My child got admitted for BS Neurocience at Virgina tech and Univ of Pittsburgh honors college. What factors can or features that I can compare for making a decision? What are the key areas that I need to look that would help me in making a decision.
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Who’s going to college? You or your child?
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What’s important to your kid? Are both options affordable?
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Please clarify. Are you the parent or the child? What does your child prefer? What environment is the child looking for? What are the cost factors?
Honestly - one is an enormous but a (IMHO) gorgeous campus that’s in a beautiful area but not near any major cities, Roanoke being closest but not close. That said Blacksburg has everything one needs. It’s also top rated for college food - which to me should be a consideration as both mine have gone through low blood sugar, wasting money eating out phases etc.
The other is a city school, smaller in every single way. It’s known as a healthcare mini mecca. This may matter depending on the post school desired outcome - ie medical shadowing.
Honestly I’m not sure short of their admissions portal I suffered through with my kid that I’ve ever heard a bad word about Pitt.
Va Tech has a neuro school. Pitt a major. Likely not important.
Both are ACC schools.
Honestly and not sure if you visited but what matters to you ? Cost ? Distance / access to home? Urban or rural/ suburbanish ? Cold vs less cold? Great rated food vs I don’t know but niche rates low. Size of programs or # of course offerings or research being done.
I think those are things to look at.
I suspect if you visited both the student would prefer the environment of one over another as they are both great but different. Pittsburgh is a neat city
I dream of retiring and going to Va Tech to get another degree. It’s that nice. But alas, I’m not your student. !! What will they think ??
- Net cost, with the closest to no debt at graduation winning.
- Student’s preference (have they visited both?)
Both are strong programs, so happily there isn’t a ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ choice here.
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Its my child
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Your name has VA. Are you a Virginia resident ? Does cost matter ? Is there a post college goal - ie m d school ?
Thanks for the pointers. Can we say after graduation more opportunities in Neuroscience from one school to another? I mean in terms of getting a job, internships etc?
Good question. Certainly cost matters. However, if quality of program and opportunities after graduating from one school is more than other then willing to take on the burden of extra cost.
My guess is….I honestly don’t know…but I suspect like many majors more schooling would likely be required to gain something substantial.
If this is the goal, look at their career outcomes online or ask the department chair of each where you can obtain them.
Honestly though, that’s a great input but kids have to hustle. Nothing is given. You see kids who hustle anywhere. They find success. My son had 5 offers in the fall for after graduation and his summer intern called last week to offer.
Others haven’t even started looking or never interned and will have nothing at graduation. That’s on them. Not the school.
A student will be on campus four years. Day after day. They will walk, bike, eat, study. In my opinion, while outcomes are important, it would be a mistake to have them drive the decision. These schools are very different.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. But they will have results on line or you can get by asking.
But I promise - nothing is given.
Just curious - what type of position would one get with a neuro degree ? I can think of some like insurance claims, retail, etc. I know that’s not what you mean but I really don’t know. Researcher ?
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I’m just so curious why neuroscience? You now make the 7th poster who has posted about this major in just a few days.
I’m not sure I understand what you plan to do with this major after your bachelors. And that would help me decide how to respond to you about colleges.
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I’m curious too. Wrong school but related careers by PhD, Masters and Bachelors.
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OP you might reach out to the person at the bottom for Pitt. She’s collecting outcomes.
Va Tech has this. Also blank. But on their neuro website they list student stories and student ambassadors and your student, not you, can reach out and get a true sense. While the Va Tech website is more robust, I’m sure Pitt will offer similar. In the meantime you can reach out to the Dept Heads via email asking for outcome and look at the curriculums. What I see just from looking is that neuro, like other liberal arts, is not set in a prescribed path. One may study clinical, one computational etc.
https://neuroscience.vt.edu/careers/alumni-outcomes.html
https://neuroscience.vt.edu/undergraduate/st-ambassadors.html
PA > VA!
Just kidding, both are good schools. Select the one which your student likes. Many students change their major at least once before they graduate.
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No.
Both will have more opps than any one student can take advantage of, and their programs/reps/etc are similar enough that what will matter is what the student does with the opps.
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As an opinion, the University of Pittsburgh may represent the stronger choice for neuroscience. For one reason why this might be the case, the study of neuroscience includes the interrelationships between the basic sciences and concepts from philosophy. And Pitt has a very strong philosophy department.
Depends on if they are wanting to do behavioral neuroscience, or if they are wanting to do molecular and cellular neuroscience. Not sure that the philosophy aspect is really all that relevant to the latter. So it goes back to anything that the OP can do to give a better clarity on what exactly the goal is of the neuroscience major, it’s a deceptively wide category.
They both look like solid programs with plenty of institutional support. Both schools are well-regarded and I don’t think there will be a meaningful difference in the neuroscience programs. You should pick the school based on other factors.
Thanks I agree with what you say