<p>New to this process; does anyone have an opinion on Pitt. Son is a good student 1400 SATs and a swimmer that wants D-1. What is the campus like and what is the reputation of the school?</p>
<p>Great campus and great school, your son will get in. The school was more competitive this year and got higher in the rankings. I liked it, but it is a very large school where it might be easy to be another face in the crowd. dorms are small. great for premed</p>
<p>I applied there last year (hs class of 2009) with a 33 ACT (just a tad higher than your S’s SAT) and received full tuition and guaranteed admission to the graduate business school after I got my bachelor’s from Pitt. I can honestly say that I didn’t look that much into Pitt and I should have. It seems to have a good location and programs and the Cathedral of Learning is quite unique, but they didn’t seem to advertise themselves much to me beyond a couple of pamphlets and a pre-application offer to pay for my visit, which I probably should have taken them up on. One great thing about the school is that Pitt can be very generous with merit scholarships. If your son seems interested in Pitt, do visit campus and if he likes the school, have him apply, they should still be giving out application fee waivers if he applies to the honors program.</p>
<p>It is a very urban campus in a fun area of Pittsburgh.
A good university, “up and coming” ranking-wise in recent years. Great research opportunities in sciences. Huge medical center and medical school next door.
Gives nice merit aid to top students.</p>
<p>Pitt has about the same number of undergrads as UNC-Chapel Hill–about 17,000.
Ohio State has 38,000 undergrads, Michigan has 26,000…So it’s big but not as big as some.</p>
<p>Check out the Pitt area of College Confidential for more info. It’s a pretty active board. My daughter is a junior majoring in psych and has loved her time there. We’re out of staters.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pittsburgh/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pittsburgh/</a></p>
<p>Great school and campus!! Pittsburgh is a great city for college students.</p>
<p>The swimming facilities are probably the best in the Big East (it has held the conference championships 16 times including this year) and just underwent a $2million renovation in 2008. Pitt men have won 19 Big East Championships since 1983.</p>
<p>The campus is urban and vertically built (and therefore compact), but with plenty of green space around the main buildings and a huge city park adjacent to it, although the campus is bisected by two major streets. The campus is also adjacent to major cultural amenities of Pittsburgh, including the Museums of Natural History and Art , the main branch of the public library and the botanical gardens, which are all free for Pitt students. Part of the campus (including the athletic facilities) rest on a hill. The major bioscience and medical facilities (it has one of the largest and strongest in the country) resides in the west end of the campus. The majority of undergrad activity centers around either the upper campus dorms and athletic facilities (e.g. Petersen Events Center) or the lower campus dorms next to the Cathedral of Learning and student union. The Cathedral of Learning, both inside and out, is quite different than any other facility you’ll ever see at a college.</p>
<p>The average overall ranking of Pitt is around the mid-30s with some higher (RatER) and some lower (USNews).</p>
<p>At my kids’ public academic magnet in Philadelphia, Pitt has been getting a good share of top students. Mostly they don’t want to go to Penn State because it’s so rural, and some of them want to go farther away than Temple or Penn. If they don’t get into Harvard, they go into the honors program at Pitt. I can guarantee there are some really first-rate students there. And it definitely has some mojo these days.</p>
<p>Wow, I just checked on to see if I got maybe one or two replies and I found all of your great comments; thank you so much. I am new to this CC thing and am really blown away at the sharing of information and openness of all of you. Mark me as less cynical than I was 5 minutes ago!</p>
<p>“Mark me as less cynical than I was 5 minutes ago!”</p>
<p>That will change as soon as you go to Parent Cafe political section :)</p>
<p>Pitt is a great, great place. Fantastic campus, awesome facilities, and plenty for everybody (as opposed to “something for everybody”).</p>
<p>Can’t go wrong. ;)</p>