Does anyone know how difficult is it to get into Pitt for grad school? (Pittsburgh: schools, college)

[SteelersFan09]

I'll be looking for a M.A in English (literature). I will have roughly a 3.3 -3.4 (as well as a number of letters of recommendations from my undergrad professors) at the time I graduate. I want to stay in the Pittsburgh area for grad school, but the school I'm doing my undergrad at (Robert Morris) does not have the specific masters program I'm looking for. I'm keeping my options open as far as other schools go, but Pitt is likely going to be my top choice.

[boardmanite]

I'll be interested to see the replies to this thread. I'm also looking at Pitt for a Masters at some point in the not-so-distant future. When I researched it last year, it didn't seem terribly hard to get into, at least for the program I was looking at.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by SteelersFan09

I'll be looking for a M.A in English (literature). I will have roughly a 3.3 -3.4 (as well as a number of letters of recommendations from my undergrad professors) at the time I graduate. I want to stay in the Pittsburgh area for grad school, but the school I'm doing my undergrad at (Robert Morris) does not have the specific masters program I'm looking for. I'm keeping my options open as far as other schools go, but Pitt is likely going to be my top choice.

Questions like this depend on the specific conditions within a particular department at a particular time......but there is a general rule of thumb. Namely, acceptance depends greatly on the number of available slots. If 100 people apply for 1 available slot, a 3.9 probably won't cut it. If 100 people applied for 90 available slots, a 2.0 probably would cut it.

That said, the government deems certain fields as critical to the national interest, and hence will fund these field generously. As an example, this year in Pennsylvania, there will be hundreds and hundreds of fully funded engineering grad students and professors. At the same time, there may be less than 20 fully funded English graduate students across the whole state.

So my GUESS is: if you need funding, a 3.3 - 3.4 won't be enough....A GPA like that could be to low for programs admiting hundreds of new students. However, if you can pay for things yourself, and you state that on your application, you may have a better chance.

Sorry, but the real world is always about the money.

[Smily Gladshanks]

I wonder how straight of an answer you would get if you just called. Perhaps they would at least direct you to some straight answer-ers. Like students. Find the students, and email them.

[velcro21]

You really need to find the department's minimums for GPA but more importantly, GRE scores. I took a quick look at Pitt's English MA program on their website and it said they accept around 10 people per year. Probably a pretty competitive group being that small.
My wife got her PhD in Psych from Pitt. She had a 4.0 in college but still just made the GRE requirements for the program.
Contact the school at Pitt and they will give you the specific requirements.

[claremarie]

Your current professors are in the best position to advise you as to your admission chances for particular grad programs. If they are doing their jobs, they should be able to give you an accurate assessment of the programs to which you are likely to be admitted. (My husband is an academic who has advised countless undergraduate students regarding grad schools, and he has also taken his turn heading the grad school admissions committee.) They should also know the key people in the English department at Pitt, and should be able to put you in touch with them to answer any of your questions. Faculty recommendations and contacts play a large role in graduate admissions, particularly for PhD programs.

[Elder18]

If yes, then Pitt will take you. At least that's the impression that I get from having gone to school there since August.

But maybe it's different since I'm going into Library Science.

[Tallysmom]

Well -- my nephew started his masters in business there with no trouble, and my niece is starting her masters in education there in the summer with no trouble. Since I'm not there, I do miss all sorts of drama, but it sounded very much like "Nephew wants to go to Pitt for his masters in business" and the next phone call he was starting....

[SteelersFan09]

Originally Posted by Elder18

If yes, then Pitt will take you. At least that's the impression that I get from having gone to school there since August.

But maybe it's different since I'm going into Library Science.

Wow. I keep hearing from people how tough it is to get into Pitt and everything, which is why I initially made this post.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by SteelersFan09

Wow. I keep hearing from people how tough it is to get into Pitt and everything, which is why I initially made this post.

That particular poster appears to be a troll, and is probably best ignored.

The other posters are correct: each graduate program at Pitt will have its own standards for admission, and I happen to know that they vary widely in terms of competitiveness. The other posters are also correct that the best way to get good information is to talk to your current professors, and you can also contact the person in charge of graduate admissions in any program that interests you.

By the way, I just looked around and found out that in the 2001 U.S. News and World Report ranking of English PhD programs, Pitt came in tied for #30 (and it was tied for #20 when it came to getting an MFA--unfortunately I couldn't find specific MA rankings). That suggests to me the program may be fairly competitive, but rankings like these have only limited use--you really do need to talk to professors.

Edit: in the last National Resource Council rankings, Pitt was #27 for English (I believe there is a new NRC list out, but I don't think it is public yet).