<p>Does anyone have any experience with the University Honors College? How are the honors classes with regard to size and difficulty? Is the BPhil degree valuable in grad school admissions?</p>
<p>I don't know the stats, but I did hear from someone in the honors college that she liked it a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks, estargrl88. My son is going there, so I guess we'll see! They all seemed very helpful and interested in the students when we attended the Honors Day program.</p>
<p>I took an honors class....level of difficulty and workload depends completely on the teacher you get and the subject matter. I took an honors linguistics course which I absolutely loved! It was not very difficult...just had a lot of reading and a term paper and a few quizes/tests. There are several diff types of honors courses availalbe and one thing that they have in common is small class size...there's like a 15 student limit or something and thats a good size for a class.</p>
<p>My son really wants the small class size, and 15 is smaller than most of his high school classes. Would it be too much to take all of your classes as "honors" sections if it fit into the schedule?</p>
<p>Also, did you live in the honors housing, bonafide? Can you give advice?</p>
<p>lkf725 - My son just finished his freshmen year at Pitt. He was in the Honors housing - this year it was in Sutherland, which is a lot nicer than the Tower. The floor was coed by suite. The football team was underneath them, he said the football team had problems with the Honors kids being too loud too late. Met a nice group of kids, two of which he will be living with off campus next year. Most of the kids from his floor are moving to apartments next year. He only took one honors course - Chemistry. Not sure how big it was. Several of his suitemates placed ahead in the Calculus sequence and failed or did poorly in the upper level courses. I wouldn't push the honors courses too hard - what is your son's major?</p>
<p>massmom,
He's majoring in engineering (undecided, but probably mechanical). Although he took two AP Calc courses in high school (got A's), he did not take the AP exam because he said he had no intention of placing out of it. He was afraid that maybe he would have missed something or else be in over his head. He disliked Chem and doesn't remember much of it since 10th grade, so he should probably take regular Chem. He also wants to continue to study German, as well as maybe trying some other courses as time permits. Maybe he can place out of freshman English, depending upon the AP exam results. How many classes do freshmen usually take? What is your son's major?</p>
<p>Sons major is Industrial Engineering. Freshmen Engineers take 17 credit or so, five classes each semester. My son placed out of all of freshman year Physics with his AP scores. A verbal SAT score over 600 will place him out of any english requirement. Based on his roommates experiences with Calculus, I wouldn't recommend placing out of any of the freshman Calculus sequence, regardless of his placement exam results. Regular chemistry is probally a better bet as well. German would be good elective. Let me know if you have any other questions. It was a tough year for my son. Depending on the kid, I think it can be a hard adjustment. He is home for the summer now, and will be taking two courses at a local college to catch up with his requirements.</p>
<p>Do you have any food plan recommendations? </p>
<p>Also, my son applied for honors housing...do they get any specific building choice? Do they try to match you with a roommate who is compatable? We havn't received any typical roommate survey materials yet.</p>
<p>Someone said that the Honors housing is in the Towers now. I don't know how they matched roommates. He had the second one down from the most expensive food plan, which was more than enough meals. They had leftover blocks and points over each week. Let me know if you have any other questions. Are you from PA?</p>
<p>Yes, greater pittsburgh area. Are you?</p>
<p>We are from Boston. One of my S's roommates is from greater Pittsburgh, I can't remember exactly where. My S's printer and stereo are at his house for the summer, however. No room in the car. He likes Pittsburgh and is looking forward to going back. He finally decided he wanted to go to school in a City and picked Pittsburgh over Boston. I thought that Boston would be too close. His roommate, however, does have dinner with his Mom once a week, which would be nice.</p>
<p>You mentioned that your son is taking some classes over the summer. Do many kids do this to lighten their load in the fall? It might be a good idea, as 17 credits seems like alot, especially with labs.</p>
<p>He is taking Calculus II and Chem II over the summer (both freshman requirements) since he hasn't taken them yet. As I said, he has had a tough time adjusting to freshman year and being on his own. He failed Honors Chemistry first term because he didn't turn in all his labs. (says that he e-mailed them to the TA, but never checked to see if they got there). He needed to retake the lab second term and couldn't take Chem II since he hadn't passed Chem I. Retook Calculus I second term since he got a C- in it first term. This is a kid at the top of his HS class, good SAT scores, etc. I am still not sure he understands how to study and what is required to get good grades. I thought the Honors dorm would be a good idea since he would be surrounded by good students, etc. One of his roommates placed into Honors Calc II, dropped into regular Calculus, and failed it first term. Another almost failed Calculus III. I think it was a tough year for all of them. Next summer he will be in Pittsburgh. I am hoping that he will be able to enter the Co-op program, but we'll see.</p>
<p>Oh massmom, now I'm scared. It sounds like a tough, tough schedule! Please check for a pm!</p>