<p>Just wondering if you could provide some insight on the layout of the floors/rooms in Forbes Hall. According to the website, some rooms share a "powder room" and then it states there are communal shower rooms. Does this mean that two doubles share a bathroom with a shower, and that the other rooms without a shared bathroom would use the communal shower rooms? Or, are the only showers for all of the floor in the communal areas? </p>
<p>I've also seen the rooms referred to as suites, it appears from the floor plan that the rooms are simply two doubles, some with a shared bathroom. Is there a common area/living area that the bedrooms share also, or is the word suite simply referring to the two doubles setup?</p>
<p>Last question, would you say that most rooms have a shared bathroom between two rooms, or are the majority of rooms without a shared bathroom? I assume you are not able to specify a request for a room with a shared bathroom on the housing request form?</p>
<p>I am writing this in Forbes hall now. The only showers are in common areas (4 on either end and 2 in the midget wing). There is no suite set up anywhere. Most have it but not all. Really I find having one is a pain. You can’t request or not request one. </p>
<p>Thanks, CuttingEdge. Why do you think having one is a pain? </p>
<p>My daughter is trying to figure out which dorm might be best for her, and has been looking at Sutherland and Forbes. I read your opinion of Forbes on another thread, and it sounds like a good choice. </p>
<p>Does it seem as though most students get their first choice in housing? She does not think that Towers would be a good fit, so we are wondering the best choices to indicate on the housing request to avoid a room there.</p>
<p>My daughter decided not to live in Forbes and chose the global community in Sutherland thinking that it was an academic community. She has regretted it all year and will be in honors housing next year. Her main complaints have been that there were very few other students in the honors science classes to talk to about classes and it was a social atmosphere in general. Seven of the eight girls in the suite are planning to stay as close as they can for next year, so my child was the odd one out (they were all happy and she has been thrilled with Pitt, but not her dorm). She does not study in her room at all because of noise.</p>
<p>Sutherland is a suite set up; DD’s is four bedrooms and two baths. A big problem I see with the in-suite bathrooms is that the kids have to clean them, and even though they set up a schedule and bought cleaning supplies, I don’t think they are very thorough. H1N1 went through the suite in the first couple weeks of the semester last fall and someone has been sick with something almost continually. I think that is at least partly because they are “cleaning” themselves without the use of the harsher chemicals the pros use.</p>
<p>You know, if you go to the Honors Day thing, I’m pretty sure they show you Forbes (that’s what I was told at least). So, if you want a first-hand look at Forbes, go to Honors Day.</p>
<p>Thanks MDMom for your comments about Sutherland. How does your daughter like her honors science course(s)? My daughter is a science major contemplating honors science classes for next fall, but it seems many on this forum seem to recommend against it. She will be pre-med, so has to conscious of “GPA killers” as they say. </p>
<p>motion12345 - We are also attending Honors Day, and expected they would provide tours of Forbes Hall. However, when I contacted Pitt last week, they stated that the dorm tours on Honors Day will be at the Towers. They only show a “virtual tour” of Forbes. My guess is that it is the same virtual tour that is posted on the Pitt housing site. It basically shows the inside of a bedroom, but that’s it.</p>
<p>We’ll be attending Honors Day in April and I, too, was hoping that we would be get to see a room in Forbes, since D is interested in living there if she ends up enrolling at Pitt. It would be very helpful to get a feel for the rooms there when it’s time to start stocking up on dorm room items, such as bedding, etc. By any chance, can students be housed in Forbes for Pitt Start?</p>
<p>You can look at floorplans online at residence life on the main Pitt site. I know that they are not as helpful as seeing the actual dorm, but they will give you an idea of the set up.</p>
<p>Riley 13: My daughter LOVES her honors physics class (physics is one of her majors). She is in the second semester and the professor is the dean of the honors college, Professor Stewart. She took honors chem in the fall and that was not so good. She felt as if it was set up for students who had a very strong chemistry foundation and had had AP chem in high school, which she did not. The fall honors chem had perhaps 60 students (I am not sure of the exact number) and only about 20 went forward to the second semester of honors chem. That is a bit telling. I do think that it was a new (to the course, not the university) professor teaching it. </p>
<p>When my daughter visited Pitt last spring, she met with a current student who was majoring in physics. The young woman told her to take honors physics but not honors calculus. The young woman said that the honors calc was great for math majors, but it included a lot of things that were not necessarily helpful for physics. I think the trick on the honors classes is to take the honors section for the courses your child is very interested in. My daughter’s roommate is pre-med and she does not take any honors sections.</p>
<p>Another little trick that new freshmen may not know is that some courses can be taken pass/no credit. This includes some pre-requisites–not all. If a student gets a C or better, she gets credit for the course. C- or lower receives no credit, but it doesn’t kill the GPA because it is not figured in. My daughter found that on her own–she is resourceful.</p>