Very helpful information. We had visited to get a feel of the area but did not get to go inside any buildings because of COVID closures. Good to know the pros of Sutherland Hall. In comparison how is the Nordenberg dorm (not guaranteed because of lottery system)?
Shoot, I forgot about Nordenberg when I said Sutherland was the nicest. Nordenberg definitely is the nicest now (TVs, fridges, bigger rooms, used to be a hotel, etc.) with Sutherland just behind. Its location is also much better IMO. Not sure about the food situation, but youāre near the William Pitt Union (student center) so thereās solid food there.
These rankings (RANKED: These are the best Pitt residence halls, according to a new poll) are surprisingly helpful. Towers definitely inspires camaraderie (itās crowded - you better like people), and because the floors are small and architecturally goofy it creates a strong community. However, itās not a good dorm facilities-wise. Nordenberg has facilities and location. Sutherland has honors and athletes (and a buffet). Without seeing the inside (and going back on what I said earlier) it will be hard to choose between these if your daughter is looking for a social environment. Iād recommend they do some googling concerning dorm photos and things theyāre interested in on campus, and also consider reaching out to a Pitt Pathfinder.
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My daughter was accepted to the Computational Biology major and her honors acceptance is in her portal (she never got an email however).
Accepted to Pitt Honors too! Major is Electrical Engineering.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful response. My daughter almost didnāt apply to Honors since the dorm is farther away she didnāt see the point. Her goal is to meet as many people as possible in a central location so is leaning towards the Towers. Iām bummed that Sutherland is so far away. At other schools, like Delaware, the Honors dorm is in a prime location. Sounds like there are trade-offs. We are going to visit again soon to walk the campus and see everything first-hand.
My daughter was in the honors dorm at UD last year, itās beautiful and in a great location, but there are a lot of forced triples. One way to help avoid them is to choose a roommate, although the roommates UD picked for my daughter couldnāt have been a better fit.
Good choice to visit again - hopefully, itāll start warming up here soon. The first spring days where itās warm and students head out to the parks and quad are awesome - thereās much in the way of good energy.
She should also think about Nordenberg - Iām not entirely sure how dorm selection at Pitt works, but most freshmen end up in Towers so if she ranks Nordy first and Towers second or third (I believe itās ranked-choice selection?) sheāll probably get one of the two.
To complicate things, I just texted a friend who is in Towers right now (female freshman) and her response was that if you hate the people on your floor or your roommate Towers will be āhell.ā Additionally, she noted Towersā rooms and bathrooms are super small and they constantly need renovation and maintenance (a common complaint). She said go for Bruce (which is suites) or Nordenberg. On the other hand, any dorm will probably suck if you dislike your roommate, and most collegesā dorms need updating. Also, Towers is especially annoying to live in this year because of COVID restrictions.
To conclude, definitely visit and see if you can get into a dorm.
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6 percent? Lmao thatās less than Harvard EA acceptance rate, if I had to guess Iād say 25-30 percent at the lowest. Happy to be proven wrong though.
From Pitt Honorsā website:
āPitt Honors is competitive. We accept about 600 students each year into Pitt Honors and the Honors Joint Degree program.ā
According to the Common Data Set, last year Pitt admitted approximately 20,000 students, but it does not say how many also applied for honors (maybe itās ~7,000 as stated above).
But those numbers do make it sound pretty competitive.
Good point- Definitely very competitive regardless of how many applied, so congrats to everyone who got in!
Funnily enough, my schoolās class president two years ago got into Harvard EA and was rejected from Pitt Honors.
thatās crazy!! I should have applied to Harvard haha
Yeah, itās become a lot more selective. I got into UChicago, IU Honors, and UVA (with Echols Scholars) this year and was rejected by Pitt Honors. Cāest la vie.
Maybe Pitt Honors yield controls then, I was deferred from UVA. Also the whole notification process was really sketchy with the email not even mentioning Honors and their awful/nonexistent (?) portal, so Iām really hoping I donāt get an email about how I didnāt actually get in and there was an error on their end. Who knowsā¦
I would be hesitant if you didnāt get the email link yourself to rely on it before confirmation. It seems like a lot of acceptances and I canāt but wonder if that is from people using other peoples links?! I would not recommend that personally.
Hahaha congrats on getting in! (If Iām reading your post rightā¦)
I doubt theyāre yield protecting - Pittās trying to create an elite, selective honors college and something in your app stood out to them. I got into GAP for GSPIA so itās not like they gave me nothing. I also think their overall acceptance rate is going to start dropping as Pitt rises in the rankings (particularly as relates to pre-med).
And as a note, the Pitt portal system doesnāt get better. Iām taking classes there now and itās a mess. Thankfully, they at least switched from Blackboard to Canvas.
Are you planning on going to Pitt?
Thanks so much for all of that info; very helpful. We will plan to come back this Spring to get a closer look.
i just checked the portal today and itās working! i think waiting a couple days did the trick, thank you
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yay Iām glad to hear that! mine still isnāt working, but I emailed admissions and they were able to let me know my decision
I wonder when the Chancellor invitations will be sent out? Anyone heard anything?