First Year Engineering is brutal anywhere for most students I think. There are a few who seem to float through with not much of an eyebrow raise but I get the feeling (and my Pitt engineering student’s discussions with other students supports this) that these are students who took an exceptionally rigorous high school program with extraordinarily driven teachers who made sure their classes were rigorous enough for 5s in AP Physics, Calc BC (and honestly—a few courses beyond that even) and Chem.
I can’t speak for PSU because it was never on my daughter’s list. She knew from the start she wanted an urban location.
Her main choices (all with similar costs within 5K of each other after merit) were Purdue, Clemson, University of Texas and TAMU and Pitt.
We toured all but Clemson. It quickly became to clear to us that a faculty committed to exposing the students to ALL of the different types of engineering over the course of a year is invaluable. And THEN when you add in that Pitt students can choose their major it became a clear leader.
Pitt engineering students are required to attend a weekly seminar with guest speakers from all the different disciplines; a weekend professional conference in the fall and then a weekly small seminar led by an upperclassman engineering student who really functions as a mentor and support leader. Engineering Analysis is also a FYE class and is a combination of a coding class and an intensive professional writing curriculum.
Towards the end of fall semester they start to hone on in on what they are interested in, select a research topic that is relevant to their prospective major and in January they start their paper. The paper is completed over the course of the semester. Each group is mentored by an upperclassman (who won “best paper” when they were a freshman) and an engineer who lives and works in the community. This culminates in a day long conference where they present their professional paper. Having been guided through the process, they are then ready for original research, professional papers, preparing a poster and presenting over the next few years. We were impressed with the faculty dedication and attention to detail for this. They really put time and care into these students and it shows.
Mine started out thinking she wanted Biomedical Engineering (honestly she just liked biology she though and thought she might enjoy BME but had no clue what it really entailed) but has now happily and passionately decided on Civil Engineering.
My student came from a moderately competitive high school. In the top 10 (out of almost 700) of her class and ACT 34, full IB diploma. She quickly found herself surrounded by kids who had even more competitive stats and came from much more rigorous high schools. I wouldn’t for a minute discount the rigor and quality of students you would find there.
I wish you well making a decision. You have all solid schools on the list!