My student is planning to go toward physical therapy (DPT) and Pitt is well known on it. He also admitted to Stony Brook with merits and the COA will be similar to in state tuition. Stony Brook is also known to have great medical resources and closer to home (5.5hr to Pitt vs 2.5hr to SB). That’s why we now have second thought on Pitt even we do like Pittsburgh.
4 Likes
Pitt has a variety of strong departments and a cool location in a fun city, but it is not like Rutgers and Stony Brook are not also very good choices academically. So whether any preference your student might have for Pitt if cost was not a factor is enough to justify it when cost is actually a factor is a personal/family decision, and reasonably could be decided either way depending on your priorities and circumstances.
1 Like
I agree the $20K merit is at or near the max at Pitt (and that’s for OOS students), and it’s uncommon…go on the last few years’ threads to see. Pitt has been shifting aid $ from merit to need based aid for a couple of years now.
2 Likes
Do they send an email once the decision is updated in the portal? Applied 11/29, moved to reviewed on 11/30. No email after that. My D24 doesn’t check her portal regularly. Does it still takes time?
1 Like
I think another mom maybe was misled when she told me her daughter got a huge scholarship, covers more than 80 percent of tuition including room and board and she’s out of state.
2 Likes
Rutgers and SB are very different from Pitt in setting but they are all excellent academically. Each of them has its pros and cons. We live in suburban NJ and my student always enjoys suburban setting till we visit Pitt. Pitt is the only urban setting school that he likes. Cost is one of decision factors but not the top priority. We look more on potential in academic, research and his future career opportunities. Pitt and SB have ideal school size that we like while Rutgers is slightly bigger than we desire. COA wise, Rutgers is cheapest, SB is slightly behind Rutgers after merits and Pitt is the most pricy option with no additional perk (guaranteed or honor) especially he plan to go to school of rehabilitation for upperclass and it’s 12K more in tuition than Dietrich Art and Science. But we want S24 to choose what he really wants and no regret. If he really chooses Pitt, we will still pay for it anyway.
1 Like
So my brother was Stony Brook, my sister went to Rutgers, and my sons went to Pitt and UConn.
Stony Brook has great academics and low cost for sure. But it’s largely a school that people leave on the weekend because of the number of people who live close by on Long Island. Rutgers suffers from some of that as well but less so and it’s much less suburban than the Setauket/Stony Brook area.
My son felt the same about Pitt - it was too far but the right size school and city, strong sciences, honors dorm was really great. We were fortunate enough to get $10k and negotiate $5k more which may or may not be possible these days. So, it’s more costly now for sure. The other downside is that he liked Pittsburgh so much he stayed out there…. 
3 Likes
Maybe she was conflating her student’s financial aid package with merit aid.
Was accepted in September and still waiting on the email and welcome video (we did receive a hard copy of the letter of acceptance about 3 weeks after acceptance). So I would recommend checking at least twice a week.
2 Likes
Sounds like her child got tuition exchange scholarship which for OOS would be around 80%
2 Likes
She didn’t apply for aid.
Pitt has definitely become more popular in various circles due to the setting. As your student’s unique reaction reflects, it can actually be hard to categorize. In some ways the East End of Pittsburgh feels like a big college town, with also CMU, other colleges and universities, big hospital complexes, museum complexes, walkable neighborhoods with lots of students, and so on. But it is also right in the middle of the city.
For what it is worth, families I know that have justified paying a bit more for Pitt have sometimes said they value the wealth of internship opportunities and such in the immediate area, not least in health fields. But honestly, it is really the combination of all these experiences that could be worth it for some kids/families.
2 Likes
Well said. I love Pitt and the specialty hospitals within walking distance or 5 min bus ride for those interested in healthcare fields. But we are not a full pay family, and I’m a big proponent of loving the school that loves you back. So I try to help my kids understand that they really do like all of the schools they’ve applied to, and to keep an open mind. If it was me, id look hard at Stoney Brook. If it really is a commuter school, that would be a deal breaker, though. Nice to have solid choices!
3 Likes
You’re all talking about PITT is good for premed students. PITT is highly regarded for their medical college too. Any thoughts on their Economics and Public Policy programs and opportunities around the town.
Economics (undergrad)
USNWR rank #41
Public Policy (grad)
The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs has again been ranked as one of the top public affairs graduate programs in the country in the U.S. News and World Report’s newest rankings.
This year GSPIA’s rank held strong at No. 38, placing it in the top 15 percent of public affairs schools across the country. GSPIA has retained its strong position in the top 15% of public affairs schools. Among public institutions, GSPIA ranks in the top 25.
In addition, GSPIA ranked in key specialty areas. It remained in the No. 1 spot among public universities and No. 7 overall in the specialty rankings for International/Global Policy and Administration. This distinction is given to programs that educate students for a career in policymaking, global business or other international-focused fields.
This year GSPIA is tied at No. 14 among publics and No. 22 overall in the specialty rankings for Urban Policy. Programs ranked in urban policy educate students in fields such as urban planning, community development and policy analysis.
Those are both strong departments for Pitt. As a general rule, most of the Humanities and Social Science departments are at least strong, and some are REALLY strong.
Pittsburgh these days has a pretty diverse mix of opportunities because it is basically the “capital city” for a pretty big region in between the Northeast Coast and Great Lakes. So, it has many of that region’s top hospitals, universities, research labs, financial firms, law firms, museums and performing arts institutions, media outlets, business headquarters, and on and on. I’d say the one notable thing it is lacking is it is neither a state capital nor a big “federal” city–there is a state and federal government presence, but not a large one. So government employment is more skewed to county and city sort of stuff.
But other than that, there is a lot going on in Pittsburgh. And Pitt alums are all over the place.
1 Like
Has anyone’s child been invited to interview for the UPMC Scholars program through the school of nursing program? Any insights?
@NiceUnparticularMan , Thank you for the detailed response!
I like this thread. My DS is in similar boat. We are OOS (NJ), and my son received 20K per year merit from Pitt (BME in Swanson). The reason we are very interested in Pitt is its resources for Pre-Med. He also got admitted in SUNY Binghamton with ~15K per year merit, which ends up cheaper COA than Pitt, but we are leaning more towards Pitt at the moment. Still waiting for Rutgers and decision from other schools in EA & RD cycle.
3 Likes
$20k from Pitt is the real deal. Very infrequent. Congrats.
RU vs Bing vs Pitt at nearly the same price is a good problem to have.
Hard to find a school with more research or clinical opportunities for pre-med than Pitt. Every other building is a hospital.
Keep in mind that the usual pre-med courses are not a cake walk at any of these schools. Also med schools often want to see you take the courses versus skip them via APs so maybe ask some of the med school parents on CC about these school options and if you student should retake courses on purpose or not.
1 Like