Hello! I’m a current high school junior looking to apply to University of Pittsburgh this upcoming fall (probably by mid- to late-September).
SAT: 1420 (retaking soon; hope to get ~1500)
ACT: haven’t taken yet; taking in June
Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Class Rank: 91% percentile out of a class of ~600
Extracurriculars: a lot; president of the Book Club, working on the school literary magazine, member of Key Club, 4-year member of Marching Band, in the Honors College and National Honors Society programs, community service.
My parents are middle class and they make a decent amount of money, but they aren’t paying for any of my college tuition because their money is invested elsewhere. My question is, can I afford to go to Pitt? What scholarships, if any, do I have a good chance of getting (assuming my SAT scores improve as I hope they will)? And what can I do to improve my chances of getting a full ride scholarship?
Chance of getting a full ride is very slim. Your saying your parents make a decent amount of money and their investments are tied elsewhere means you are looking for more merit aid and not need based aid. You may want to look into UAlabama that has a generous scholarship.
No PA merit aid likely at all if you are not in the top 5% of your class. From your posted stats 91% is not in the top 5% so it is unlikely. Good friend’s dd had 34 ACT with a higher GPA in a very rigorous school (top of the state). Her dd had 10 APs and great ECs. Still waiting on some of her schools but has been admitted to great schools with lots of $ offered. Admitted early to Pitt in the fall but not considered for merit because she was in top 10% but not top 5%. She is headed out of state. Her school is way more top heavy and rigorous than my dd’s school and she is better prepared, but she did not get considered for honors college or merit without that top 5% designation.
My dd also with a 34 ACT and very high GPA was admitted but no merit, also not top 5% so we were not surprised since ours came after friend’s dd and after reading about others here on CC who were also shut out of $. One of my dd classmates has higher weighted GPA than you (above my dd at 4.64 so I imagine closer to 4.7+) and IS in top 5% of class but only had a 31 ACT. She is attending Pitt but for full price, no $ at all. Hearing about how generous Pitt is with the merit makes her frustrated as well. Pitt is hot in our area right now and lots of kids applying and accepted so there are many data points floating around.
I don’t believe they are even considered for alumni scholarships if they are not in the top 5% of class and accepted to honors college. They are not joke on those stat requirements for in-state. When they indicate ALL they mean ALL of the above criteria met. They give no consideration to the caliber of school or student body or # of APs that you have - top 5% means top 5%. Reading on here that they give good merit $ makes me laugh. It is crazy how kids with much lower GPAs and test scores a point or two lower are getting $ because their school does not rank or is filled with less high pressure kids. The stories of good merit are just stories for most in-state kids who are at competitive schools are missing one of the requirements. They either have great rank but miss the test by a point or two, or they have great tests and great GPAs but miss the ranking. They are better with throwing some OOS merit $ to bring it down some. If you search the Pitt acceptance pages you will read about the disappointing merit $ over and over.
Great school. Expensive price tag. Work hard on that rank but don’t count on merit $ without meeting ALL criteria.
34-35 ACT, top 2% kids this year barely got 10-15K per year. That leaves the cost of attendance > $25,000 per year.
In the Pitt portal, they convert the ACT to an SAT equivalent and those scores = 1540 and up…just to give you an idea of the SAT conversion.
My son got nothing, although we were not surprised since he fell below their criteria. He received merit $$ from every other college that he applied with the exception of Penn State. We are in state. Since he does not want to be far from home, aka Alabama, it is looking like full price at Pitt, his #1 choice. Applying to lots of outside scholarships now, hoping for some miracles.
Pitt is also my son’s first choice, and he got into their BME program, but not a penny of merit aid. He does not meet all of their criteria for scholarships, and we do not qualify for need based aid. There is no way we can afford the full price. He is disappointed! Things I have learned this time around that I will pay more attention to with #2.
Are you instate? Class rank is very important, along with GPA, academic rigor, test scores.
Instate students have a difficult time getting higher amount of scholarships, maybe $2,000 - $10,000 depending on stats and school applied to.
But there are also the Stamps Leadership scholarship (invitation only), and Nordenberg Leadership scholarship for instate students that someone may win with somewhat lower stats.