<p>How did the friend get into Honors housing when he wasn't and honors student?
And if they put themselves as each others roommates I figure they would either both get it or not both get it.</p>
<p>Yes, that's weird about the non-honors kid getting in Forbes. Somebody screwed up somewhere with that (at Pitt). I would look into that, too.</p>
<p>Even tho' boys did not get into Forbes, it still could be a ratio thing. If they want an equal no. of floors by gender, and there are more apps than places, etc. I think tho' if you could trace the numbers there are fewer honors housing spaces this year than last. In fact, I think there are some sophomores in Forbes, and it is not all freshmen. This is due to Pitt's getting rid of the sophomore dorm in the quad (I think).</p>
<p>Anyway, even tho' 135 kids did not get in, remember that there are probably about 200-300 who did not apply. I seem to recall that about 1/2 of the honors freshmen do not request honors housing. So while it is very impt to the posters here, it's not impt at all to a fairly large number of students. That means there are several hundred other honors students who will be assigned to the towers and other dorms like Holland (girls), Lothrop, etc. A large % of the engrg kids are honors eligible and choose SPACE for housing. </p>
<p>I'm not excusing Pitt for not doing more to meet the need, but there are lots of smart kids at Pitt and they're scattered all over.</p>
<p>"Follow up nicely but persistently" - good idea!!!</p>
<p>The non honors student actually didnt get in after all! He just read the beginning of his email and thought it meant he was in. Later he read the whole thing and realized he didnt. So that resolves that anyway. My son and his friend will room in towers. Did anyone get the part about being on the alternative list (waiting list)?? I guess we'll do that and see what happens!</p>
<p>My D, who got into Honors College, absolutely didn't want to have honors housing. She is excited about being in the towers instead. She was adamant that she wanted to be with the majority of the freshman. My only concern is that she won't be in the loop with everything that the honors college offers. I guess the students who choose to be in the towers instead need to make sure they pop into Forbes frequently to see postings regarding activities (?) Doe anyone know that if you skip the honors housing option in your freshman year if it's difficult to get it in your sophomore year?</p>
<p>sophie, I know that kids have to reapply and given the number of first year kids who didn't get in the second year, I'm sure that many sophomores got honors housing for the first time. To improve her chances, your daughter should be sure to attend honors events, as those who socialized and became friends with that group seemed to be the ones who got in as sophomores (from what I can tell, anyway!)</p>
<p>We haven't heard anything here yet: no email/no snail mail. Did they send out the rejections first? Makes me wonder if they've even lost some early applications... Does Panther Central know anything about the Honors housing situation? I wonder if PC is trying to group the overflow of HC students (unofficially) someplace ....</p>
<p>Great..just spent 15 minutes to have the message lost. Other one was more thorough.</p>
<p>If no e-mail has been received I would take that as a good sign.</p>
<p>My issue is with how the actual numbers were communicated and chances for getting in. Over 600 eligible but spots for 180? That's less than 1/3. That sounds a little dismal compared to "it's competitive and not all who request, get it."</p>
<p>The number of spots has increased over the years. If interest is high then why not continue to expand? What exactly are the additional expenses Kids need rooms, there are RA's on the floors. What tangible perks to the honors students get? Are activities funded that are exclusive to those honors students? Is honors housing completely separate from the honors college?<br>
How are those not living in the honors housing integrated? Any attempts made or is it entirely up to the students? On a day to day basis what would be the biggest difference in honors housing vs non honors housing? Forgive me for going on and on about this but I'm really looking for some input to dispel a rowdy, living situation in where students put partying first and academics second. Please know that I'm not pointing fingers at Pitt but at any large public university. And, the e-mail said nothing about an alternative/waiting list.</p>
<p>Talk about rambling....
Megnut: How was it possible that the non-honors student was even eligible to apply for the housing?</p>
<p>Part of Pitt's $1 billion plan is to build new housing. That should help to meet demand and I'm sure they'll designate more for Honors housing.</p>
<p>I do think that the HC housing is an enticement to keep the bright students, as well as their parents, interested. It sounds like a perk of sorts for the HC students; however, Dean Stewart remarked at the Honors College Day that we attended that you never even have to take an HC course to take advantage of what the HC offers. So, it seems that this "exclusivity" of the HC housing doesn't exactly go hand-in-hand with the "inclusiveness" of the HC to which Stewart alluded... Or I'm very confused.... :(</p>
<p>Guess you could be in Honors housing ,then, and never even take an Honors course but can still take a shot at all the HC academic advantages; i.e., scholarships, research opportunities, etc., outside of the classroom. And be able to participate in the HC housing activities that your fellow classmates living elsewhere - who might be taking HC courses - are not aware of....</p>
<p>Am I off track on this??</p>
<p>Pat: I don't think the issue is the physical building. It's the cost of running the program housed in the building. At this point I'm with LBP and still confused on the whole honors concept at Pitt. What exactly are the additional costs to run the honors housing programs over regular housing?</p>
<p>bluejay, I do believe it is the physical building. As we have both said before, just about all large public schools are facing this problem. Record class sizes are coming in and it's hard for universities to keep up. I really don't think money is a problem. As I just posted, Pitt has a $1 billion plan to renovate and build around campus, and their $1.82 billion endowment is 25th in the country. That's $113,750 per undergrad!</p>
<p>I'm not an expert in Honors Housing, but here's someone who is-</p>
<p>Eric Owens, Coordinator of Honors Housing<br>
<a href="mailto:hhousing@pitt.edu">hhousing@pitt.edu</a> or 412-624-8633</p>
<p>Pat: I guess we'll just have to disagree on this one. All of the students who did not get request honors housing WILL have a place to live. It's not a lack of physical space for them. Building more dorms will only provide more living space, NOT funding for any particular programs in that living space.</p>
<p>Update after a little more poking around the website and reading e-mails. On the page about the honors housing community IT IS more specific about the numbers of honors eligible/those applying for housing/those getting in. Last year around 600/200/145. This year 670/315/180. I would probably say to my children, "How could you not know that?" Alas, I'm equally guilty!</p>
<p>I thought that Forbes housed about 230 students. Is the 180 just freshmen and the reminder sophomores?</p>
<p>According to the UHC site, there are only 2 honors housing locations this coming year, Forbes Hall and Forbes-Craig Apts. Forbes Hall has 232 students and, yes, there will be one floor of sophomores. This replaces the one floor of honors that used to be in McCormick. F-C apts has 102 students, a mix of sophomores and juniors. It looks like no seniors are in honors housing.</p>
<p>There were lots of notices on the tower floors for honors about events, and pretty much none in the other dorms. So the kids in honors housing tend to know what's going on more, but all activities are open to all honors students. There is an events calendar on the UHC site, so you can keep up that way, and if you hang out in the UHC floors in the Cathedral, there would probably be notices there too.</p>
<p>Kids do hang out in the Cathedral a lot. They study a lot in the Great Hall where silence rules to accomodate study, and they also go up to the UHC office floors where there are a lounge and a study room and a coffee room. I'm pretty sure both are open 24/7. Anyone can study in the Great Hall but the UHC lounge is just for the honors kids. It's a good place for group study and to meet other UHC kids.</p>
<p>Someone might want to suggest (in addition to more honors floors) that emails be sent to let everyone know about events. They may actually do that now, but I'm not aware of it.</p>
<p>How do they keep other students from utilizing the UHC lounge? Seems to me that the Cathedral is wide open to anyone... Do the HC kids use their Panther card or something to gain access to the HC lounge? (I wonder if kids fall asleep up there, too. Is it monitored at all?)</p>
<p>I'm guessing that the kids in the HC dorm must let their HC friends know about any special events going on (?)</p>
<p>Anyone is allowed to use the honors lounge on the 35th/36th floor of the Cathedral. Most of the kids that study up there are honors kids, but it is open to anyone. As an honors student I'm not sure, but if I was a non-honors student I think I would feel weird studying in the honors lounge, but thats me. It is monitered during the day when all the office rooms are opened but they lock all the doors at night except for the main longue so technically kids could sleep up there if they wanted to and I'm sure a few have during finals week, haha.
Also there is an email that goes out to students on the SHAC email list for all the events in the honors college. Any student in the honors community is automatically on it, but any honors college student can be on it, just contact Eric Owens, or someone up at the honors college in the beginning of the year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, tennisguy.. Is there an express elevator to the HC lounge? When we were in the Cathedral, seems like you could wait forever for an elevator....</p>
<p>How busy does the HC lounge get? Have you found that it's usually the same students up there? Do the HC kids have the tendency to form tight cliques, from your experience?</p>
<p>OP here....I've been away for the long weekend and was so surprised to see so many posts on this site! My D (OOS) received an email on thursday offering her a place at Forbes. So, we are very excited! So sorry to those who are disappointed...</p>