<p>Bird rock, have you visited Pitt yet? Have you attended the honors presentation? Maybe it’s not offered this time of year, I don’t know. But you should try to visit if you haven’t already and check it out firsthand.</p>
<p>What is your son’s major, bird rock? You may want to check on what classes are available if UHC is of particular interest to him in choosing Pitt. There were far fewer courses available for my son than I expected; in fact, it was pretty much limited to the freshman year requirements. </p>
<p>Pitt is a wonderful school and I am not trying to bash the UHC, but it really is nothing like what I would have expected an “Honors College” to be. The presentation was exciting and the ideas were inspiring; however, it sort of lost something in the practical execution of the theory. I was disappointed to find that after passing on some other great programs, Pitt dropped the ball. Here’s what we found: no honors housing after freshman year, no honors advisor ever contacted my son and failed to follow up with him after son initiated contact, dean unresponsive to a problem he had, no honors classes in his major after freshman year, and no special designation on his diploma even though he participated to the extent available. All in all, just not what we would have hoped.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Pitt is a great college with a lot to offer - just be sure you like it as is and don’t base your decision entirely on participation in the UHC.</p>
<p>I would definitely agree that the UHC has a college of arts and sciences emphasis and would be less helpful for business and engineering students. I think this arises for a number of reasons. First of all the faculty running the honors college all have PhD’s and teach in liberal arts fields. Therefore that is what they know and tend to emphasize. I also think that the philosophy of a Liberal Arts education fits more with the philosophy of an honors college. Engineering and business do not emphasize the type of theoretical knowledge the UHC values as they are largely practical endeavors. Finally, the UHC does mostly offer classes with broad appeal and thus upper division courses in one’s major will rarely be UHC. This semester’s UHC courses can be found here: [url=<a href=“http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/courses/2009-fall.html]2009-fall[/url”>http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu/courses/2009-fall.html]2009-fall[/url</a>] </p>
<p>I am not sure about your son’s year but from what I have read on the website and heard from others honors housing is offered through junior year. </p>
<p>I don’t know about your experience, but my own experience with UHC advising has been great. My advisor responds to my emails quickly and thoughtfully. He has already helped me get into classes that were full and has generally been very supportive of my plans at Pitt. I have no complaints so far.</p>
<p>My son is an engineering major and all his advisors have been from the engineering dept. I don’t believe he has ever spoken to a UHC advisor. He has taken two UHC courses but the engineering curriculum is really tight. The honor college is not like the other “honor” colleges that we have heard about. There aren’t many perks but he has enjoyed his first year at Pitt and looks forward to his sophomore year. We are grateful for the UHC scholarship as it escalates to cover all the tuition increases :)</p>
<p>I agree that there is an undercurrent of conflict (in a nice way) between liberal arts majors and professional majors. It goes back to the debate about the value of education for education’s sake (without regard to employment) vs education that is directed towards a specific type of job. For example, there is a thread here somewhere where engineers and mathematicians argue the relative merits of their majors. I didn’t realize that this existed, but if I did, I would have realized that the honors college is heavily directed towards liberal arts majors. In a school like Pitt, that leaves out a whole lotta people (engineering, health professions, business, LIS, social work, education, etc). </p>
<p>I guess that we hear what we want to hear, and UHC does not make this distinction very loudly.</p>
<p>you can receive a special degree from UHC… it’s called a BPhil degree. it’s a really unique program. </p>
<p>i don’t know how much you can really expect from UHC though… it offers some nice perks what else can you really ask for</p>
<p>If i did not submit an essay for my application does that mean I don’t get Forbes Housing?</p>
<p>There is an essay for the housing application for Forbes – it is a different essay from the admissions application to Pitt.</p>
<p>I think that you have until May to write the honors housing essay. You get housing information after you pay your deposit in the spring.</p>
<p>Yeah, if you are in honors they will send you a form about Forbes and the essay prompt. I remember it was an extremely annoying topic so I didn’t bother; I wanted to be in Towers anyway.</p>
<p>Do they have any changes in the Honors Program for Class of 2010?</p>