Hi! I’m Mikayla Beardsley, a current sophomore at Pitt studying Civil Engineering. I was born Tokyo, Japan but spent the majority of my life growing up in Dallas, Texas until I moved to Harare, Zimbabwe in 2017. What drew me back to the States was Pitt! The opportunities that Pitt offers to its students is far greater than a vast majority of other universities – the Honors College was just the cherry on top. The Honors College was a great way for me to challenge myself further during my college career. Honors courses and their extra activities have kept me busy and engaged with my studies.

The Honors courses are a great way to learn in depth about a subject. Rather than just teaching you the material, these classes tend to take it one step further! They force you to think outside the box. I especially enjoyed that a lot of the class took to applying what you learn to practical, real-world scenarios. This makes it easier to connect your studies with your future career opportunities. It’s a great leg up in applications to internships and co-ops.

The other opportunities the Honors colleges accords its students is the chance to learn about subjects not in their discipline. One of my favourite parts of the Honors College was the guest speakers they hosted. Every couple of weeks, there are events where speakers, prominent in their field of study, come to speak and tell you about their lives. They are there for you and to answer your questions and give you an insight into their lives and how their jobs work and what their field of study is like. This was a super fun way to learn about different subjects without having to overload your course load. It was also a great way to expand your network and meet people in different majors. Some of them even offer ideas about internships and co-op ideas and companies that you can join.

Don’t be daunted by the scale of the Honors College. You’ll meet some of your best friends there. It’s easy to keep up with the requirements even though it may seem like a lot. It’s fun participating in the myriad of events and they offer plenty for everyone’s interests.