More About the Residential Honors Communities
An Honors Residential Community is an environment where students from many academic disciplines live and learn together and learn from one another. It is a place where students can take advantage of the intellectual scope of their peers and put their curiosity to work. Because all students in this community are honors students, and all have demonstrated a degree of intellectual curiosity, this creates an environment for some really great conversations, debates, and discussions.
This fall, the Honors College is pleased to embark on a collaboration with the Residence Life program at Pitt in which Forbes Hall will be entirely devoted to an Honors Community for freshmen (approximately 75% of the building) and sophomores (the remaining 25%).
What makes these communities unique is the ability for students to create their own community. We count on students to be active participants in the process, through participation and bringing new ideas to the community. These communities work because students collaborate with staff to create something truly special, and students have the opportunity to take initiative and develop their own environment.
We strongly encourage interested students to apply, but in keeping with the “voluntary” nature of the University Honors College, honors students are not required to live in an honors community.
These communities are not quiet living floors, and they’re not intended to be. The idea behind these communities is that learning is a continuous process and sometimes takes place during a debate between floormates in a hallway. Members are expected to observe the University’s Quiet Hours Policy, but the Honors Community is not a 24-hour quiet community. (24-four hour quiet communities are available on campus for interested students in other residence halls.)
There is a certain sense of intellectualism in these communities, but there’s also a lot of fun, silliness, and downright craziness that goes on too!
You do not have to take honors courses to live in the Honors Community, but you do need to be “Honors Qualified,” which means as an entering first year student you must have at least a 1350SAT score and be in the top 5% of your high school class. You must also maintain a 3.25QPA (B+ average) while at Pitt to remain Honors Qualified.
The philosophy behind the University Honors College is that students can register for courses that interest them and will help them in their intellectual growth. Additionally, the philosophy behind the Honors Communities is that students can best learn outside the classroom by living with people from a variety of different academic backgrounds and interests. This combination means that Engineering students may be rooming with English majors. Sometimes students will be taking the same classes, but it’s certainly not a guarantee.
It’s not an easy task, and it takes cooperation and effort from the students who live in this community to make it happen.
Also, we participate in some interesting programming, such as trips to the symphony, musicals, professional baseball and hockey games, and even trips to other cities.
Honors students are not guaranteed a place in the Honors Community. Every year we have more applications than available space. Students must apply to live in these communities and meet the application deadline. High School grades, SAT scores, and scholarships are given very little weight in the application process (aside from meeting the Honors Eligible criteria described previously). Instead, we ask students to discuss their expectations for the community and how they intend to become an active member.
While the application process is competitive, you should not be deterred from applying. It’s difficult to give exact numbers because the number of applications varies every year. Last year there were almost 700 honors qualified students. Of those 700, over 315 submitted applications for the 185 available spaces available for freshmen.
There are two very important steps to the application process. You must: (A) complete the application specific to the First Year Honors Community (mentioned above-and found here), and (B) complete the University’s Housing/Dining Services Contract. The latter will be mailed to you if/when you pay your tuition deposit to the University (and the deadline will correspond to when it was mailed to you). However, the deadline for the specific First-Year Honors Communities application is May 12 , regardless of when you pay your tuition deposit.
Questions? Contact Eric Owens, Coordinator of Honors Housing, at hhousing@pitt.edu or 412-624-8633
