<p>marching band: PSU’s Blue Band is bigger and considered probably better than the Pitt Band, but Pitt’s isn’t bad.</p>
<p>athletics: PSU gets bigger football crowds as they have 100,000 attend their games, but Pitt is still a top 20 program and has a pretty good history. Pitt will probably start the season ranked ahead of PSU this coming season. Pitt also has a top ten basketball program whereas PSU’s program, to be generous, is quite poor. Pitt also has the advantage of being located in a city with three professional sports franchises.</p>
<p>academics: Pitt has better admissions stats, but PSU’s engineering school, overall, is ranked higher in US News. You’ll find an equal number of rankings picking one school over the other regarding their overall academic rankings, but they’re essentially the same. Pitt just spent close to $100 million expanding and overhauling their primary engineering facilities so that may be a consideration. You might considering contacting and visiting the electrical engineering programs at both schools for more specific information on the advantages of each.</p>
<p>social: PSU is known for its fraternity and party scene. Pitt, like many schools, has aspects of that too, but it is not nearly as prevalent. Pitt is urban, and has access to all the cultural amenities available that major cities do: major museums, an art scene, professional orchestras and performance groups, etc. Pitt also has a program called Pitt Arts that gives free and reduced admission to many of these programs, and all public transportation is free for Pitt students. The major museums and parks in the city are essentially right on campus. You might want to check those programs out, they are excellent. PSU is a college town, not a bad one, but otherwise in the middle of nowhere. If you like cities and cultural/social aspects that aren’t largely dependent on drinking/partying, Pitt is easily your choice in this category.</p>