 That giant building behind me is the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. Let's get a closer look. For this episode of University, I met with Caitlin Livingstone, part of the International Admissions Team at Pitt. Hi, my name is Caitlin Livingstone and I'm an Enrollment Services Manager at the University of Pittsburgh. So I've been working in the Admissions Office at Pitt for just about a year and a half now and I'm responsible for recruiting students from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Oceana and Washington State. Pitt is very welcoming of international students from all over the world. Every year we have over 3,000 international students here on our campus from over 100 different countries. So you're going to meet people from all over the US and all over the world here. So the University of Pittsburgh offers over 100 different majors for students to choose from. We're particularly well known for the health sciences, so for any students who are interested in nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and we do have five teaching hospitals right here on our campus. We're also pretty well known for our engineering programs and we have 10 different engineering disciplines and a very well ranked co-op program where students can get a full year of work experience before they graduate and we're also well known for our business programs. Our College of Business Administration offers seven different majors including global management, finance, human resources management, and marketing. Also offer a certificate in sports management which I know is pretty popular and we do have several sports teams here in Pittsburgh including the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Penguins, and the Pirates. So our students get to do internships which is always a lot of fun. When I interviewed Pitt students, quite a few of them were doing pre-med degrees like I'm actually a chem major right now. Bio. Biology. Pre-med. And that makes a ton of sense because Pitt has guaranteed admissions to their graduate schools. In case you are already thinking about graduate school, Pitt currently offers a guaranteed spot or a saved spot in one of our graduate schools including our School of Law, our engineering program, our business program, our graduate school of public health. As long as you are admitted to the University of Pittsburgh and you requested that guarantee, it will automatically be awarded to you. When it comes to study abroad, we have over 350 study abroad programs in 75 countries around the world. We do have programs that are designed specifically for Pitt business students as well as Pitt engineering students to study abroad in places like Costa Rica to study the coffee industry as well as Germany to study the automobile industry. Although you might not want to leave when you see how beautiful the Cathedral of Learning is. So one of my absolute favorite places on campus is the Cathedral of Learning. A lot of our academic programs are housed within that building as well as our nationality rooms. There are 31 nationality rooms currently which are designed in the style of classrooms from different countries around the world in collaboration with ethnic groups who have settled here in the Pittsburgh community. So it's really a beautiful building and an absolutely great place to study and even take your classes. So what kind of student is Pitt looking for? One thing we're looking for is academic achievement. So we're looking for students with mostly A and B grades as well as students who challenge themselves in high school. So if your high school happens to offer any IB courses or AP classes, that's a pretty good indicator to us that you will be successful here at Pitt. We're also looking for students who are intellectually curious, students who are going to be change makers, who are going to question the status quo. Community service is something that's really important to us here. So if you're interested in being a change maker, it could be a great place for you. So we do require a short answer response. And the question is about how you've adapted to a situation in your past. If you have any leadership experience, that's always great to highlight. Even students who have family roles, we know that not all students have time to join a bunch of clubs or get a job outside of high school, because you have an important responsibility within your family and your home life. Tell us about that on your application as well. Pitt is going to be test optional through at least fall 2023 for the SAT and the ACT. And when we say test optional, we really mean it. It's totally up to you as the student whether you would like to submit your test scores or not. Most public universities don't offer a ton of financial aid for international students, but Pitt definitely seems like the exception. The University of Pittsburgh does offer merit-based scholarships to international students. They range from $2,000 to $5,000 per year. Our application opens on August 1st every year, and we encourage students to apply early, especially if you're interested in scholarships. Now, in addition to those merit-based scholarships, we also have our own scholarship database, Pitt Funds Me. And any student who is admitted to the University of Pittsburgh automatically gets access to this database. You'll find thousands of Pitt-specific scholarships that are offered by specific departments within Pitt. For example, when I was a Pitt student, I got a half-tuition scholarship from the Center for Latin American Studies. A lot of different departments around campus offer these types of scholarships, and many of them are available to international students as well. Also within Pitt Funds Me, our financial aid team scours the internet or scholarships that are offered by different companies and organizations outside of Pitt. They will then add them to the database so that our students are aware of them, can find them, and then apply to those as well. So in addition to scholarships, you know, working on campus is a great way to help support and fund your education. And so here at Pitt, international students are eligible to work on campus for up to 20 hours per week. And again, our Global Ties Organization will help you find an on-campus job. But when it comes to housing, we offer 18 different residence halls here at Pitt, so there's a lot of options for students to choose from. We never require our students to live on campus, but normally around 97% of our first year students do choose to live on campus just because it's a really great way to make friends and get integrated with the Pitt community. We offer living learning communities. So these are communities where you can live on the same floor with other students who have a similar interest as you. So some of these are academic. So for example, we have an LLC for engineering students. We have one for business students. We also have LLCs that are more social, though. And we actually have one called Casa Cultural, which is for students who are interested in speaking Spanish and Portuguese and getting involved in multicultural programming. So that might be a great fit for some international students. One particular program that I want to highlight is our Global Ties Program. So this is run through our Office of Cross-Cultural Leadership and Development. And this is a program that's designed specifically to help international students with the transition to life at Pitt and life in the US in general. Zoom meetings prior to your arrival. So if you decide to come to Pitt that summer before you arrive on campus, you'll get to meet other international students and also some domestic students who are part of the Global Ties Organization. Game nights, you'll learn about how to be successful in your classes. And once you get here to campus, our Global Ties mentors will take you around the city ready to find out when to apply. Pitt actually has rolling admissions. And so we don't have an early action or early decision deadline. Our application opens on August 1st every year. Personally, I always encourage students to apply in August, September or October, if possible, just because the longer you wait, the more competitive our programs become. There are a couple of important deadlines that I want to mention, though. One of which is our Honors College deadline. The deadline for that is December 1st. If you're interested in being reviewed for merit-based scholarships, the deadline for that is February 1st. So we welcome any applications to the University of Pittsburgh and hail to Pitt. Muchas gracias a todos y espero que vengan a Pittsburgh. I had a great time in Pittsburgh and I hope you can too. Thanks again to Caitlin for taking the time to talk to us. And if you'd like more information on Pitt, you can go to Pitt.edu for more details. If you want more info on what it's like to study in Pittsburgh, check out last week's video where I interview 10 Pitt students or check out the University playlist for more study abroad options. I'll see you next week.