<p>I'm an incoming freshman and will be a political science major this fall. I recently recieved a broshure from Pitt detailing the learning communities they offered. It appears that learning communities offer a tight knit community that could make transitioning to collegiate academics easier.
Could current Pitt students please discuss learning communities at Pitt in general and any expereinces you may have (personally, know a friend) with the Politics and Media learning community.
I'm currently debating if I should enroll, but I'm worried that I might confine myself if I join. Also, do members of a learning community assigned to specific housing.
All comments are welcome. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just joined to answer this…I was in this learning community at the start of the year. Politics and Media is typically 3 courses that you’re in with about 15-20 other freshmen: Mass Communication, American Political Process, and Intro to the Arts & Sciences. </p>
<p>Intro is just the freshmen in the learning community, and it’s a required course for all freshmen in the school of Arts and Sciences. It’s a single credit seminar, usually led by a professor of Communications or PoliSci, but it is just a general introduction to the University of Pittsburgh as a whole. You learn about campus resources, and there’s a project that everyone I know had to do, where you’re put in a group of 3-4 and given a one-time-use camera and sent to a different part of Pittsburgh. You photograph that neighborhood (Southside, Downtown, Squirrel Hill), make a poster, and present it to the class. </p>
<p>The other two courses I had, MassComm and APP, included all the members of the LC plus about 25+ other students, mostly upperclassmen in mine. While I loved both professors (one a grad student, the other an actual district magistrate), the classes did little for me. Introductory Communications courses are just kind of vague discussions on society as a whole, it seems, the material is just so huge and logical you’re wondering why you have a class on it. They’re relatively easy, though, which is why it isn’t hard to find a few football and basketball players in them (Pat Bostick was in one of mine). APP was just a reiteration of all the American history I’d learned in middle and high school, through a more political lens-dates were not important, but party affiliations and constitutional justifications were. Sometimes fascinating, sometimes boring.</p>
<p>In all, the LC was not effective for me as a student. I ended up retreating from both academic focuses entirely (I am now considering English and Urban Studies) and the only out-of-class interaction I had with anyone from the group was marginal (I ran into one guy in a Greyhound station in Harrisburg, I almost went out with one girl before she totally and inexplicably stopped talking to me…) </p>
<p>Other kids in the community seemed to fare better, as I’ve seen a group of 3 or 4 of them that hangs out frequently and I believe at least a couple of them are sticking with that field of study. You may end up having a far better experience than I did, who knows. It was an easy way to knock out a few credits, and you have to take Intro to the Arts and Sciences anyway, but overall our group didn’t really mesh.</p>
<p>This is not to knock Learning Communities as a whole. My friend Lou was in an Italian Learning Community (Italian 1 and Italian Cultural Heritage as well as Intro to the A&S) and he loved it. He made a bunch of friends, went to various events and free films organized by the Italian department.</p>
<p>Just in case anyone was wondering, I have no idea how to change my user name. I’m no longer a hoya hopeful at all and I’m committed to having a great four years at Pitt. So it would be great if someone could inform me on that.
Thanks for responding king of the trill.
You brought up two of the things I worried about for the learning communities. One, that the classes are very broad and not apparently useful and two that it could potentially be hard to make friends outside of the learning community.
While this learning community does sound like a relatively easy path towards a 4.0 first semester GPA, I agree that the courses offered would be a reiteration of what I’ve already learned (I already took AP US History) and this may be completely off base and people can feel free to correct me if that’s the case, but I get this sense that people who enroll in learning communities struggle socially, that’s just my gut feeling though. Could Pitt students speak to that.
I still don’t know if I"ll enroll, but I’m probably leaning towards not enrolling, I’d love for a Pitt student with great experiences with this LC or LCs in general to make a case for them. On a side note, it’s funny that you brought up Bostick because we actually played on the same football team together when he was a senior. I don’t intend on playing football at Pitt though, I’m going as a student.</p>
<p>I was in SPACE, the engineering learning community and it was the best decision I ever made! People in LLC do NOT struggle socially. In fact, I would say that we are very social people (and I’m with a bunch of engineering students who are stereotyped to be the less social of them all!) Most “anti-social” people I know, in fact, did not live on LLCs and I know a good deal who lived in Tower C.</p>
<p>SPACE differs a bit from other communities. While other communities may only be taking a few classes together, we ALL take the exact same courses (except your one elective). Personally, a good majority of my friends I made on the SPACE floors, but most engineers tend to make engineering friends anyway- we all are in the same classes! But this isn’t to say people dont make non-engineering friends. There are lots of people who meet others outside of engineering. Either way, you make great friends regardless.</p>
<p>Engineering is also a tough major, so its really nice to have people who can relate to you. Sometimes, we feel as though some majors don’t really “understand”, so its nice when you have someone there who is going through the same stuff you are.</p>
<p>SPACE people are wacky, fun, and hilarious! Plus, the advisors set up free pizza when certain exams come up and for finals week they had free massages and snacks for the engineering majors 
I’m going to really miss living on SPACE - I wouldn’t have had my freshman year anywhere else.</p>
<p>Thanks emi2008. I was probably off in my analysis about the social intelligence of LC enrollees. I appreciate your insightful opinion.</p>
<p>Hey hoya,
My son had a decent experience in the honors college housing, but in retrospect wishes he chose to live in SPACE. Also, I don’t think you can change your user name but would have to sign up for a different one.</p>
<p>hey, I was in the honors housing community which is technically an LLC. I loved it! We were encouraged to participate in activities our dorm hosted, most were pretty cool and almost all had free food which was always a good pull. (a lot of movie showings or speakers & food or fun activites like tie-dye). Also the people were really nice & friendly and in a lot of my core classes (I’m an engineer). It should be a good experience especially since people have to apply, so they have to be somewhat wanting it/into the idea right?</p>
<p>thanks for the responses. Anyone else?</p>