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<p>I could say a LOT of things about why I love Pitt and stayed here for my Masters after doing my Undergrad. However, the one that I always seem to mention is this:</p>
<p>I applied to almost exclusively smaller (<10,000 students total) schools except for Pitt. Pitt is a larger school sitting around 18,000+ students. However, not once have I ever felt overwhelmed or “lost in the crowd”. Almost daily I would run into someone I know while walking to class or eating a meal. Even now as a grad student, I see people in the hallways, on the bus, crossing the street. Pitt is the biggest “little campus” I have ever been at, and I’ve never felt like “just a number” or “just another student”. At least from my experience, I have a good group of friends, and professors/staff that really got to know me and keep in touch with me throughout the academic year and onwards. Even now there are still professors or old staff that will give me a hug, not just a hello, if I run into them. That’s pretty impressive.</p>
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<p>Two things (really three) that I had to adjust to:</p>
<p>1.) Lack of Diversity in the <em>general</em> student body. I grew up in the DC Metro area, which is incredibly diverse. Pitt is almost 80% Caucasian, so for me to come here and often times be the only non-white person at an event took a while to get used to (it doesn’t even cross my mind now). It helped that I was in SSOE because Benedum itself tends to be a bit more diverse than the campus as a whole, which helped. </p>
<p>2.) The large number of smokers here. I jokingly tell friends I had to re-learn how to “walk and breathe” because of the insane (in my opinion) number of people who smoke here. I don’t even know if I knew a smoker before college. True story.</p>
<p>3.) It’s cold. I mean, REALLY cold, in the winter. And there are a LOT of days of no sunshine. Luckily I don’t really suffer from seasonal depression, but quite a few students do their first year or two, and that can also be a shock.</p>