<p>I am currently applying for housing and had assumed I would apply for Honors Housing, but now I'm second guessing myself. In high school, I always worked hard during the week and partied hard on the weekends. I'm worried that I am going to be bored in Honors Housing. I like the idea of an academic environment; I just don't want to be surrounded with people who don't like to go out. What is the environment really like in Honors Housing and is it still easy to make friends outside of the dorm?</p>
<p>I lived in honors housing my freshman year (I’m currently a rising junior).</p>
<p>I personally couldn’t stand it. I’m pretty moderate in terms of partying, but everyone in Forbes was either a shut-in, or went out 3+ nights a week.</p>
<p>I found a lot of the people in honors housing to be defensive and nasty, especially those on scholarship who came from poorer families (they felt they had something to prove, I guess…) I guess I’m what you would call “upper-class.” I’m not a flashy person by any stretch of the imagination, but I did bring a car to school. I didn’t flaunt this fact by any means, but after telling a couple friends, the word quickly spread, and I was shunned by half the building for being a “rich SOB.”</p>
<p>You can definitely make friends outside of honors housing. Wherever you live, you should be able to make friends in your classes.</p>
<p>i was in honors housing last year, and there was plenty of partying. we worked hard all week, hung out and studied in the lounge, and then went out in huge groups on weekends. and as long as you’re careful & not loud, it was pretty easy to get away with drinking in your room. it’s all about the attitude you go in with, if you ask me.</p>
<p>My son and I were discussing the honors housing thing and the many, many questions about if honors housing is boring, pretentious, if you can make friends elsewhere etc and it got us wondering…</p>
<p>Exactly WHAT is the perception of honors students? I mean, if you are asking then you are probably an honors student and yet, consider yourself pretty regular. There are going to be all sorts of kids in honors. Kids who study and never go out, kids who party too much, and mostly kids who manage to balance their lives…because JUST LIKE THE OTHER DORMS, college kids are still just college kids.</p>
<p>I wonder why everyone is so worried? If YOU are an honor student who likes to go out on weekends and have fun, chances are you will find like minded kids. If you like to study every night, you can probably find those too. And that is in EVERY dorm on campus.</p>
<p>The only difference (I see) from Honors and LLC or any other groups is that honors kids are generally going to be bright and try to do well in classes and might be a little more interested in the extra offerings by the honors college. It doesn’t necessarily follow that those kids are boring drones!</p>
<p>So, if you are a normal kid, bright, but also a college kids who likes to have fun, chances are Forbes (and Sutherland, and Towers, and Lothrop, and everywhere) will have plenty of like-minded kids.</p>
<p>Stop worrying so much.</p>
<p>agreed. it’s so easy to get hung up on fears about stuff like this, when the reality is, it’s a big public school. there are all different types of people here. many are preppy, hipsters, pre-meds or engineers. most are from “outside philly”, the pittsburgh area, or somewhere in between. many party way too much, but plenty do not. the difference in honors housing is that the kids are hand selected, are from all over the country (let’s see, i knew people from:alabama, california, oregon, massachusetts, delaware, maryland, virginia, new york, kentucky, tennessee, south carolina, florida, new jersey, texas, washington state…). honors housing is hand picked, and roommates are carefully selected. all but 2 sets of roommates in the whole building that i knew of got along really well with their roommate. i had a great time, kept a my gpa at a 3.7, and partied occasionally. </p>
<p>i will warn you though, many quickly became disillusioned with the honors program. some are dissatisfied with the city, others don’t find their classes or classmates challenging enough. for me, the honors program itself was great, but outside of forbes, it seemed like most people didn’t care much about academics. after finishing freshman year, staying in pgh over the summer and starting my sophomore year, i decided to leave pitt. i know of 4 others from forbes who have also left, but don’t discount the other 40 some people who are still there and loving it. i had a wonderful experience there, and i don’t regret it. i met one of my best friends, and learned a lot about myself. </p>
<p>so i guess what i’m trying to say is that you have to figure out what is really most important to you in concrete terms about a school. forget about the stuff that you can’t know until you go; it’s pointless. if you’re really just worried about whether pitt is actually a good fit for you, focus on that instead.</p>