Mon 5 Nov 2007
Seriously, this is a Pitt student.*
Posted by Chris Griswold under Uncategorized
[27] Comments
Lending Desk, Hillman Library, Pitt.
A patron returns a book:
Library Clerk: This is overdue. You have $4.75 in fines
Patron: WHAT?! FOUR dollars and seventy-five cents?! Are you serious? That is so stupid. I can’t believe there are fines! I’ve never borrowed books before. I didn’t know there would be fines! This is so stupid.
— Overheard by Katrina
* By the way, has Pitt recently come to be known as a good school? I know the engineering and philosophy departments have been top shelf for a long time (though only because I dated girls in those programs) but I was told that my having gone to Pitt somehow helped get me into grad school. Other sources have confirmed this ascension. How can this be? With the exception of a handful of amazing professors, I didn’t really feel I got much out of my Pitt education, particularly the lackluster journalism track. Can someone please explain this?
27 Responses to “ Seriously, this is a Pitt student.* ”
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The School of Social Work at Pitt is apparently number 4 in the country? I’m pretty sure that if we’re number 4, numbers 5 and below are teaching writing and arithmatic, because we’ve learned NOTHING.
i don’t know about prestige but Pitt sure as hell ain’t a safety school anymore…
Actually, Pitt has top programs all over the place. Their library sciences program is #3 in the country, and the medical library program is #1! Who knew? Not me. Since I enrolled x number of years ago, every year the average SAT score goes up a substantial amount. People at home are IMPRESSED that I go to Pitt, and everybody seems to know someone who was supposed to be a shoe-in, and they got rejected. And here I thought it was “just a state” school. Go Pitt!
Yeah, they super raised their admissions standards within the last five years. I didn’t get into Pitt.
I’m not sure that’s saying much, but it’s true.
As you have mentioned, Pitt’s philosphy department is typically ranked as one of the best departments in the world, along with Yale. All of Pitt’s undergraduate programs continue to improve as the applicant pool continues to grow and improve. Frankly, your misimpression of your alma mater is sad and misplaced. I am sure that your lack of enthusiasm for Pitt stems, at least in part, from your failure to fully take advantage of what the institution has to offer. So, to sum up, Pitt has not just “recently” become a good school. It has been for some time, despite having students like you languishing in the “lackluster journalism track.”
I was an English Writing/Poetry major in the late 90′s at Pitt. I was always happy with my track & the professors, and I know it helped me get into a top ranked MFA program, but when I glanced at the journalism classes back then, I was never impressed. Perhaps some undergrad departments still need some work.
I somewhat agree with pittalum. I love this site, but I detect the presence (and authorship) of serial grousers who–aside from collecting the silly things OTHER people say–enjoy discussing how unsatisfactory things tend to be. That aside, I would only expect the journalism track to feel unproductive–they do at every school. I know it’s cliched, but reporting really must be experienced rather than learned. Having an education that enables one with writing and analytical skills is crucial, of course. In practice, a good reporter becomes so over several years (though tenure may not beget skill, as anyone in broadcast exhibits). Many journalism programs approach the field as an academic or noble pursuit like literature; it isn’t. It’s a trade, like fishing for snow crabs.
Okay, YMMV,
Pitt has just as good a physics program as CMU (and does a lot better on biology and chemistry — which isn’t saying much).
Pitt has ALWAYS had harder humanities requirements than CMU — trying to shed the ‘party school’ image is practically a lifestyle (two courses that you have to write ten pages in, just to graduate?? No way is that a requirement at CMU!)
That said, Pitt has substantially more ‘rocks for jocks’ classes, and other totally stupid stuff.
Pitt is world class in Political Science.
It’s all in what you want out of college. Pitt does the whole liberal arts thing pretty well — but it makes a lotta people who can’t write well fail out.
it’s a big school with enough money to buy itself a good name.
In my department we [Pitt] is among the top in the /world/. What happened was that one of the top people in it came to Pitt and, once there were problems at Yale, stole a bunch of their professors.
We’ve only gone up since then.
Miako, actually all CMU students have to take a freshman writing class where they write 4, 10-25 page papers. And I’m not sure how you figure chemistry and biology are better at pitt?
Actually, yes, I think Pitt has a pretty good reputation, at least in certain subjects. The business school is fairly well-regarded. I think it was just named as the “Best Value” business school in the country (or something like that, according to my parents’ alumni magazine)
L, actually all CMU freshman have to get a book published during the first 6 weeks of the semester.
Pitt’s creative writing program is actually the oldest in the country. The English MFA and PhD programs consistently rank among the very best in the country.
Pitt’s Department of Neurological Surgery has been ranked as one of the best neurosurgery programs in the country.
Two Pitt School of Engineering graduate programs have been ranked nationally in the Top 15 public universities: the Department of Bioengineering was ranked 6 among public universities, and the Department of Industrial Engineering was ranked 14.
Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business’ M.B.A. program has been ranked 11th worldwide among public institutions rated in a survey of corporate recruiters.
Pitt’s Physical Therapy program has been ranked 3rd in the nation.
etc etc
and… I never wrote those 4 10-25 pg papers.
It’s called one AP English Class.
I still can’t write worth shit.
I did take advantage of the school as much as I could. I held several editorial positions at The Pitt News, which at the time was one of the top student newspapers in the country. I am now in the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, one of the top such schools in the country. I made it here, more than anything, on the strength of my resume and my writing skills. I tried to get the most from the journalism program at Pitt, but there barely is one, and the one professor I had that I thought taught a solid journalism class, Pitt wasn’t willing to pay an appropriate amount, and he went to La Roche. (The same can be said for the best film instructor I had.)
Listen, I love Pitt, I really do. I just feel a bit gypped when it comes to the English department, and the academic guidance I got at Thackeray. Pitt’s not a cheap school.
One more thing. Now that I am at Ohio University, I am seeing what this school’s undergraduate programs are like, and they’re pretty thorough. Ohio’s known for being a top party school, but students here work as hard as they party. In the same conversation on a shuttle, I will hear someone discuss getting wasted and then also writing a 20-page paper. I didn’t have to write a single 20-page paper at Pitt. Plus, OU is on a quarter, rather than a semester, system, so time is tight and you need to be focused. But this also gives you the opportunity to have more classes and a more well-rounded education. They’re thinking of making all of Ohio’s state schools adopt this system.
For being a current Pitt senior about to enter the real world, I feel that I have gained an immense amount of knowledge during my time at Pitt.
I’ve taken on two majors and a certificate so it has been very demanding. My liberal arts education has been rewarding for I have had very interesting and dedicated professors for the most part.
And all this talk of papers is only good if you can apply what you have learned in a real world setting. Pitt now requires internships for my urban studies major and the skills i have learned both inside and outside the classroom have prepared me for the professional world.
Internships are going to be where you learn what you really need to know. I had internships at my hometown newspaper, the Mattress Factory, and KDKA-TV. Those, plus the practical application of skills at The Pitt News really made me comfortable and capable in a professional setting. You really do get what you can in college, but it’s up to you to take that and make something more of it. I stumbled into film and German minors, and although I may never have practical uses for that knowledge, it still enriches me and adds to the confidence in myself that not only do I have those talents, I know I can learn more such skills.
Not that it affects reputation, but Pitt is not a state school. It is a state-related school, meaning that it receives a small amount of support from the state (about 17% of the budget), but is private and overseen by a board of trustees (with a sliver of state-appointed members). So, you can brush off naysayers who besmirch Pitt as “just a state school.”
Pitt has an undeserved crap reputation the same way all sorts of things in Pittsburgh do. Locals think that something *must* suck if it comes from “this lame town”.
Think about how everyone bitches about PAT until they experience other cities’ public transportation.
Hilarious when you move to other mid-size, midwestern cities that complain about the same sorts of things while saying how cool they always thought Pgh sounded…
CMUs reputation in the Pittsburgh area is much better than that in the rest of the country.
That said, it depends on which program you are talking about. Pitt has a fantastic liberal arts program and a great business program for their eMBA.
My firm has a lot of problems with their accounting students being able to write well and knowing many of the basics. That said, Pitt has a very young business undergraduate program.
I really like this thread.
Pitt has a pretty good rep nationwide. Pennsylvania is respected for its universities.
I do not feel Pitt has helped me in my 2 years so far. I’m worried come senior year my internships will be lack lustered and I might regret picking this school over I don’t know, GW.
I think you got into grad school because you’re smart. I worked in Oakland and most of the Pitt kids I came into contact with were total morons. I’m being serious when I say that a good 20 to 30 percent of them shouldn’t be aloud to interact with other people. Their IQ’s bring the cities average down.