<p>My son's been accepted at UPitt Honors with a full tuition and fee waiver. He has also been accepted in UVA but we would have to pay out of state. Will U Pitt honors offer the same opportunities, and is UVA worth it?</p>
<p>On the surface, Pitt would be a better choice considering the cost differential (which can be saved and used for grad school if desired). What is your son’s intended major/career path? That can make a significant difference in your decisionmaking.</p>
<p>My son turned down UNC Chapel Hill (in state) for full tuition at Pitt. He loves it at Pitt and has no regrets.</p>
<p>My son picked Pitt over JMU and some other Virginia schools, but I think turning down UNC had we been in-state would have been tough. Curious as to your son’s reasons and what he likes best about Pitt.</p>
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<p>I would definitely say that the UHC at Pitt (and even Pitt in general) offers a lot of things that UVA/Charlottesville don’t. I picked Pit over some VA schools (Tech and W&M) and personally didn’t even apply to UVA because 100 kids from my school go there every single year.</p>
<p>The great thing about Pitt in general is the amount of outside stuff you can do. Grab a bus for free with your ID and in 15-20 minutes you can be in Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, down at the Waterfront, or Downtown. Each area offers different amenities like shopping, restaurants, grocery stores, movie theaters, or any sort of cultural event (opera, symphony, musical, play, ballet, etc.) In Charlottesville, the campus is basically all there is, asides from a bus to Barracks for some outside food, or maybe a bus downtown to the strip and theater there. It’s hard to get to go anywhere if you don’t have an older friend with a car.</p>
<p>In terms of UHC, they are the BEST. They have separate housing with a great community feel, plus offer tons of extra activities and clubs for the students to join. </p>
<p>Personally, I’m not a big fan of the prep/frat atmosphere, which UVA definitely has. Greek Life is toned down at Pitt, and definitely not shoved in your face the way I feel UVA could be.</p>
<p>It also comes down to what you may want to study-- The Comm school at UVA is ranked 1st or 2nd almost every year for undergrad. But for the sciences, especially medically related, Pitt is where you would want to be.</p>
<p>The cost thing is also a huge difference. As an in-state UVA student, you absolutely get so much education for the cost. As an out-of-state student, I would definitely think twice before going because it is quite expensive, and 4 years of $35k+ tuition will add up, especially if you are considering graduate school afterwards.</p>
<p>The main reason my son picked Pitt was that he wanted to be in a real city and not just a campus bubble. Chapel Hill was too small for him. The rest of the Triangle is too inconvenient without a car. The free buses in Pittsburgh are incredibly useful.</p>
<p>What are his fields of interest? In certain areas, Pitt would likely have better undergrad research opportunities and programs. That is especially true in the biomedical/health sciences. UVA is a great school, but in absolutely no way do I think it worth trading free tuition at Pitt for out-of-state tuition at UVA, almost regardless of major.</p>
<p>FYI, someone did a post a year ago and compared Pitt’s Honors College to others and Ivies, so you can take a look at that [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1041074-best-honor-programs-public-universities-updated-12.html]here[/url”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1041074-best-honor-programs-public-universities-updated-12.html]here[/url</a>].</p>
<p>Thank you. That is very helpful.</p>
<p>I do think urban campuses are a lot more attractive to high school students than they used to be. Quite honestly, I’m not sure how well known Pitt is in our area (Northern Virginia) but NYU, for example, is far more popular than it used to be and my son was very receptive to the idea that there would be more to do in Pittsburgh than on an isolated campus in a small town. I think the biggest selling point for him, though, is that most Pitt students just seemed to be his type - enthusiastic, but not excessively peppy or preppy.</p>
<p>Second NoVaRent’s observation about kids of their type. My daughter does like the regular kids at Pitt. She is not as big of a fan of the honors college as AwesomeOppossum, but she only lived in honors housing her second year and that limited her exposure to a wide range of honors college kids.</p>
<p>It is funny here in Maryland nobody really talks about Pitt, but as soon as I mention it or if I am wearing a Pitt shirt, I get lots of positive comments.</p>
<p>MD Mom, I wonder if that will change (people talking about Pitt) once Pitt is in the ACC in 2013. My guess is Pitt will get a lot more attention in southern states. It really does fly under the radar a lot of places.</p>
<p>Regarding its urban setting, I do agree urban schools seem to be enjoying more and more appeal, and some schools that aren’t so urban seem to be trying to market themselves as such (only so many miles from city xyz). I was having a discussion the other day with someone, and neither of us could actually think of another school (outside Carnegie-Mellon) that was so integrated into the city for its students, meaning free public transportation, free access to so many museums and other things, etc. Out of urban schools, I really haven’t seen one quite so conducive for students to enjoy the “rest of the city” as at Pitt.</p>
<p>People in the DC region are somewhat familiar with Pitt from the Big East, since Georgetown is a member of that conference. ACC schools have a stronger academic reputation, in general, than Big East schools, and membership in the ACC will enhance Pitt’s reputation further south. </p>
<p>I will say I would be surprised if there is any high school that regularly sends 100 students per year to U.VA. I would have thought that even the largest schools in the state like Westfield and Robinson, and a few of the schools near Virginia Beach, which have graduating classes around 700, probably send no more than 45-50 students to C’Ville in a banner year.</p>
<p>The school is TJ – Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Last year, UVA accepted 225 TJ students and 106 enrolled. So what Awesome says is true, approx. 100 or more students end up at UVA every year. UVA is known as “TJ South” due to the large number of TJ students there.</p>
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<p>Yep. My year, over 100-some kids were accepted, and 99 enrolled. Wayyyy too many for me to handle for another 4 years, hah.</p>
<p>Ah - that makes perfect sense. Not sure why it didn’t occur to me earlier, other than that I’m used to TJ parents and students who let you know early and often they attended that school. So AwesomeOpossum could probably be called “ModestOpposum” too. </p>
<p>Do they still have the Echols Scholars program at U.Va? If so, then the TJ kids definitely are more likely to continue to travel in the same circles.</p>
<p>Yes, they still have Echols and Rodman at UVA. DS chose Pitt over UVA and has not regretted that decision. He loves it at Pitt. If he could find a job there after graduation, I could see him living there for a long time. It will be younger DS’ turn soon and yes, he will apply to Pitt as well as UVA too :)</p>
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<p>Haha. Thank you!</p>