Until Penn State agrees to play the University of Pittsburgh again and beats us (as opposed to what happened the last time we played, September 16, 2000), we can assume that they are our little bitches on the football field. However, many Penn State alumni and fans (at least those in and around Altoona) assume that athletics aside, Penn State is still academically superior to Pitt. Not so, says a fascinating article by Bill Zlatos in the May 10, 2003 edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

For students applying to the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus, many call, but few are chosen.
Since 1995, Pitt’s Oakland campus has doubled its number of applicants. That has allowed it to be more selective in enrolling top-notch students.

Pitt’s growing popularity has resulted in a lot of fallout. Some guidance counselors say Pitt’s main campus has closed the gap and perhaps surpassed the main campus of Penn State University in selectivity… “If I were a student and it’s the end of September and I had a 1000 SAT and a 3.0 grade point average, I would probably stand a little better chance of getting into Penn State than Pitt,” said Jeffrey Spadafore, a guidance counselor at Schenley High School in Oakland.

Yaara Taasan, a senior at Fox Chapel, will graduate with an A-minus average and posted a 1080 score on the SAT. She was accepted at the main campuses of Penn State University, Ohio State University, West Virginia University, Drexel University and the University of Delaware. But she was turned down by Pitt’s main campus.

“I heard that Pitt was raising its standards,” she said. “But I still figured that I would have gotten in.”

Like many Pitt applicants who don’t get into the main campus, Taasan was offered a chance to enroll at Pitt’s branch campuses. She declined, opting instead to major in engineering at Penn State.

So, Lion fans, these days you’re apparently our bitches both on the football field and in the classroom. And our stadium is nicer too.

Hail to Pitt.