D25 is a PA resident so in state admit at Pitt and PSU (fall starts) for pre-health science at Pitt and nutrition/dietetics at PSU UP. She received a small merit scholarship at Pitt and can minor in dance there which is attractive to her. She may pursue a PA program after undergrad but may go into Nutrition or Exercise Science undergrad and seek a masters in those instead. She has her Assoc. degree earned thru her PA HS so 60ish credits bringing in.
Tuition at Pitt and PSU both roughly 20K in state; -2k annual at Pitt = 18K. We are full pay and she/we won’t need loans. Housing at both roughly the same 15-18kish. She has her Assoc. degree completed and both Pitt/PSU seem generous in what they will allow to transfer in so she may have or be near junior standing at either in state public. Not sure how OOS publics will treat her credits.
Admitted to UMD yesterday (OOS) but to the Spring 2026 semester. She can enroll for Fall 2025 thru freshman connections program to live on campus and complete gen eds primarily (PM classes) but I don’t think she’d consider it and not sure of the value if she has nearly all gen eds done and transferring elsewhere. Any other reason we should give UMD a better look before passing?
Admitted to UD as well OOS fall 2025 start for nutrition/dietetics; merit of 13K per year still has this tuition/rm bd well above Pitt/PSU bc we are OOS. No reason to keep this on the table right?
Charleston - admitted and with merit as well but 7-8K more per year than instate options and while Charleston was gorgeous and so quaint; she doesn’t love the idea of being a plane ride away for all trips home and the scarcity of housing after freshman of campus $$$ may factor in.
She was also admitted at St. Joe’s (philly), UofScranton, Tampa but not considering any of those as either too near or too far or just not connected with. She’s still waiting to hear from Syracuse and Lafayette but we suspect both will come in well above Pitt/PSU if admitted.
Any advice? Pitt seems to be the clear winner and she’s all but committed but I just want to make sure we aren’t overlooking anything.
Any budget concerns - and that includes possible grad school?
Since you mention costs a lot, then yes, staying in state makes sense. PSU and U Pitt are two entirely different environments. You say both “seem generous” but what does that mean? Is there an agreement with the community college you went to? UMD might take them too. Can you talk to a transfer advisor at each? But yes, UMD is very expensive.
UD - same thing - if this is a money discussion, then no. If it’s not, then visit - does it stand out above the others?
Charleston - there’s plenty of housing but many kids live a 20-30 minute walk away - it’s not scarce. It is expensive. And yes it’s a short plane ride - it’s a different kind of school - and off campus housing is very expensive. The rent I pay alone is more than the school’s published room and board cost. The campus size and location bordering King make it far different than the other.
If she loves “Charleston”, Pitt will be more similar - as it’s much smaller than PSU and in the city. PSU is gorgeous - but city it’s not and it’s huge.
So based on all you say - sounds like Pitt.
Is she planning to graduate in two years? You might ask PA schools if they’ll count those classes taken in high school.
This is great advice and something I had not considered. TY! Will look into this for sure.
Budget a concern with 2 younger siblings and we can reasonably afford 35-40K undergrad per child without loans; so schools above/beyond that are falling further down on our list unless an exceptional reason to consider. Cost isn’t the overriding factor, but definitely a factor between choices. She visited Charleston, Pitt, PSU and loved the city aspects of Pitt and Charleston; not so much the rural aspect outside of campus itself at PSU. She wants the arts and city culture offerings as well. Admittedly I don’t know much about UD or UMD although both seem more suburban so I don’t think that would be a pull for her.
Some Pitt and PSU branches have articulation agreements with the CC allowing direct transfer of the credits. Not sure about main campus for either but based on other recent grads we were advised both Pitt and PSU took all transfer credits for their students (assuming this may also be major dependent however). My undertsanding was that formal transfer review wouldn’t happen until she was committed, enrolled and assigned an Advisor likely not occuring til Spring but maybe that is bad info. Will check into that too b/c shaving time off or having an easier course load/study abroad possibility certainly adds value in the decision as well.
She’s less inclined to graduate in 2 years, and more inclined to carry 12 credits vs. 18; have the ability to add a minor etc. so I’m not terribly concerned about her having enough semesters to fit them in. Some of the pre-reqs would have already been met through her DE and CC credits depending on if their transfer in or not. I’ve also heard of cases where the college wants you to take their Bio, their Chem if a science major and I get that thinking too.
I see no reason to complicate your decision: Pitt is a great choice!
The point about checking to see what credits she needs to have taken in college for PA school is a good one, but that issue aside Pitt is generous with AP credits. My daughter is a junior and graduating in 3.5 years, and our neighbor went in with more credits and was able to graduate in 2.5. So there will be even more savings because of graduating early, however early it might be.
Also, as I’m sure you know, there are great internship & research options in Pittsburgh, plus many opportunities to gain clinical hours for PA school.
That is great feedback! Every single student we know at Pitt loves it so much. It seems like such a clear winner for my daughter, but I guess I expected it to be closer with her other options and just trying to make sure we aren’t overlooking any other choices in our excitement over Pitt, the merit, the credits and just loving Oakland and all that Pitt has to offer academically, athletically and socially.
With post-graduation professional school ¶ a consideration, that increases the importance of paying attention to:
Cost of undergraduate, since professional schools tend to be expensive with little or no non-loan financial aid or scholarships.
If the professional school prerequisites include frosh-level courses commonly substituted by AP credit, check the professional schools on whether AP credit or credit from DE or community colleges is accepted or whether something additional must be done, like take advanced courses beyond those covered by AP, DE, or community college. Different professional schools may have different requirements.
That suggests that only Pitt and PSU are options if you do not want to cause problems with funding college for the younger siblings.
The course equivalencies for Pitt from the CC is incredibly helpful, if accurate and updated she’d have 54 credits accepted (lost Fine Arts Survey and a Tech course with no transfer equivalency at Pitt but necessary to complete her Associate’s degree.) I guess step 2 would be to see how those 54 credits match up and fit on the major and minor curriculum degree guides at Pitt. That should be easy to pull from the department websites as well so we will take a look. Thank you again, this is a great help!