<p>Hey, well first off I'll be applying to Pitt this fall and I was wondering if I have a chance at the honors college with an unweighted gpa 4.0 (all honors and 6 AP courses), class rank of top 2% out of over 1000 students (yes a very large high school), NHS/plenty of sports/volunteering but only a 31 ACT score. I know that it says you need a 1400 sat or 32 act but do I still have a shot? I am very academically motivated and very interested in the fields of biology and genetics (I've loaded up with science classes in high school). Also, if I don't get into UHC but maintain a 3.25 gpa my freshman year, is it worth taking UHC courses soph year? does it look good for say, a med school? I might study pre med so I could use a little advice on that matter as well haha.</p>
<p>even if you don’t get into the honors college, all you need to do is get permission to take honors classes. I can’t say for sure if they allow exceptions but have you tried the SAT?</p>
<p>yea my sat is terrible compared to my act. my sat is 1980</p>
<p>i’ve heard of cases on CC when students with 31 ACTs got in to UHC for good gpas & extras, which you obviously have! So definitely apply, and good luck =)</p>
<p>Are there certain honors courses that you’re interested in taking?</p>
<p>I am an entering freshman at Pitt and I think I can answer your question. </p>
<p>As far as being in the honors college goes, no one is in the honors college unless, as my honors advisor put it, they are physically inside the building. Anyone can participate in honors activities and all you need to do to get into and honors class is convince an honors advisor that you are interested in taking the class. The one thing you might not be able to do is live in Forbes honors housing, but you would have to talk to Eric Owens about that. </p>
<p>Med schools don’t care one bit about UHC versus regular classes. In fact, the dean of admissions at Pitt’s own medical school told the UHC that he doesn’t care. The ONLY reason to take a UHC class is because you are interested in the subject and you want to learn more. If (and I am not saying that this is the case for you at all) the only thing one cares about was getting into med school then it would be better not to take UHC courses and to get work on getting the highest GPA.</p>
<p>Hope that helped answer your question.</p>
<p>thanks guys so much but yea cuttingedge, im genuinely interested in bio related courses.</p>
<p>The sciences are pretty tough at Pitt. The pre-meds and the nurses work very very hard. And the honors college courses can be quite a bit more demanding than the regular versions. So add it up, and you have a double whammy. If your goal is to get into medical school, you need good grades. So I don’t think taking honors bio courses is going to help in that regard. Just my opinion. </p>
<p>My daughter is honors college eligible but has only taken one honors course so far, psych. She worked her butt off, and when she bumped into someone taking the regular version, he told her he was finding it easy. My daughter loved her class (only 16 kids) and thought the professor was awesome, but the amount of work was also awesome.</p>
<p>Well, I am currently signed up for two UHC courses first semester (Organic Chemistry and Great Books) so you can ask me how that went in January in terms of difficulty.</p>
<p>cuttingedge, what do you think about UHC Gen Chem 1…?</p>
<p>There is a thread about the UHC Gen Chem 1 and 2.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pittsburgh/747373-honors-chemistry-i-0720-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pittsburgh/747373-honors-chemistry-i-0720-a.html</a></p>
<p>I am an incoming freshman so I am no expert btw. I just happen to be super involved with the UHC so I know a thing or two about how it works. I personally am a big believer in signing up for classes first and finding out how hard they are later. I am not actually planning on taking UHC Chem though because I am going to use my AP credit to skip up to UHC O Chem and Physical Chemistry. </p>
<p>I say go for it though and if it seems impossible there is always add/drop.</p>
<p>The Pitt Honors College literature specifically says that they will consider applicants who don’t quite meet the GPA and ACT criteria but who have had a heavy courseload, attended particularly competitive high schools, etc. So you should not be discouraged by your 31 ACT score.</p>
<p>There isn’t a separate application for UHC (unless they have changed it). If you qualify for UHC you will be notified with your Pitt acceptance. And even if you don’t get into UHC, you can request to take classes in the UHC. </p>
<p>If you plan to apply to med school, I would concentrate on getting the highest GPA and whether that means skipping the UHC courses is up to you :)</p>
<p>Although my info is a few years old, the I know the UHC has recently admitted people who did not make the specified scores. I might suggest that it would be helpful to take an honors class and socialize with the some of the honors students to make your interest known.</p>
<p>The UHC doesn’t really admit people. Thats not how it works. If you don’t get the ACT you need all you need is a 3.25 GPA in your first semester to be honors eligible. Plus even if you are not honors eligible you can still do everything but live in honors housing. You just need to ask permission.</p>
<p>I believe that when people hear “Honors College” they assume it is similar to other “Honors Colleges” at other universities. At Pitt, the only perk is the honors housing as anyone can take honor courses as long as they have permission. </p>
<p>If you look at Penn State’s Schreyer honors college, there are course requirements for each year including a thesis in order to graduate. There is also a minimum GPA to maintain or you can be tossed out of the honors college. Pitt’s UHC doesn’t have any of those requirements.</p>