The University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Campus

Date: Aug 23 2010
Major: Engineering Department (This Major's Salary over time)
I'm a double major student at the University of Pittsburgh coming from the Miami area in Florida. I'm doubling in Econ as well as mechanical engineering and hope to do well. Now on to the opinion at hand. Pitt was a different environment for me and one that I didn't enjoy. I tend to be a very social friendly person and reach out to many people of many cultures and races. With that being said I was surprised at the close-mindedness of my fellow peers to step outside their racial shell and learn one another as people. I felt isolated and forced to join the population of my skin color when all I wanted was to be looked at fairly and evenly. My friend base is quite eclectic with a multitude of backgrounds and when I came to Pitt the friends I thought I made that weren't the same race as me became strangers with each passing day until I became an outsider to their lives. To continue, there were too many people who were,for lack of a better term, "fake". There were too many people who came into friendships as one person and changed at the first sign of trouble. I've never seen such treachery mixed with that much brutality as I've seen there. Faculty. Well they range from department to department and could vary depending on the subject but all in all you have to reach out to them. Though alot are full of themselves and attempt to make you look foolish if one just chooses to attend their office hours they shall show you the respect you crave. A lot of these professors are under pressure and it's clear to see why they trend towards sour attitudes and a murky persona. If you have asthma please don't attend this university the amount of smoking on this campus is none I've ever seen. At the University of Florida there are smoker designated areas but here everyone I mean everyone either smokes or chews. If that's your forte then that'll work great for you. UPitt Is basically a great school for white kids from a rural area who want to experience something different. The kids of other races just try to fit in and it doesn't bode well on the pursuit of camaraderie within the university. I've been called stupid nigger enough times to make klan members ponder on their membership. I expected diversity and acceptance but was chewed and spit out. It was nice to talk to some people who have never seen a black person before that I won't forget. Academics, well, it's as challenging as you make it. My curriculum consist of a lot of math, physics(not anymore), engineering courses, etc. I don't find it challenging for the vast majority of teachers I have had teach slow but, I can tell that they're only doing that for the kids who don't take college as seriously. To sum it all up Academically Pitt is a great school but lets their reputation, medical students, UPMC, and polio vaccine pull them up the rankings. The environment is fairly dirty and the air is still saturated with carcinogens. The students due to their ignorance and lack of exposure reject one another and occasionally break their habits for a select few. The parties..eh they're alright if you only like drinking, drinking and more drinking. Girls are easy when they're drunk but most of them are hell while sober. If you can chug beer, have a bigger body type, smoke weed, and have any type of drug possible to distribute. This college is for you for that's what counts here if you're a guy. If you're a girl watch out for those CEO's and HO's partys they're called that for a reason. If the students weren't so ignorant and alot of times dumb I'd really enjoy my time there. I wanted something new, I got it, and I've learned. This is probably what the rest of america is outside of Miami and I thought I had it bad.