I was recently accepted into the honors college at the University of Pittsburgh. I am very excited but I have a question. I know that students who are not invited to the honors college are able to take honors courses which I think is great. But because of this, is there any difference in being a U Pitt honors student who was invited in a an incoming freshman and a student who was not eligible as a freshman applicant but proceeded to do very well at Pitt and was able to take honors classes? It’s great that the honors college is inclusive but I do not see much of an advantage of being told I’m eligible to be part of the honors college when many students who were not eligible can enroll in honors classes.
I might be missing something or I might be wrong so if anyone has any information it would be greatly appreciated!
You are eligible to take honors classes as a freshman if you choose to, you don’t have to get permission to do so.
Taking honors classes at the college level is not like in high school, to show rigor. Classes at Pitt will be rigorous even without being honors, especially in science and engineering.
You can take some of them if the subject interests you, or you want to be in a smaller class. But you don’t have to.
It’s up to you, this honors college is not making you take a certain core group of classes, or a minimum number of honors classes.
I think the scholarships are awarded by the honors college, so if you are honors eligible you can be reviewed for scholarships.
The honors college isn’t membership based like at other schools. Some people are eligible to take honors courses as freshmen if the meet certain standards. Others are allowed to take honors courses later if they perform well after being admitted. Ultimately there is no difference.
I think honors students moved in on the first day of freshman move-in, take a picture as a group, and have some honors specific events during orientation week.
The RA on each floor in honors housing planned some group trips and activities during the semester.
My D was not in honors as a freshman and her RA in Tower B also planned group trips and activities through the semester so I don’t think that is anything that is restricted to honors. Also, not all kids in honors live in the honors dorm. D had a few on her floor last year that choose not to live in the honors dorm.
There is no priority registration for honors. For all semesters after fall freshman year, registration is done by how many credits you have completed, so a student who comes in with a lot of APs will have earlier registration than one who doesn’t, but honors has nothing to do with it.
Its really kind of strange. My D’s current declared major is considered to be offered through the honors college but anyone can choose it - its not limited to just kids who are eligible to take honors courses. There is a place to study high up in the cathedral. My D likes it because its quiet but I don’t know if anyone actually checks to see if you actually belong there. I have to admit I’m kind of puzzled by the honors college at Pitt. It doesn’t really seem to be a college but instead just a collection of courses that some people are eligible to take.
I don’t think I said that all honors kids live in honors dorm or only honors dorm kids do activities with their floor.
I just answered the question about what other things being in honors might entail.
Since I only know the things my D experienced, I shared those.
The honors college from my perspective seems like an open invitation to pursue individual academic interests and offers some special advising, and research opportunities.
The honors college makes these offerings available but students can freely choose what/if they want to take advantage of them.
Most other honors colleges have certain requirements to be/stay in honors.
I think the link above explains it pretty well. You can also call and ask specific questions you might have.
It offers you extra opportunities and a scholarship is likely to come with that admission. You can also look into Honors College Community for housing v. Other living learning communities.
Other Honors colleges are more organized so if you want a more structured experience, look into Temple (very good Honors college) and Schreyer at Penn State (one of the top Honors Colleges in the US).
Regardless, congratulations! Such an early admission to Honors is an achievement on its own, and a good omen of things to come
@myos1634 and @mommdc , can you elaborate more about scholarships potentially being linked to the honors admissions letter that comes shortly after the initial admissions letter? and how scholarships are given from the honors college?
@Winky1 —lots of kids are eligible for the honors college but don’t receive a scholarship. Getting an honors letter notification is definitely a good thing, but don’t read more than that into it.
Merit scholarship notifications will start coming out late October/early November. The scholarship committee seems to meet on Friday afternoons, letters are sent on Monday it seemed. Of course, this is not official, it just is how it seems to have been done last year. We were on campus last fall for a “Create Your Day at Pitt” event and were told that afternoon that the scholarship committee had just met. The official letter reached our house later the next week.
Thanks for clarifying, @carachel2 . That’s what I thought originally. Also, based on what another parent told me from last year, I am thinking the scholarship committee might have met for the first time today. Based on last year’s post mark So some may be hearing about merit scholarships next week!
