Originally posted by JED_72:
PSU still claims to get more applicants than any other univ and apparently more SAT takers send their scores to PSU than any other institution. Maybe those claims are correct . . . maybe not. But, they repeat them all the time.
It is one of the largest universities in the country (the entire university system at least) located in one of the most populated regions of the country (the northeast/mid-Atlantic). But this past fall, PSU-University Park had 50,299 applicants. UC-Berkely had 73,779; UCLA had 80,522...I stopped looking after that. Maybe at one time this was true, but it doesn't seem to be anymore unless there is some disconnect between sending SAT scores and actually applying to school. So as you'd expect, PSU is likely full living in their typical fantasy world driven by urban legends.
A few weeks ago at a House appropriations hearing with the presidents of all four state related institutions present, the president of PSU made a point to comment that they are the #1 choice of corporate recruiters
Yes, in 2010, PSU was ranked as the top place to recruit among corporate recruiters according to a Wall Street Journal Poll. Why not, they have a reputable business school, and enormous student population, in the middle of the mid-Atlantic. It is an obvious stop on the corporate recruiting circuit. The rankings were actually 1. PSU, 2. Texas A&M 3. Illinois 4. Purdue 5. Arizona State. Big state schools, hmmm. What, no Ivies? Their schools must suck. The other factor, for a school like Pitt with heavy bio and health science, and, well, for more elite schools, is that there a disproportionate number of students are going on to get advanced degrees compared to engineering and other terminal discipline heavy places like PSU (not that an engineering BS is a terminal degree, but far fewer engineers go on to grad/professional school than bioscience and health science majors). This also hurts in payscale rankings that eliminate higher degree wage earners. Anyway, lets see how long PSU can milk this one-off ranking from five years ago.
and the PSU "world campus" is the #1 ranked on-line course provider
#2 on the list: a tie between Daytona State College, UIC, and Western Kentucky. Pitt likes to talk about the company it keeps. World Campus has no admission standards. It is the University of Phoenix model. They are welcome to brag about that one.
and assorted other #1 or "leading institution" claims . He also commented on their unparalleled $800 million in research funding.
Latest total R&D expenditure numbers (2013 NSF)
Pitt $872,736,000 (ranked #14)
PSU $837,880,000 (ranked #17)
Total Federal Research (this is the Gold Standard, latest NSF (2012) numbers)
Pitt $518,821,000 (ranked #7)
PSU $465,691,000 (ranked #14)
In what is annually a PSU love fest to begin with, I wished the other presidents would have been a bit more vocal in the successes of their institutions.
Later, a house member who was referred to by the committee chair as Mr. Nittney Lion, stood to praise PSU students for raising $13 million to support PSU's pediatric cancer ( While I find their fundraising approach annoying, I don't criticize the work of the students to raise money for a charity.)
If they were upfront about most of it going into endowed funds for the exclusive institutional building of PSU-Hershey, it would be much more palatable.
Anyway, their president did a better job of reinforcing among a bunch of "true believers" that PSU is the best by far of the state related U's. Those endless selling pursuits as well as the scramble among legislators for PSU tickets shows results in the favored treatment and deference to PSU by a state government headquartered in heart of PSUland.
Every school president should believe their school is the best. Numbers don't lie though.
Speaking after with a leader on the committee, I made a reference to PSU (not negative) and he responded that "they do get more attention as the state's leading public university and the most selective of the schools." I pointed out that PSU main campus may be the most selective in terms of the number of applicants relative to number of acceptances but that Pitt had a superior freshman class profile. He nearly choked saying, "Pitt"? I'm sure that isn't right." (By the way he doesn't know I'm a Pitt alum). His reaction is indicative of assumptions made by many officials: No public college or university in PA (maybe on earth) can outshine Paterno U.
PSU is obviously not the most selective of the state-relateds.
SAT (CR+M) Pitt 1270; PSU 1190
Top 10% of high school class: Pitt 54%; PSU 40%
Average GPA: Pitt 3.99; PSU 3.6
% of students with 3.75 GPA or higher: Pitt 74%; PSU 35%
The applicant pools of the two schools are also disparate.
Give them credit . . . they sell, sell, sell themselves. It never ends. And, many people believe they are the institution of success with honor.
Pitt needs to do a better job selling it self, and Pitt supporters need to do a better job sticking up and promoting their university and not letting people off that challenge indisputable numbers.
