Pittsburgh vs Penn State

[swonsi]

Hi Everyone, 

I got lucky enough to get accepted into my two top programs, but now I'm not sure how to make a decision between the two of them. I was planning on going to the open houses they were hosting, but unfortunately everything has been shut down due to the Corona virus. Both will be hosting online substitutions I think, but I am disappointed because I haven't had the opportunity to visit either and I most likely won't get the chance to before April 15th if this continues. I was wondering if any one has been through these programs, and could share any experiences they've had with the faculty, campus, program, etc or advice in how to make a decision?

 

[Brent123]

I attend Penn State University and have lived in Pittsburgh most of my life; however, I am not in the same department as you. I can’t comment on your specific programming, but I can tell you about the campus environment. University of Pittsburgh is in the center of Oakland, and with a large college base, there is a lot of activities to do. If you like city life and campus life, you’ll probably like living in Pittsburgh. The university library (cathedral) is also beautiful and the best for late night study groups. Penn State (Harrisburg and Hershey) are smaller campuses, have less students, but still are nice campuses. They give a more college feel, where as the Pittsburgh campus is simply Oakland. Probably less ideal to live at Penn State if you do not have a car. Whatever else you want to ask me, I’m here! Good luck in choosing! 

[Brent123]

Question: Did either school get back to you about funding or graduate research assistant positions? 

[amanda_rensch]

I also was accepted to these two programs. I honestly know NOTHING about Penn State or PITT or even Pennsylvania for that matter! My first trip to the east coast was a trip to Boston University for their interview. I've only seen the south and the midwest haha. Any advice on city life, campus life, the programs in general, etc. would be much appreciated! I'm trying to decide where would be best for me. I am a figure skating coach and am also planning on skating on either of their collegiate figure skating team's so any information on how commuting is, would be awesome!

[amanda_rensch]

18 hours ago, Brent123 said:

I attend Penn State University and have lived in Pittsburgh most of my life; however, I am not in the same department as you. I can’t comment on your specific programming, but I can tell you about the campus environment. University of Pittsburgh is in the center of Oakland, and with a large college base, there is a lot of activities to do. If you like city life and campus life, you’ll probably like living in Pittsburgh. The university library (cathedral) is also beautiful and the best for late night study groups. Penn State (Harrisburg and Hershey) are smaller campuses, have less students, but still are nice campuses. They give a more college feel, where as the Pittsburgh campus is simply Oakland. Probably less ideal to live at Penn State if you do not have a car. Whatever else you want to ask me, I’m here! Good luck in choosing! 

I love the city, however, I am worried about commutes to class, skating practice, and coaching figure skating. Is getting around the city in a vehicle difficult/time consuming? Is parking hard to find? I am from San Antonio, TX so I do a lot of traffic driving on the highway and such, I am just worried about getting to class, clinical placements, coaching, and practice myself.

[swonsi]

On 3/13/2020 at 3:12 AM, Brent123 said:

Question: Did either school get back to you about funding or graduate research assistant positions? 

Thanks for your advice I think I'm leaning more towards Pittsburgh at the moment, but this definitely helped! The person that I talked to from Penn State said that they would be calling to interview for positions in a lab, which would fund students in my program this week, but I'm not sure how it would work for your department.