It does sound like the November SAT may have been similar in difficulty to the October one. Even though S19 thought that was pretty easy, it seemed to have a generous curve, at least on the math.
We did a whirlwind drip to Pittsburgh and back yesterday to visit Pitt. S19 has no idea what he wants to do or what he is looking for a college, so you can imagine his excitement. The drive to Pittsburgh from the DC area was quite pleasant compared to going up 95.
The information session was a little repetitive and the young guy from admissions who gave the presentation seemed more excited about athletics than anything else. Still, I came away feeling that the schools is strong academically and has many opportunities for internships, and good career and grad school placement, etc. (94% in grad school or working within 6 months of graduation). The session was a little weird because there were only four or five students there on a Monday afternoon. They kept stressing that only 7% of classes are huge lectures despite the school’s size (19,000 undergrads, 4000 freshman)
The tour was . . . gray, cold and windy! The student tour guide was really good despite her audience of two silent students (yes, they split up the group of 4-5 kids). We saw a room in the newest freshman dorm (small but nice), the lobby of another freshman dorm complex (fitness center and dining hall on the premises), the inside and outside of the Cathedral of Learning (it really does look the inside of Hogwarts castle), a classroom building (but no classrooms), the emergency blue box system and that’s about it, now that I think about it. It was sort of refreshing that they didn’t feel the need to show us the climbing wall. I don’t feel like we got a sense of how large the campus is, but it felt pretty compact. This was my first time seeing a city campus (well, other than the local GW) and I personally felt the absence of green space (although we obviously didn’t trek over to the large nearby park). However, I loved the perks for students (reduced or even free tickets to Pittsburgh arts events and museums). The students on campus seemed happy and 90% of them were wearing Pitt gear so I guess that’s a sign of school spirit.
The tour guide was actually from our county in VA, so we did talk to her a bit about the best options for getting home (Greyhound), and learned that Pitt offers charter buses for trips home during official breaks.
S19 did utter the words “math and music” when asked what major he was considering and he talked a little bit about that when we were eating lunch afterwards. I think he came away with a pretty good impression of the school, but it’s just a little bit too early for him - he certainly didn’t have a “this is the one!” moment. I’ll probably encourage him to apply because of the rolling admissions and easy application and perhaps we’ll do another visit later. Pitt has a high threshold for merit scholarships and he is likely to be literally 10 points below what they’re looking for so it may depend on whether he re-takes the SAT, does slightly better on the ACT, etc.
