<p>We're doing the move in two days. Does anybody have any advice on how to do that as efficiently and painlessly as possible? I have recurrent visions of toting everything for several blocks from Soldiers and Sailors garage!</p>
<p>Well, we moved my son in yesterday. Everything was very well organized and went smoothly. Lots of folks around to direct and offer assistance.</p>
<p>Where did you park?</p>
<p>We attended one of the "getting ready" programs, and parked in the Soldiers etc. garage. All the buildings are so packed in there, I do wonder where you would park? </p>
<p>Are there vendors who will rent fridges for the rooms? </p>
<p>Did all freshman move in on the same day, or was there some staggered plan?</p>
<p>My daughter really developed a liking for Pitt during our visit. She likes the urban setting, and she LIKED the tower rooms! This is the 5th college she's visited, so she does have some basis for comparison . . .</p>
<p>chrisd,
Students start moving in at the beginning of August: band, athletes, scholars, etc. We were in the honors college bunch of moving. They had many people in Arrival Survival shirts throughout the streets and campus. Additional traffic police were on hand to help. The Schenley Quad was closed to vehicular traffic and there probably will be some street closings during the main move in day. We took two cars. The one without the dorm stuff parked in Soldiers and Sailors with no problem. The car with supplies received a special parking pass to park in the garage directly under the Towers. Again, lots of helpers were on hand. Signs directed us to the area nearest our tower. We simply took one of the many carts (like large laundry carts), unloaded the car and pushed it a short distance to the garage elevator. Rode up to the assigned floor and that's it! After we arrived, several Pitt personnel stopped by the room to introduce themselves and see if we needed anything. Pitt sends a big packet of arrival info and each dorm has assigned drop off places. Actually, the garage under the Towers is normally private lease parking. For move in days, I think all of those private parking folks are displaced (sorry for them, good for us!). Other dorms have other drop off areas.</p>
<p>During this summer, we received a mailing from a company that rents microfridges (microwave on top, refrigerator on bottom) for $200/year. We did it this year, but it would probably be cheaper to buy a microwave and compact refrigerator on your own. The microfridge was delivered and present on arrival.</p>
<p>On the regular move in days, the arrival times are staggered into four half-days. I guess this reduces congestion. They were also setting up something called "Orientation Station", which is an area to get information and refreshments.</p>
<p>The Towers rooms are not that bad. They have newer furniture and carpet, vertical blinds, decent mattresses and air conditioning. They are centrally located, have two cafeterias, a Starbucks and the laundry and mail room. The security seemed to be very good. The rooms are really small though (IMO). There are better dorms to be had. There are two brand new dorms with suites (Sutherland and Pennsylvania) and a new one under construction that you can see on the website. Also, there seem to be alot of university owned apartments.</p>
<p>All in all, move in day went alot better than I expected.</p>
<p>Sounds like a very smooth move in day! When we were there on Saturday, I saw a number of those large laundry carts about, and I wondered what they were for. </p>
<p>Did your son attend some sort of orientation during the summer? When did he choose his fall courses?</p>
<p>He had two events this summer. The first was a day for admitted students (we did the honors day in engineering). They had presentations and panel discussions in areas such as study abroad, housing, student publications, and school-specific meetings. There were also some really well organized tours of the campus and of the specific schools. In engineering, they took small groups to a lab in each engineering discipline and somebody was there waiting to give a short 10 minute spiel and demonstration of what work was being done in that lab...very organized and interesting. (other places just showed us empty labs and they really all start to look alike!). There was a nice catered luncheon, too.</p>
<p>Then they had two days (several sessions of these) called "PittStart". During this event the kids take placement tests (engineering does theirs online, though), hear freshman-oriented presentations, take tours, meet with mentors and advisors and ultimately make their schedules. Some parts were for parents and students together, some were for one group or the other. They also distributed information about things to do in the city, and organized some off campus events. If you go here, try to get the earliest PittStart available because your choice of class sections will be the best.</p>
<p>"your choice of class sections will be the best"</p>
<p>Yes, this was also the case when my older daughter started college at Ohio U. I wonder if coming in with some credits, from AP and such, puts a student ahead of other freshmen in class registration?</p>
<p>What area of engineering is your son interested in?</p>
<p>I found the reverse. When DS placed into a higher level foreign language class, there was only one section of it, and he may need permission to get into a full class (he is a double major now). The students who were there last year already registered for it, giving freshmen the disadvantage.</p>
<p>He thinks probably mechanical. He loves physics and aerospace, too. Ultimately, he is thinking he may want to go to law school and maybe to IP law. MBA is also under consideration. He is excellent at math, but doesn't love theoretical math and proofs at this point. I guess it's really too early to tell!</p>
<p>Penn State Honors College students get a nice perc of being allowed to register ahead of everyone else. Too bad ALL of the state U honors colleges don't do that!</p>
<p>A lot of the language courses offer more in the spring than fall. Any class that is an even # (elementary 2, intermediate 4) offer more in the spring because the desire for the class is higher since most people start with the intro level course in the fall. Also if your son waits until wednesday he'll probably be able to add it since one or two people generally drop the class.</p>
<p>Thanks ats, I'll pass the advice along. He picked up the form needed for getting into a closed class and the add/drop form. Hopefully everything will work out somehow!</p>
<p>It usually does, and if it doesn't he can take something else in its place and wait until the spring to take the class. Chances are if he test to a high enough level course that he's already far enough ahead that it won't effect his overall graduation time. The same situation happened to me first semester freshman year except with spanish. I ended up having to wait until the spring which made the first couple days a little rocky since I hadn't had a course since junior year of high school (I finished all of them that my school offered), but all in all it's working out. Also if he does end up going to study abroad for the language he will end up covering a lot of the required classes for the major if he goes through a program offered by the department. Since he's now doing Engineering and the college of arts and sciences because of his language I would advise looking into trying to complete the prerequists if he can't fit into the class he wants that way they don't sneak up on him in the end.</p>