Litchfield vs. Sutherland

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
1

<p>I was looking to see if anyone who currently lives (or knows a lot about), the towers and Sutherland hall can offer some insight to some of the pros and cons of the areas. It's hard to decide which one to make my top choice, and I have a feeling that other people might be struggling with the same issue since most of us just got our housing application information.</p>

<p>I was wondering what the food is like, who generally dorms there, and specifically for sutherland, if it is bad to live on upper-campus, and if it's a long walk to the cathedral and other lower-campus classes. I read somewhere that sutherland didn't have that great of food, but then I heard the food court there was redone just last year, so I was unsure what to believe.</p>

<p>Sorry if my question is so specific, any help would be appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Hello,
My daughter just graduated from Pitt last year and spent her freshman year at Sutherland. The rooms are very large with concrete walls and most have a single bathroom shared by a few rooms.The halls are wide.It is a great freshman dorm but can be a long walk up the hill. It used to be an honors dorm but not anymore. Many athletes live there because it is close to the pete and trees hall. She loved sutherland-despite the long walk. My son will be freshman in 2009. He chose tower A because although the rooms are smaller and the bathrooms are communal, it is centrally located and holds the engineering space community which he wants to be a part of. As far as the food, my daughter disliked both cafeterias and tended to eat at vendors at Peterson and at the union. I hope that helps.</p>

3

<p>I’m a Pitt freshman home on Spring Break with nothing more to do than browse college forums. Here’s my 2 cents:</p>

<p>When I was a high-school senior last year, I was absolutely sure that I wanted to go to Towers. Everyone said that’s how you meet people, that they’re located right down in the middle of everything, etc etc. Likewise, I had heard that Sutherland was mostly for athletes and was up on the hill. When it came time to apply for housing, I put down Tower B as my first choice, A as my 2nd, C as my 3rd. Sutherland wasn’t on my list.</p>

<p>You can imagine my surprise when I found out that I was in a 6-person suite in Sutherland. I immediately google’d/facebook’d my roommates.</p>

<p>Fast forward to move-in day. Sutherland residents were instructed to drive up the hill near the Petersen Events center, to a place called the OC-Lot. The OC lot is basically a huge lot meant to handle events at the Petersen. Students can also buy a parking lease there. We walked down a flight of steps from the OC and were at the base of Sutherland…super convenient for students that bring a car. If you don’t want to buy a lease, you can park on the public street right behind Trees Hall. I had a friend whose window was broken on that road, but it was a new car. I’ve parked my '95 Toyota back there since August with no problems.</p>

<p>Anyway, Sutherland. It’s made up of two wings, East and West, with a central lobby in the middle. Looking back on things, I really disliked Sutherland at first because of the walk up the hill and the fact that I was sharing a suite with 5 others instead of 1 other person.</p>

<p>Things people overlook about Sutherland:
-Lack of noise. Even during large concerts at the Pete, it’s much quieter than down in between Forbes and 5th.
-Awesome location when there are basketball games. I literally walk 35 seconds from my room to the Pete.
-Dining (The Perch) at the base of Sutherland. The food isn’t awesome, and there isn’t a ton of variety. Can always count on there being chicken, fries, burger, pancakes, sandwiches, and some sort of hot food and ice cream. Open for limited lunch hours and till 10 on weeknights. Also open on weekends for breakfast, lunch, dinner.
-The Quick Zone convenience store. I probably run down to it once a night for a drink or snack. Open till 11pm on weeknights is nice.
-Mailroom is right in Sutherland’s lobby.
-Also, a computer lab that is NEVER busy. This is HUGE compared to the labs at David Lawrence (for Towers’ residents). Never a line and printouts come out really quickly.
-Police substation in Lobby. Not sure that this really is a benefit, but it’s kinda cool knowing that the police at least have an office nearby in the event of large emergency.
-Each wing (East and West) has their own laundry room. Usually don’t have to wait for machines to open up. Also, since only people from your wing are allowed in the room, I usually trust my laundry to sit there in the event I can’t get to it right away.</p>

<p>Each wing has 10 floors. Some of the floors are special (like for freshman international business majors, etc). When I initially thought that Sutherland was full of athletes, I thought football players. Not the case! I’ve seen alot of track athletes as well as random (swimming, tennis, etc) players. None of the smelly football player fears came to be realized.</p>

<p>There are three elevators. Usually only have to wait less than a minute for them, unlike Towers, where people elect to walk 12 floors so they don’t have to wait. Small conveniences add up…</p>

<p>8 person suites have two bathrooms, 6 person suites only have one, plus at least two sinks and mirrors. Suitemates are responsible for cleaning their own bathroom, university does not and will not clean them for you! Get on a schedule for cleaning with your suitemates or it’ll quickly be miserable. I spent most of my first semester using the restrooms in the lobby! (Also, having a shower only shared by 5 other people is awesome…don’t have to do the whole GANG shower thing!)</p>

<p>The walk up and down the hill is annoying in bad weather, but definitely managable. It’s a good way to help stay in shape if you make the conscious effort to walk every chance you get. For an 11AM class at the Cathedral, I can leave at 10:43 and make it by 10:58. Ive found that the 10A (the shuttle) usually takes longer in the mornings than walking does…just depends on the time of day. Shuttle is up there every 8 minutes or so if you don’t want to walk.</p>

<p>Looking back at things, I honestly am glad that I got my last choice housing assignment. It’s been so awesome looking at how different my life would have been if I was in Towers.</p>

<p>You (or anyone else reading this) are welcome to PM me with any questions or clarifications. I can’t tell you enough how chill living in Sutherland has been. Feel free to ask me any other questions about Pitt freshman life!</p>

<p>PS. Food is another whole post in itself. I’d be glad to answer any questions about ‘which mealplan to get’ and the actual amounts of money I’ve spent on food so far. I decided to keep track and found that you can get by on not spending a ton if you plan out certain meals.</p>

4

<p>drumbum, thanks a lot for your input. Do you have any views of Lothrop from what you’ve heard?</p>

5

<p>Biggest thing I’ve heard about Lothrop is that, depending on your location in the building, the helicopter flying to/from the hospital is miserable during the night. Never heard it first-hand, just an off-hand complaint from a friend living in Lothrop.</p>

6

<p>Thank you so much Drumbum for your detailed response! It would probably be helpful to incoming freshman students like myself if people like you could put a descriptions like that in a flyer. </p>

<p>It looks like I will put Sutherland as my first choice in my housing selection. The only problem I would run into is the long walk as you said. Not having communal bathrooms and having nicer rooms would definitely be a plus. I plan on working out to stay in shape in college so the short walk to the Pete would then also be an option. It seems like a lot of the little things as you said, so everything together may make Sutherland most enjoyable. And I guess I am not going to get spectacular food at any of the main dining halls, so that’s not a major factor.</p>

<p>I guess I just have a couple more questions. I hope you don’t mind helping me out a little bit more!</p>

<p>Did you ever find yourself out of all the things going on at Pitt because you didn’t meet people in the towers at first? One of the reasons that I still want to be in the towers is that I want to be a part of everything that goes on around Forbes and 5th. I just don’t want to be missing out on all the events being on the other side of campus.</p>

<p>What meal plan did you get for your first semester? This isn’t such a big decision to make, seeing as I can always buy dining dollars and if I have too much left over I can just buy water.</p>

7

<p>Shimex,
Your comment about food got me thinking. True, I wouldn’t say that any of the food offered at Pitt is world class dining, but it’s not uncommon for my suitemates and I to make a trip down to Market Central below Towers. It’s open till 2AM on weeknights and always has a MUCH WIDER selection than the Perch. We get sick of the Perch often. Just gotta vary up your eating patterns!</p>

<p>I initially chose the $760 DD and 150 meal passes (or the plan really similar to that) and only ended up using less than 40 passes. I used all of the DD. This semester, I scaled down to $700DD, 50 or fewer passes, and a couple hundred $$ in Panther Funds (which can be used in Oakland at all the other restaurants). I’d suggest starting on a smaller plan and adding more as you need–it’s always funny at the end of the semester to see kids coming out with a 96 pack of water or two cases of Cheez-It’s because they have ‘too much money’ that expires at the end of the semester.</p>

<p>Living up on the hill is not a completely isolated experience. In addition to the 700 students in Sutherland, there are also all the residents of Pennsylvania and Panther halls nearby. I suspect I miss certain spontaneous events on campus (student organization handouts, blood drive, stuff like that) but most of the time, you’ll see them during the day while headed to class. Bigger events (like the post-Superbowl riots, absolutely disgraceful but another story) we all were a part of. I don’t feel all that disconnected from the student body; I don’t know how other upper-campus residents feel, but I suspect they feel the same way.</p>

<p>One other note that parents will cringe at (sorry!): The walk from deep in South Oakland to Sutherland at 3AM on a Saturday morning after shuttles stop running is miserable. If you’ve been partying, expect a LONNNNGGG walk up the hill. It’s rough.</p>

<p>Happy to answer more questions!</p>

8

<p>I live in Tower C and I love it. It’s great to have a single, and though I liked having a roommate to an extent, it’s SO nice to have your own space. I also like the proximity to everything.</p>

<p>I like the other Towers too, though Tower B does get pretty loud. It’s known as the “party tower”. </p>

<p>I haven’t been inside Sutherland, but I’ve heard its very nice. It seems to make more sense for athletes or people who take classes closer to the hill. But if you don’t mind the walk, go for it.</p>

9

<p>are all the rooms in sutherland suites? And if you list for Sutherland do they place you with 5 or 7 other people if you get the suite style? thanks for the help</p>

10

<p>Yes, Sutherland is all suite-style. If you list for Sutherland, you’ll get in a 6 or 8 person suite.</p>

11

<p>What are the suites like, exactly? Still sharing a room with one other person?</p>

12

<p>My 6 person suite has an outer (locked) door which leads to a common hallway. There are three rooms (locked) that are shared by 2 people each. At the end of the hallway is a closet, 2 sinks + mirrors, and a lockable shower/toilet room. The 8 person suites are similar except they have more bathrooms + showers.</p>

<p>Kinda nice to have my stuff locked behind two doors when I’m not in the dorm :)</p>

13

<p>It sounds like it would be fun living in a suite like that. And I would definitely prefer sharing a bathroom with 5 or 7 others over an entire floor anyday. I guess it just depends on the kind of suite mates you get. Thanks for the advice on the meal plan, but I think no matter what I do I will conserve passes and end up being that guy carrying the giant pack of water. And I agree, knowing that all my things will be locked behind two doors is very nice.</p>

14

<p>For the person who lived in Tower C, were there a lot of events for everyone in the singles? I really want a single next year, but my parents worry I won’t really meet anyone on my floor/that people could be antisocial.</p>

15

<p>

That is possibly true if all of the suitemates are diligent about taking their turns cleaning the bathroom. And some people have a greater tolerance for filth than others, so opinions of “clean enough” will vary. The hall bathrooms in the dorms are not so bad, as they are cleaned by staff daily. The truly particular person will figure out when they are cleaned and try to shower soon after that. The only annoyance is probably that you have to carry your stuff back and forth.</p>

16

<p>how big is each room that two people share compared to that of the towers double? and are you in contact with the other 4 people in your room a lot drumbum? cause idk how i would like being in that situation with people i didnt like.</p>

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<p>I can’t remember the exact dimensions of our rooms, but everytime I go into a room in Towers, I think to myself “wow, this room is so small!”</p>

<p>My best friends in college are my other 4 suitemates. We all got really really close, to the point of spending significant amounts of time on the weekends hanging out. I don’t really know of anyone who isn’t friends with most/all of their suitemates.</p>

18

<p>well thats pretty awesome you get along with everyone. can i ask what your major is?</p>

19

<p>I’m an English Writing major w/ the intent to focus on either Journalism or Creative Nonfiction.</p>

20

<p>looks like everything worked out for you pretty well drumbum. Are there a decent number of engineering majors living in Sutherland? I want to meet people of all different majors, not just engineers, so I’m avoiding the SPACE floor in the towers. But it would be nice to have a few engineers to work with.</p>