<p>I'm trying to figure out which dorms are the best for freshmen. Any thoughts would be appriciated.</p>
<p>right now the university is switching which dorms are for freshman and which ones are for upperclassmen so I am not sure which ones will be available next year. I am pretty sure that sutherland and the towers a and b will definitely be freshman dorms. sutherland hall is great choice. it is a relatively nice dorm and it has one of the dining cafeterias in it (the Perch). one negative is that it is on upper campus which means a walk up a hill every day. tower a and tower b are also good choices because they are in the middle of campus and the main cafeteria is under them (Market Central). the rooms are small though and apparently during the weekend it is pretty crazy. it all depends on what you want.</p>
<p>i’m living in lothrop right now and i love it here. it’s all singles and we get a sink. my floor is great and gets along really well. however, i know a lot of freshmen want tower a or b because they are in doubles with a roommate and are close to the center of the campus. i actually believe lothrop will be mostly upperclassmen next year except for three floors and tower c (which is all singles) will be all freshmen. sutherland will house the first year honors college students and first year student athletes next year, but it’s one of the nicest freshmen dorms. so if i were you, i would try to get into sutherland. if not, pick towers or lothrop depending on what type of person you are.</p>
<p>My Son is in Forbe which is Honors this year, but apparently not next year. About a 5 minute walk from campus but clean and nice size rooms. </p>
<p>We thought his room was huge but the room that he shared a bathroom with was double the size.</p>
<p>Giraffodil: Are you a nursing student? I will be attending Pitt’s nursing school next year and Lothrop is my first choice, since many of the students living there are nursing students.</p>
<p>Has it been easy to make friends? How do you feel about not being in the center of the campus?</p>
<p>hi kef318!
actually i’m not. i’m pre-pharm. but yes there are lots of nursing students here! i believe the nursing community is up on the 13th floor though. it is the most convenient since victoria, where a lot of the nursing classes are, is literally attached to lothrop. but i love it here and i really think lothrop is the best decision i made in terms of where to live as a freshman. i know the dynamic varies floor to floor but my floor is very close. we hangout together and at least 10 of us will eat dinner together every day. i did not have any problems making friends but i do think it’s a personal choice. and the plus side with singles, besides having a sink, is that you can have privacy when you want. and i know walking up the hill can be a pain sometimes, but it’s really good exercise. there’s always a bus you can hop on too if you are not feeling like walking. let me know if you have any other questions! :)</p>
<p>giraffodil- Do you have any advice from someone considering PITT that is from a small rural town and not used to city life?</p>
<p>hello golilbill!
well i guess i came from a small suburb but i honestly didn’t find it that hard to adjust to the city life. i know at first it is a little overwhelming, but it also means you will never be bored. besides the countless programs planned by your RAs, there are a ton of campus programs that are either on campus or takes you to explore the city (like to see an opera, ice skating, snow tubing, etc) i personally just roamed around with my friends and discovered places as we went. as a pitt student, you get free busing, so definitely utilize that. there are down sides to city life. i mean, it can be loud with the helicopters and the air isn’t the cleanest, but pitt is a great place. i love it here and i have yet to be bored. the people i’ve met have all been very friendly and accepting, and i think a lot of it is up to you. take initiative and don’t be afraid to try new things. it’s a big school with a lot of people, so you will definitely find your niche.</p>
<p>Hi, giraffodil!
I got accepted into the conditional pharm program. Pitt is my top pharmacy school choice. I’m visiting for my second time this weekend 
What do you think about the program (classes, professors, workload, research opportunities, etc.)? Do you think Pitt was a good choice, taking into account other factors like campus, social life, value of tuition, etc.?</p>
<p>Hey there,
CONGRATS on the acceptance! conditional is a great status to have coming in as a freshman wanting to pursue pharmacy. you have no idea how many wish they have it/heard of it early enough to apply. i personally think pitt was the greatest decision i made. the pharmacy school, from the sessions they have held, has a great program with great people. i’m only a freshman and i already know a lot of the older pharmacy students and have them to go to for advice in terms of classes, applying, etc (there’s actually a RxPrep club that helps you prepare for the application process).
in term of pre-requisite classes, i am taking the standard bio, chem, english, etc and the classes are definitely challenging, but the professors at pitt have all been very helpful (do check out my post on a different thread on what professors i recommend). taking some honors classes in english or other electives can make the transition easier if you are not used to the big class sizes. but if you think you are up for it and has good foundation in those subjects, i heard honors bio and chem has great profs. the workload is manageable and if you stay on top of your classes, you should have no problem having fun and exploring various clubs, the city, etc.
and with so many hospitals around, getting a research opportunity is easy. i’m actually doing research at children’s right now through the first year experiences in research program. and i know a lot of people have easily gotten internships and volunteering positions. it just all depends on how well you utilize pitt’s resources.
and as an OS, pitt is a great value if you can manage to get some scholarships. i’m on the UHC full tuition and i will be an RA next year so i essentially won’t be paying anything next year. there are also numerous grants and scholarships you can apply for once you get here i’m pretty sure (aka a lot of my friends are applying right now but i don’t know the exact details, sorry.)
so overall, yes, i’m very glad i came to pitt! and if you want to meet up this weekend when you come visit, i can maybe meet you in person depending on when you are coming to discuss any other questions you have. :)</p>
<p>giraffodil- How big are the standard bio chem english and calc classes? Are they the lecture halls with 80-100ppl?</p>
<p>it’s around 250, maybe even close to 300 for foundations of bio and chem.
i’m in honors english and the class size is 13. so it really varies.</p>
<p>Wow thats huge. I think i read somewhere though that once a week you break up into groups of 15 or so and get advisors to answer your questions in these groups. Is that right?</p>
<p>yep! the recitations are broken up so you can discuss the materials with either your undergraduate TAs or even the professors sometimes depending on who you get. bio recitation is around 40-50 and chemistry recitation is 24.
and for the labs, biology lab is 18 and chem lab is 24.</p>
<p>I have a few simple questions:
What are the prices for a room at Sutherland compared to at the Towers?? Sutherland seems nicer but wondering if its significantly more or what the deal is on pricing both of these.
I’d imagine there are since every other floor is male/female, but is there a bathroom on every floor in the Towers? I toured it and don’t remember seeing one but didn’t walk all the way around. Just curious.</p>
<p>Suites and singles cost more than doubles. The prices are on the housing page. They are listed with the description of each residence/dorm. </p>
<p>There are bathrooms on each floor of towers.</p>
<p>giraffodil, thank you for all of your great advice! i had to leave pretty quickly this morning since i’m about a 6 hr drive away, but thank you so much for offering to meet up.
the pharmacy presentation i saw this morning was extremely helpful. my first visit focused only on the school in general so getting lots of specific information from a very knowledgeable presenter and 2 P1 students was great. they actually recommended not taking honors even if you did get in the program. they said the course load is hard enough as it is and keeping your gpa up is key. it would be so scary to fail only one course and have to get set back a whole year… i’m guessing that to most employers, a pharmD is a pharmD. however i am considering taking something like honors english or an elective like you said for my own personal enrichment. i think one each year for my undergrad would be manageable. do people usually use their AP credits? i think i would rather use them in subjects like english, eco, stat rather than bio and chem even if i have 5s just so i can get more experience.
they also mentioned rxprep, which sounds great. they only briefly touched on greek organizations though. do you know anything about them, like which ones are known for being more studious or service oriented?
i’m so happy to hear the professors are great and there are plenty of research opportunities! they mentioned being a pharm tech as being good volunteer experience. do you have to get training/certification for it and can you do it while an undergrad?</p>
<p>sorry i am bombarding you with so many questions haha</p>
<p>golilbill~
here’s the link to the website describing all the housing options: [Housing</a> Options](<a href=“http://www.pc.pitt.edu/housing/options.html]Housing”>http://www.pc.pitt.edu/housing/options.html)</p>
<p>sutherland is a bit more expensive:$2,950-$2,850, whereas a double in towers is around: $2,750
and yep. there are bathrooms every floor! :)</p>
<p>011lxu~
no worries! i’m glad you enjoyed your second visit.
i definitely agree with them in that keeping up your GPA is key because you definitely do not want to lose your conditional status. i think your plan is perfect: taking the basic sciences and maybe an honors class in the english/electives. i think not only for personal enrichment, but also because they will require 2 letters of recommendations from college professors when you apply. with classes of 300, unless you go to office hours a lot, it’s going to be hard to get a good recommendation that way. i actually think my honors english class is one of my favorite, and sadly, easiest class this semester.
in terms of AP credit, i know what some of my friends did was to transfer it to get out of bio lab. trust me on this one, biology lab is a drag and a lot of busy work for 1 credit. but i would definitely at least take the foundations of bio here since they go soooooo much deeper. and as for chem, i personally don’t think it is as big of a deal to transfer it. but it doesn’t hurt to take it here and refresh your memory of the basic chem topics. the class isn’t very hard and the things we learn definitely are not as difficult as what i learned in high school (my high school had a very difficult honors science curriculum). and YES transfer any other APs/college credits you have to get out of pre-requisites and so you can register for classes early. the more credits you have, the earlier you register, so if you come in with a lot, you won’t need to worry about not getting into classes with the professors you want. you can also take more fun classes this way!
hm…i’m not too sure about the greek organizations besides the fact that you can join once you are in pharm school. i actually think there is only one. BUT, there is another organization: SNPhA. you can join as a freshman and they do service work around the community, but i think it’s mostly beneficial once you enter pharm school too? not too sure…i’m not really in it. heh.
and yes, my friend is actually a pharm tech at a general drugstore (CVS or walgreens or something…). he has worked there since junior year in HS, and as far as i know, he doesn’t have “formal” training, but he does do the required online trainings and etc. they require. but i’m pretty sure it wasn’t a big deal.
if you have more questions, feel free to keep asking. haha.</p>
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<p>What “they” also know about some of the honors classes is that they are under construction so to speak. The honors chemistry course was taught by someone different last year and it was, according to DD, geared toward those who had taken AP chem, which she had not. A pre-pharmacy major probably would not take physics, but that one has to be with a new prof as well…</p>