<p>How does the university feel to you? Is it always like a big state school? Or are there any other predominant qualities to Pitt that you've noticed?</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem much like a big state school to me given its location in a city- most state schools have more of a campus-y feel and are set off in a rural or suburban area. </p>
<p>My impression from my freshman D is that while Pitt is large it is manageable in that (1) large lecture classes are not as huge say as Penn State and generally have a small recitation section (2) students have an assigned advisor who they are required to meet with prior to registration- at other large state schools students may have access to a pool of advisors if they seek it out but are otherwise on their own.</p>
<p>my sense of the student body is that they are friendly and hard working. since they have chosen a city school, as opposed to a large campus-y type school such as Penn State, that may tell you something about them too. The student body is fairly diverse although about 2/3 are from PA. A good portion (about 1/3) are from the Philly metro area.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It feels like a small campus, to be honest. Sometimes I forget that Pitt has like 17,000+ students in it, because I <em>always</em> see someone I know when walking down the street, going to grab food, or out at events downtown/etc. </p>
<p>It definitely doesn’t feel like other state schools I’ve visited (UVA/Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech). The campus is small enough to walk around (15 minutes end to end down Forbes/Fifth, no more than 10-15 minutes to walk from lower to upper campus). Other schools are so large you <em>have</em> to take a bus to get places in a reasonable time, not so with Pitt!</p>
<p>The one downside I will state is that Pitt has a freaking LOT of smokers. This is probably more to do with Pittsburgh’s blue collar background and that fact that the campus is accessed and used by more than just students. With that said, I had to learn a new way to walk and breathe that minimized my smoke intake at times (I slightly exaggerate here, but still, the point is: lots of annoying-@$$ smokers). I wouldn’t mind it so much if they didn’t stand RIGHT NEXT to the doors to buildings when smoking (why by the way is illegal, they’re supposed to be a minimum of 15-feet away).</p>
<p>In terms of “big” classes, they max out around like 300 I think (Chem/Physics/Psych/basics). Like pamom said, the great thing is that they’re broken down into pretty small (20-30 student) recitations and you can form a great relationship with your TA that way, if you’re too nervous to contact your professor.</p>
<p>I’d also agree the student body is friendly. They are some of the nicest people ever, and most of them are very academically focused. Something I noticed is that Pitt students are mostly into sports. Not necessarily Steelers or Football/Basketball, but there is a big Baseball/Hockey following as well as others from teams other than the Pittsburgh/School ones, it’s pretty cool.</p>
<p>I would disagree with pamom that the student body is diverse. 80% caucasian is definitely not diverse (my HS was like 60% caucasian and 30% asian, 10% black/hispanic which I consider more diverse than 80%, 4%, and 7% or whatever the actual Pitt numbers are.) That’s just me though, people come from different (less-diverse) places to the point where Pitt would be more diverse, so that’s good.</p>
<p>Pitt is highly in-state, but we have our share OOS students and a small fraction of international ones too.</p>
<p>Overall, it’s a great place, not ridiculously snobbish (unlike other places in the area tend to be, AHEM), and the locals love us!</p>
<p>The perceived numbers smokers likely aren’t because they are from Pittsburgh (only 15% of Pitt students are even from the entirety of Allegheny County). More likely, there are a normal % of smokers, but as you said, it is a small, compact campus, constructed vertically, not horizontally. That doesn’t give smokers a lot of area to spread out and do their thing. </p>
<p>% of OOS is at 35% and rising steadily. That is actually a significant % for a “public” school. For example, OOS at UNC-Chapel Hill is 18%, UVA and Georgia Tech are 26%, Wisconsin & Michigan are 32%, Illinois 15%, and Cal-Berkeley & UCLA 7%.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that Pitt was private from 1787-1966.</p>
<p>I agree with AwesomeOpossum about the campus vibe. Pitt definitely feels a lot smaller than it is. I like that I can walk around campus and always run into someone I know, while at the same time I enjoy the having the potential to meet so many new people.</p>
<p>Pitt students are very academically focused, but also a lot of fun. I’d say it’s kind of a work-hard-play-hard attitude here. But we’re not notorious for being a “party school,” and there’s so much other stuff to do here if partying isn’t your thing. People are generally very nice at Pitt, and it is relatively easy to find people who like to have fun the same way you do.</p>
<p>I consider Pitt to be diverse, but according to Wikipedia my hometown is 97% white. So maybe I’m not one to speak. But there are many international students at Pitt, as well as organizations based around various races, ethnicities, and religions. I’ve definitely been exposed to all different kinds of people since coming to Pitt which I have found to be great.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s it though. Maybe it’s just the nature of the other schools I applied to/visited, but Pittsburgh schools (CMU/Pitt) were the only ones with a smoking issue for me. Dunno why. </p>
<p>But like I said, that’s me being nit-picky.</p>