<p>What's the UHC dorm like? Do some of the Honors students choose to live elsewhere?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Not everyone that applies to the UHC dorm gets in. My D chose to live in a living learning community in Lothrop instead. Many others end up in other dorms either because they did not get into Forbes or they just wanted to live somewhere else like the Towers. I can't speak for Forbes since my D hasn't been in it, but I'm sure there are many people on this site that could comment on it.</p>
<p>bump (10 characters)</p>
<p>This is the first year for Forbes being the honors dorm, so not that many people have experience with it yet. My son lived in the honors dorm when it was in the Towers, but in retrospect, he thinks it would have been better to live in the specialty engineering housing (SPACE).</p>
<p>My D is in Forbes right now, as a freshman. She absolutely LOVES it and wouldn't change that decision for anything. The things we were concerned about, like the distance from the Towers, no cafeteria, honors only, actually turned out to be positives. She LOVES the laundry room on each floor, very convenient. LOVES the patio area, they hang out there a lot. LOVES the room layout with the half bath attached. But the absolute best thing is that she really has "fit" well with the other residents, and has a great group of like-minded friends. For her, the Forbes assignment was the best thing that could have happened. Let me know if you need more info.</p>
<p>I'm an honors student, but I chose to live elsewhere. It wasn't that Forbes didn't appeal to me, I just decided to room with a friend from home (who is also an honors student) who didn't want to live in Forbes. Anyway, yeah, it's quite common for honors qualified students to live in residence halls other than Forbes. I do have a lot of friends rooming in Forbes, and they really like it. I've seen the dorms, and they're nice.</p>
<p>This is from the Pitt website.<br>
First-Year</a> Honors Housing</p>
<p>"Honors students are not guaranteed a place in the Honors Community...It’s difficult to give exact numbers because the number of applications varies every year. Last year there were almost 600 honors qualified students. Of those 600, over 200 submitted applications for the 145 available spaces available for freshmen. This year, with expanding to Forbes Hall, we have more spaces available for freshmen!"</p>
<p>^^^ I think those figures are old. Last year, there were 135 kids (current freshmen) who applied for honors housing and didn't get a spot in Forbes.</p>
<p>In the past, there has been less housing available for sophomores and other upper classmen than there was for freshmen. In addition, some students entered honors housing as sophomores who did not have it as freshmen. Therefore, some people got bumped out of honors housing. I don't know what the situation is now, but it might pay to check on availability beyond freshman year if the honors community is important to you.</p>
<p>PS - Oops! I cross-posted with Lurkness. In general, I am disappointed with the honors housing situation. I have no personal interest in it anymore, but it is not well run (imo) and is more of a social/popularity type of housing rather than one based upon academic and artistic achievement. It was a fine experience, but not outstanding by any means.</p>
<p>Interesting! I was surprised to see how few honors freshman ended up in honors housing on the website, but it seems it's even scarcer than that. The info was tucked away near the bottom of two pages of info too. I would think it would be better to be upfront about the chances than disappoint incoming freshman.</p>
<p>Many choose to live in living learning communities pertaining to their major such as engineering or nursing. Others just want to have the "the freshman experience" of living in the Towers where a majority of the freshman live. My D chose a learning community over the honors dorm so she would be with freshman and upperclassmen in her major.</p>
<p>I'm sure it's possible to have a great time at Pitt in all kinds of living situations. Good to know of some other options. Thanks stowmom.</p>
<p>I think that after students make friends as freshmen, WHO they live with is more important to them than WHERE they live. ;)</p>