Chances for GAP, Chancellors, and Full Tuition Scholarships? (OOS)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
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<p>Hi, I am a rising senior from AL. Am Asian (Indian) if that matters.</p>

<p>1) Could you chance me for the Guaranteed Medical Program, the Chancellors, and the Full Tuition Scholarship?</p>

<p>2) How early will I need to apply to be competitive for these scholarships?</p>

<p>3) Since I'm out of state I need to get full tuition+ for UPitt to be a viable option. Do you think if I retake my SAT/ACT and send Pitt the updated scores I'll be more competitive for these scholarships?</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: 1530/2330 (770 M, 760 CR, 800 W, 10 Essay), will probably retake in October</p>

<p>ACT: 35 (35 E, 35 M, 35 R, 35 S); 36 Superscore (36 E, 35 M, 35 R, 36 S), will retake in September for 36</p>

<p>SAT II: 800 US History, 790 Math II, 770 Bio M, 750 Chemistry</p>

<p>PSAT: 224 (79 CR, 78 M, 67 W) - will get NMF</p>

<p>AP: Sophomore: US History (5), Chemistry (5); Junior: Calculus BC (5/5), Macroeconomics (5), Microeconomics (5), English Language (5), Biology (4), Physics C Mechanics (4)</p>

<p>GPA: 5.08 W, 4.00 UW</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1/377</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: 4 years Varsity Cross Country, 4 years Captain School Quiz Bowl, President - Science National Honor Society, President - Chemistry Club, Played piano for 8 years, Worked to mentor at-risk high school kids (was paid), Research w/local university Professor</p>

<p>Volunteering: Hospital (200 hours in ICU/Oncology), local Science Center (50 hours), tutoring struggling students (50 hours)</p>

<p>Honors: 2013 Siemens Competition Semifinalist, 2014 JSHS National Finalist, 2012 and 2014 Intel ISEF Finalist, 2014 Intel ISEF American Society for Microbiology Special Award, 2012 and 2013 1st Place State Science Fair Microbiology, 2014 1st Place State Science Fair Materials and Bioengineering, Provisional Patent</p>

<p>Major: Biomedical Engineering or Biochem</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Being from Alabama is a huge plus. Being Indian will help. Your stats and SAT scores are fine, I would not bother retaking them (you’re way above cutoff for UHC, for instance). The large number of AP classes plus a high GPA is also great.</p>

<p>I’d say early as soon as possible with a full application (essay, 2-3 LoR, resume of activities). I’d say you have a great chance at full tuition and possibly an invitation to apply for Chancellors. GAP is <strong>extremely</strong> competitive to get (they only give it to 10 students per year) but you may be invited to apply for that as well.</p>

<p>You need to decide what your major will be though- Engineering applications are somewhat separate from A&S in that there is a second scholarship pool for them (Alumni donations) and their criteria for acceptance is a bit stricter (although again, you would get into either).</p>

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<p>I second Awesome, there’s no need to retake your tests, especially with the superscore 36. Your scores are very very good already. </p>

<p>I have a friend that was invited to apply to GAP and got an interview with them (but wasn’t accepted in the end which is ok because he got into his first choice combined program). I received full tuition at Pitt and am leaving for Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks. We both had standardized test scores slightly lower than yours, slightly lower/fewer AP scores, and less impressive extracurriculars. We’re from an underrepresented state, like you are. My point: you’re very good. And you should be pretty set for a GAP invite (although ultimate acceptance is a very high reach for anybody, just because there are so few spots) and a very good merit scholarship. I’m not very sure if being Indian will help you for GAP: the racial composition of undergrad-med programs has been described to me as Indian with a few white and Asians and maybe a real URM somewhere (although idk if GAP cares about racial composition). </p>

<p>Of course, if money is the primary aim, be sure to apply WIDE to similar schools (basically public schools and private schools ranked beneath 30-ish will probably get you some nice packages – the caveat is that you don’t know which ones will). If you work as hard as you did in high school, it is likely that you’ll be able to gain admission into some very good med schools after 4 years at whatever undergrad school offers you good merit aid. One thing to note about GAP is that you’ll have to maintain a 3.75 GPA, so what GAP is doing is ensuring that you’re statistically good enough for Pitt Med (and basically any other med school) while trying to keep you at Pitt (though you may be qualified for and prefer another med school). But that really applies for most combined programs, I guess. </p>

<p>Chancellor’s is also very competitive (I didn’t get an invite [though they didn’t receive my transcript until January, and it may have been too late at that point] and I don’t think my friend did either), and it would probably be very helpful if you applied early in order to get an invite for an interview. It’s basically another crapshot. </p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies @AwesomeOpossum‌ and @nhdmaniac‌!</p>

<p>When you said apply early, what should be my target date? And also, how hard is it to maintain a good GPA in bioengineering? If I do go to Pitt, I’ll probably go as a premed, and I want to have as high a GPA as possible (>3.7).</p>

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<p>Basically apply as early as you can. That way, you’ll get faster notification of admission and maybe better chances of merit and won’t miss out on the GAP or Chancellor’s dates. I’d say ideally before/at November, although the application is easy enough to get done once you have a pretty solid essay (you can use your common app essay if it fits into one of the many prompts) and teacher recs and transcript. </p>

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<p>Like @nhdmaniac‌ said, as soon as possible. Honestly, if you can get everything in before the end of September, do it.</p>

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<p>Hard, but you’re coming with a solid background and strong academic presence, so it’ll be <em>less hard</em> for you. Engineering itself is very difficult, which is why any GPA >3.0 is considered good and any GPA >3.5 great, GPA >3.75 just incredible. Combining BioE with some of the premed requirements (like OChem) will be difficult, but I had friends do this exact path and one of them is at Stanford Med now, so anything is possible! </p>