask is that my D had, and she really hit the ground running. She was prepared better because she has had rigor already in high school. Even though she had a 4 on the AP Chem exam, she chose to start in Chem 1 and not in Chem 2 because she had had AP Chem as a sophomore in high school. That was her choice. She wound up with a B+ in Chem 1 and it was not a crazy stressful struggle for her. She was able to skip Intro. to Psychology, and she took Developmental Psych already. Because of her Honors English classes and their demands, she says the literature and composition classes so far don’t have as much reading as she was used to! She was well prepared, and that has made her freshman year very manageable. She also loves her Dietrich academic advisor. He’s helpful and they have a good rapport. With science type majors and engineering majors, in particular, I think it’s so helpful for the students to have had some real rigor and/or AP classes already to test them and to aid their knowledge.
And some info. for future engineers and science type majors, she found out when registering for 2nd semester that even though she has a 4 on the AP Mechanics exam, Pitt just changed the requirement this year (2018-19) that to place out of Physics, you need a 5 if it was AP Mechanics that was taken in high school. Ugh. So she’ll still have to take Physics. Not sure the exact name of the course, but it would be the general one. She is a neuroscience major.
Congrats to those who have been accepted, and good luck to those still waiting for an acceptance or merit! My girl got her merit ($10,000 per year, in state) around this time last year, so do not give up until that deadline has passed!
@pittsburghscribe Engineering clubs so far have not been competitive. Mine is in Engineers for a Sustainable World, Aquaponics, SWE and this year is competing with the ASCE Steel Bridge team.
Super helpful! Thanks to both of you, @carachel2 and @Winky1. My D will have a good number of dual enrollment credits from our state flagship so I think she will be ready for the rigor and will be able to hit the ground running.