Quick updates from the road:
–Pittsburgh is an amazing city – visually stunning, great architecture, interesting neighborhoods, yummy food, culture, etc. We barely scratched the surface, due in part to obligatory cousin meet-ups (two) and a day spent at Pitt. But highlights included a great brunch at the Upstreet Diner (classic brunch food with middle eastern flair in Squirrel Hill), Bicycle Heaven (exactly what it sounds like), and the National Aviary (see photo). We did stop by Primanti’s and tried the obligatory sandwich with fries and for some reason it didn’t land. We stayed at the Courtyard right next to the admissions office, which was convenient for getting to the 8:30 start in a timely manner. Parking is…not cheap. But as a Donald Shoup (RIP) devotee, I believe that there is no such thing as free parking. 
–Pitt seems like a great school and although I’m still waiting for impressions to settle, I have a feeling S25 probably won’t land there. He liked the city and the Cathedral of Learning (who wouldn’t?) but the presentations left him feeling tepid somehow.
–What I liked: the engineering school is only about 2000 or so undergrads, so they said they really get to know them all. Course accessibility doesn’t seem to be a problem. Very hands-on freshman advising (you get assigned an advisor and interact w/ them weekly). Unlike some other schools, getting into a major isn’t competitive – you just need to have a 2.0 freshman year to continue in good standing. And you don’t have to pick a major until late freshman year. Something like 85% of students who start out in engineering continue as sophomores. It seemed in general like a supportive, not competitive environment. They have a robust co-op program that seems to yield dividends on the job front.
–Things that gave me pause: I don’t think I’d quite put together before how all-consuming engineering is. You start out in classes with other engineers from the outset and it seems as though exposure to other disciplines is minimal. Even the standard chem/physics/math classes are actually sections designed for engineers, and the writing requirement is a writing-for-engineering class. I asked if students who placed out of the first two semesters of calc used the freedom in their schedule to knock out any humanities requirements or explore the curriculum a bit and was told nope – they just advise students to continue with the standard math sequence. (ditto physics and chem). it looked as though a student like my son could end up graduating with as few as four non-engineering school courses (six are required but they give you credit for up to two AP courses and he’s got a bunch of history/language/lit AP credits). So on the one hand, great to be able to focus right from the outset and be confident that you can graduate in four years (+ a semester if you choose to go the co-op route). On the other hand…it’s really a trade school experience more than a liberal arts education. I think this is probably true for almost all the schools that S25 would attend if he ended up committing to engineering. And Pitt does have a wide range of back-up options if he ends up changing his mind. I just don’t know how he’d be exposed to those options without the flexibility to taste some non-engineering content freshman year. Food for thought…
We cut the tour short this afternoon because it was cold and slow and the boys (S25 and his cousin, up from NC) were unenthused. Made it to a colder, snowier Cleveland, where we are staying in the picturesque Glidden House Hotel. It’s in a stunning location, across from the Botanical Garden and the Gehry-designed business school. We passed the Cleveland Orchestra Hall on our way in and there’s a violinist down the hall from us diligently drilling their scales, arpeggios, and etudes – I’m guessing they’ve got an audition at CIM tomorrow. I stuck a little “good luck” note in their door. It’s going to be a balmy 11 degrees F tomorrow morning when we set out on our tour. More soon!
