<p>
</p>
<p>HOWWWWWWWW?!?! 4.1 UW?! Is that even POSSIBLE?!</p>
<p>Also, no offense to last year’s class but…what the heck?! Were the pickings bad or what?? Crazy!</p>
<p>Oh and you’re welcome! Do let me know what you ended up doing for classes! And feel free to PM me for personal contact info if your S needs/wants someone to talk to during the upcoming year!</p>
<p>Hmmm…4.1 should be weighted – don’t you think? Are there that many school systems that work off a 5.0 scale instead of a 4.0??? I am still surprise by the 2.9 GPA for the freshman class :(</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Me too. Something tells me that maybe someone didn’t check their numbers properly or something. How could the GPA of the class go down when the requirements to get in/get UHC standing are going UP? Fishy…</p>
<p>Yea, basically the 4.1 is the avg. weighted gpa - (where you get a 1 pt boost for ap/honors classes). So their message was that although you are used to being the one in honors classes, the kid who took the ap classes, in college all those dumb people you were being bell curved with are gone, and you need to get used to the idea that you probably need to be in the standard level unless you are really passionate about a subject. Ds ended up taking the UHC engineering seminar but everything else at standard level, didn’t place out of chem but will use AP credits for the max 2 electives. Kind of sad that the 16 credits from APs will amount to only 2 humanities electives but I should have known that going in. I think if he was a A&S major, he could’ve brought in all 16 credits.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Just going to dispell this rumor RIGHT NOW. Sooooooo untrue. Oh dear god this is so untrue. There is ALWAYS a curve in engineering classes in college, and it almost always benefits everyone. </p>
<p>
Makes sense then. My school only boosted 0.5 for AP, I never realized (until I got to college) that that wasn’t the norm…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yep. I had 8 APs (four 5s, four 4s) and ended up only redeeming the Calc one so far. I’m still really, incredibly annoyed that, for some stupid reason, we’re not allowed to redeem AP Stat for Stat credit. Even though the required stat class at Pitt is easier than the AP Stat class which I took in HS. I’ll probably also redeem both my humanities electives just to get breadth done with. If I had gone into A&S, I would have entered at almost sophomore status, grrr.</p>
<p>The AP credit for engineering really sucks! Son had 43 transfer credits for his AP courses but only used 11 for engineering. Of course, I don’t believe he would have wanted to graduate early as he is loving Pitt. He looks forward to the start of classes :)</p>
<p>Awesome: you graduated too early! They changed the weighting so AP and certain advance courses (artificial intelligence etc.) are weighted at a 1 point and all other classes (except music, art, PE, foreign languages) are weighted at 0.5 I thought they should have weighted ALL the classes 0.5 (except PE) since they are all suppose to be taught at honors level. It does put pressure on some kids to give up music/arts to maintain their GPA :(</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They also changed an A to a 90-100 instead of the old 94-100. Actually, it just makes me prouder of my GPA when I graduated. Because I knew it was so hard to get a high GPA. Now…we have things like a 4.1 average GPA. :P</p>
<p>It is an A minus (3.7) for 90 -92 and to get the A (4.0), you need 93 and above. I remember the days when there was no weighting of classes even when you took calculus in high school :)</p>
<p>That is not unusual for engineering. Happens at a lot of schools. There is a huge dropout rate among engineering and premed type majors who usually switch majors, not drop out of the school. The gpas of those that stick around is probably better. That first year is an adjustment and weed out year.</p>
<p>We were told by freshman program advisors in college of Engineering that they are evaluated on retention and although the dropout rate among engineering schools is high that their retention rate (staying in the engineering program, not just staying within the school) is around 75% which is way above avg. Weed-out was a phrase that they wanted to distance themselves from - as opposed to other schools (cough…Cornell…cough) who were almost proud about how their program weeded out kids. For what it’s worth, not sure if the 2.9 reported was inclusive of those 25% who left engineering after the first yr. Think they just wanted to adjust the parent expectations with GPA given that they expect their little genius to bring home the 4.0. I think in adjusting expectations, they hoped to cut the phone calls from anxious parents who were freaking out.</p>
<p>I, on the other hand, want to have some hope that kiddo can keep his GPA at or above 3.0 so he doesn’t have to lose the scholarship and return to state u. (which to him would be a fate worse than death).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Since he was smart enough/academically talented enough to get a scholarship, he’ll be fine keeping it! I only know of one person, ever, that had to leave Pitt because they lost their scholarship (he also never went to class, so…). Side note: is the minimum GPA to keep the scholarship 3.0? Mine is 3.25 (= B+ average). If you haven’t, make sure you contact OAFA and/or an advisor to confirm this.</p>
<p>Retention is about 75% or a bit lower (depending on class), I think our starting class size was just over 400 and we’re down to around 300 or so now. Then again, the graduation class size always changes because of things like co-ops and what not. Everyone in my graduating class for my major is actually the year above me (based on when they started). Kinda funny.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This made me laugh. :)</p>
<p>My daughter does know more than one student who has lost a scholarship. However, I was very surprised at my little one’s creativity when it came to classes she wasn’t excelling in. She knew the drop dates and freshman year, she switched her honors chemistry to pass/no credit (I don’t know if that is an option for engineers). She was a physics major at the time. Having enough classes to stay full time is important if a student feels as though he/she needs to drop a class.</p>
<p>I apologize if this has already been mentioned but the grade point is checked in the spring. So if a student has a poor record in the fall, he or she is not penalized if the spring GPA brings the yearly GPA to the required level.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hm…I think it depends on the scholarship. Mine is checked every semester AND cumulatively (i.e. fall of my sophomore semester must be >= 3.25, and my overall must be >= 3.25). But uh, that’s kind of redundant since every semester being >= 3.25 makes my cumulative >=3.25 anyway…</p>
<p>The thing is, they are supposed to give you ONE lenient semester. So if something happens ONCE, they say “okay, we’re watching you, bring up your grades, this is your only warning”. Not sure if this actually happens or not, but like I said, I think it’s supposed to.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hm…good point. I know we are allowed to make ONE class pass/fail but I’m not sure if we’re allowed to make a required class (i.e. needed to graduate) pass/fail. That might be something good to ask an advisor for anyone who is interested in this…</p>
<p>MDMom - my son did the same. Switched Honors Calc to Pass/Fail or something like that. After first semester GPA was borderline so needed a good grade. He needed the credit for his major so needed to get a C or greater which he did.</p>
<p>These kids are smart.</p>
<p>Are sneakers necessary for pittstart or will I be fine with flip flops</p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6400L using CC App</p>
<p>You can do a lot of walking for PittStart. If your feet are happy in flip flops, you will be fine.</p>
<p>How is the food in the Towers and what meal plan typically works best?</p>
<p>SOOOooo, I’m trying to figure out when to bring my 2012 daughter for a visit/tour. When do classes begin for the semester? Is it suggested to try making the trip ON a football weekend or is that just asking for too much, I imagine hotels are tougher to come by, etc. Any idea on how out of state kids do with merit money? What is PittStart? </p>
<p>As you can see, JUST starting to look at Pitt. Thanks in advance for any help.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Basically this. Although if you are staying overnight, bring a pair of shower shoes for the showers in Towers! (say that five times fast)</p>