<p>At the end of January, I applied for upperclassmen Honors Housing. The problem is that the essay I wrote for the application was not awesome. The ideas were great, but the conclusion didn’t end strong (I thought there were more essays, so I rushed D: ). I am wondering if this ruins my opportunity to get honors housing. What if I don’t get in? I heard that you lose your lottery number if you don’t get accepted. What should I do if that happens? :S </p>
<p>Thanks in advance. :)</p>
<p>It will depend on number of applications. We really cannot answer your question, Ravencrow. I do think that for the honors housing, they are looking for demonstrated interest over clever or perfect writing. Good luck.</p>
<p>Hi, again! I was wondering if you guys knew around when we’d hear about merit scholarships/legacy scholarships. Someone in the alumni association told me that legacy scholarship applications would be sent out beginning of February, but not when we’d hear back. Also, a few people I’ve talked to who have applied to/had their children apply to Pitt (along with one or two professors/TAs) said we should be getting notification of scholarships back soon…is this true? I love Pitt, but like any other student, I need help paying for it…
Any idea of a date?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m really considering going to pittsburgh next year, but i’ve heard so negative things about the students like them being snotty and racist. Is this true?</p>
<p>Snotty and racist at Pitt? My daughter jokes that if she were blonde, she and her friends could be on the brochures because they are from so many different groups.</p>
<p>The merit money letters often follow your acceptance by about two weeks, but it can be longer.</p>
<p>@Degreenlight
I just realized that my post made another page, so your post wasn’t answered. :< </p>
<p>Anyways, your SAT seems fine (about 22% of people got around 500-599 in Math) and your GPA is close to the average (3.91). And it also depends on what you applied for your major. I think it’s easier to get in if someone put “undecided” rather than “bioengineering” since there’s more competitive applicants for bioengineering. I always hear people saying that they applied undecided and ended up taking science classes when they got in (want to be premed). Anyhow, for your essay…are you sure that basically wrote a love letter? Surely you reflected on something about yourself and your personality. The essay would definitely help, if you wrote it well. </p>
<p>And the answer to emailing the admission office: I don’t see why you shouldn’t contact them. You should definitely do it if you didn’t get an email confirming that they received your transcript. In fact, you should call them and get an immediate reply. They might get annoyed, but if you have a legitimate reason to ask then do it! :)</p>
<p>Random P.S. Thank you MD mom for answering my question! xD</p>
<p>@pamom</p>
<p>How long after I set up my pitt email does the housing information come through? I did this about a week ago and have only received my “welcome to pitt” email. This is all online correct? Not through the mail?</p>
<p>As I recall the housing packet came in the mail, a couple of weeks after the payment of the enrollment deposit. If you don’t receive anything in two weeks, check with Panther Central.</p>
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<p>I don’t think it would hurt if you are curious. Just send OAFA an email and explain what happened. Ask if any decision has been made on your file and they will either say “yes” or “it is still under review”. And at least you will know that way!</p>
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<p>From what I remember, getting into Honors Housing was part-your application and part-your involvement. Upperclassmen UHC housing is so hard to come by (although it’s becoming bigger next year) that they really want people who are going to participate in the community. If you have shown good involvement your freshman year, that will definitely aid your application.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about the essays. I decided to apply for honors housing the day before the application was due, and I still got in!</p>
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<p>Merit can take 2 weeks to a few months. If you are curious about merit, you can email OAFA and ask them if your file is under review for a scholarship. They’ll be able to tell you.</p>
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<p>Wow. Definitely completely untrue. I’m part of one of the smallest minority on campus (East Asian) and I definitely don’t feel any negative pressure from anyone. In my case, it helps to be in the school of engineering, which is definitely more diverse than Pitt at-large. And I really don’t know of anyone or any group that is snotty…are you sure you weren’t thinking of CMU by mistake (I jest! I jest!). </p>
<p>But seriously, Pitt is a great group of kids who are really nice. In my 3.5 years here, I’ve never felt uncomfortable or out of place.</p>
<p>AwesomeOpossum, what are the pre-med classes like? How tough are the weed out courses? I had a 3.4 high school gpa and ok on my SATs. I have heard so much about people failing because of the curve and etc…</p>
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<p>First off, let me just clarify and say there is NO SUCH thing as a pre-med class, track, or curriculum/major. When people say “pre-med” classes, they are generalizing to those classes which help prepare them to take the MCAT (Calc I, Calc II, Physics I, Physics II, Chem I, Chem II, Bio I, Bio II, OChem I, OChem II).</p>
<p>As for what they’re like: that depends on the class (honors vs. regular) and the professor. For the most part, the Calc classes are a typical math class. The honors is more proof-heavy. The chem classes are mainly regular chem classes with an additional 1x/week chem lab. Regular chem labs have worksheets. UHC chem labs have actual written lab reports. Bio is a typical bio class. I’ve heard the UHC professor is great. Physics I and II are slightly difficult because of the material and the fact that it is calculus based (for the MCAT I believe). So there is derivation involved.</p>
<p>OChem is always hard. It’s OChem.</p>
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<p>I’d say weed out is around Chem, Bio, and Calc. They’re <em>not</em> hard if you:</p>
<p>A- Go to class (AND pay attention/take notes)
B- Do you homework in a timely manner
C- Study when you need to (office hours/reading the book/etc)</p>
<p>That is, if you bother to put in the effort, you will be fine. If you believe that you can do well by slacking off because that’s how you got through high school, you will do really poorly.</p>
<p>thanks so much, I’m one of the students who has to work their bottoms off to do well.</p>
<p>Thanks AwesomeOpossum for reassuring me! It made me feel more relaxed about housing. xD </p>
<p>By the way, I got accepted into Forbes-Craig today! ^_^</p>
<p>Don’t get the street level apartment on the front of the building. :)</p>
<p>Ahh that makes sense (because of the street noises). I’ll try my best to get a higher floor that doesn’t face the street. </p>
<p>Quick question: Since there’s no air conditioning, can I install my own? xD</p>
<p>You only need air for a few days in the fall. Get a little fan. AwesomeOpposum lived in that building, so she may be able to give you some direction as to apartments.</p>
<p>And the noise is the street and the people walking by being loud.</p>
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<p>No. If you do, they will make you take it out. And like MD Mom said, the heat is only really bad for a few weeks at the beginning/end of the school year. Plus if you feel hot-- just go sit in the common room, which does have AC.</p>
<p>Also, I’m going to disagree about street noises (admittedly I lived on the 2nd floor). My first year I lived facing the back, which I found WORSE. I had to deal with the noise of people drunkenly stumbling around, but worse was the 2x/week trash truck that came to pick up the trash. You could hear the obnoxious reversing beep-beep sound for a good 20-30 minutes straight, which was never pleasant on a Tuesday night at like 3 in the morning.</p>
<p>I had minimal noise issues with a front-side 2nd floor room. Yes, I could hear car traffic or talking from my room, if I left the window open, but by the time it got late (9-10pm) any traffic basically died down (except for an occasional bus) and I couldn’t hear it over my window fan anyway.</p>
<p>However, that could just be me adapting to noises from the window. But, as it is, I’ve never heard of front-window people (at least on the 2nd floor, not the ground floor) complaining about noise.</p>