@Kombucha22 my son has a 3.7, AP, Honors and college prep. We didn’t have an offical visit (yet)- we visited the campus last year. In his personal statement he made it clear that Pitt is he number 1 choice. He sent his requested grades 02/01. We are from the Philly suburbs.
Most of the kids from our area that we know who applied have heard back from Pitt, some got in, some waitlisted and others told about branch campuses. I think this week he should know.
I asked him to write a follow up letter stating he is excited about the possibility of being accepted and starting main in Sept - can’t hurt?
S23 will attend Accepted Student Day next month. I would love to hear a report as well, how the day was structured, did you have a chance to visit the department of your major, etc… S23 is a future computer science major. Good luck on your visit!
At their info session for Computer science, we were able to talk to dept heads, professors, and students. Yes, very structured day! We were very impressed with the SCI!!
Here is the agenda from Pitt’s IG account. We found admitted students day to be great for my CBA student last year, but according to a friend, the Dietrich session is more general. Maybe someone else can comment on Dietrich specifically:
We went today and attended the Dietrich presentation. After that presentation, there was a room set up with tables by intended majors. It was very structured and informative up until we got to the room with the tables by major. They also had a few People at a table with college advisors. I can only speak of our experience in relation to being a Chemistry major, since we were anxious to speak with department heads, professors, and students. There was a student only at the table and chemistry was her minor, not major. While she was informative of her own experience, we were looking for more. The fact that no one from Department was there was disappointing because we needed more specific info on the program that the student wasn’t knowledgeable about. We stopped at the advisor table, thinking they could give us Program specifics and she could not.(very surprising) Equally disappointing. We will have to contact the department to get info we were looking for. Sounds like the person above who commented on computer science , had department heads, professors and students…
Back in the fall we attended an open house at Virginia Tech and the major fair was amazing. The chemistry department had everyone there, including the college advisor for Chemistry department right at their table. We were hoping for something similar at Pitt. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Again , that was our experience today, and may not be reflective of other majors. The rest of the day was great.
Ugh, thanks, that is what I was afraid of. Kid is gonna have to do some serious comparisons of programs at various schools, and if Pitt can’t even be bothered to staff its department table, that’s not a good look.
He already tried to set up a meeting with the department - and also requested to be allowed to sit in on a class - and essentially got nowhere with his regional admissions rep. It’s understandable that those things aren’t available at the session he’s going to - a Friday - and by the time the events are over, it’s 2 pm, so probs not many people still around.
I know! We are OOS and we were hoping to get more out of that portion and to confirm it is indeed top of the list. Pitt has always been his #1, and checks all get boxes otherwise… but not being able to get that info was a let down. He just found out he was accepted to Virginia Tech and as I stated, we already did their full day open house, it wasn’t even an admitted student tour at the time and that portion of the day was up and above and we would feel comfortable with their program, research opportunities etc… as the advisor was there and beyond knowledgeable and answered every question we had. There would be no need for us to go back at this point. We are doing Penn State admitted day next week and still waiting on some other acceptances, so at that point we will weigh everything. Hopefully you get your answers. Is your student also a Chemistry major?
No, a liberal arts major.
Congrats on VT! That’s a great school!
I’m very anti PSU - we have lived in PA for over 20 years and watched the train wreck of the Sandusky scandal and it irrevocably colored our perception of the school, so I can’t offer anything positive there, sorry!
Ha! Not crazy about PSU either and it’s not in his top 5 just feel like we need to do due diligence. He thinks it’s much too large. But anyway. Lol.
V Tech is amazing and had it as #2 , but after today, who knows. We loved it. My husband and I are secretly hoping for it! But it’s his choice, he’s the one going to school, we just have to make sure academically, it’s what he needs. Best of luck to yours!!
Hopefully so. I’d like to give benefit of the doubt. We will contact them. We were just hoping on a big day such as this, they were better represented. But then after, when asking the college advisor and she wasn’t knowledgeable, it was disappointing. It’s fine, we will work it out. Hopefully it was an unavoidable situation.
@Lk123456 For what it’s worth my S19 was very seriously considering being a Chem major as he’s a Chem wizard but didn’t. It is a very small department and I believe only graduating around 30 students a year, if that. What made him choose Neuroscience was that the Chem track was extremely packed and advisors say if you want to graduate on time you pretty much have to start the major as a first semester freshman with all the required labs involved in each class. It also is very hard to fit in a minor or double major in another subject as a Chem major. They might tell you it’s possible, but in reality it would be extremely hard. My S19 wanted to explore classes and is graduating with a Chem minor and a double major BS in Neuroscience and BA in History and Philosophy of Science. Of course, if one is not going the healthcare route and wants to work in the chemical industry, pharmecueticals or academia etc, a Chem major would makes sense. However, my S19 found very few, maybe 1 or 2 kids who were pre-med straight Chem majors.
My son found Dr. George Bandik (bandik@pitt.edu) very helpful with Chem information. I would suggest setting up a meeting with him, he appears very knowledgable and accessible. S19 also has loved all of his honors Chem classes at Pitt.
@Lk123456 I second the recommendation to reach out to Dr. Bandik for information. He is a very welcoming person and I have a hard time imagining that he would not be forthcoming with information. I was disappointed to hear that the Chemistry department at Pitt didn’t send a representative, a chem major or a prof, to the major’s fair. I graduated from Pitt in Chemistry and think highly of the place otherwise.
Thank you so much for that information! You were actually more helpful than anyone we spoke to about Chemistry yesterday. We have reached out to the department head, but will also reach out to the person you mentioned. My son will seriously have to think about this. Otherwise, he loves Pitt and it checks all the boxes… but this new info is definitely something we are glad to know before committing and may be a game changer. Thank you again!!
Thank you so much for the information and responding. We think very highly of Pitt in all the other aspects… we were hoping for more. We will definitely reach out to the contact you mentioned.
I am getting nervous. I applied December 25th to the nursing program. My friend applied January 1st and she got her decision of a waitlist a few days ago. Should I be worried that I haven’t heard back?
Last year there were not any break out sessions by major. There were 2 Professors, students and an advisor. They spoke in broad terms about Dietrich and then about specific experiences, followed by questions and then stayed as long as needed to answer one on one questions. I am sharing this for 2 reasons. 1. The individual major tables might be new. No excuse but just an observation and 2. The professor that spoke was the dynamic, humorous, informative Chem Professor . I believe it was the Dr. Bandik that others are speaking. May be worth your daughter’s time to teach out to him.
Good Luck.
My son applied on 12/30 and has yet to hear back… I know they are rolling admissions…anyone in the same boat same timeline or more importantly have you gotten a decision if you applied on or about 12/30 ?
Thank you
