chances Honor college/merit scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
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<p>Hi all, </p>

<p>Pitt has been on my D's list for some time. Yesterday she got a very nice packet in the mail from Pitt all about honors college, etc; she was impressed and excited. We have planned a visit in Oct. Wondering if anyone can look at her stats below and let me know what you think....</p>

<p>Rising senior at fairly competitive suburban NYS school, all honors/ap classes (will have 8 by end of senior year, AP scholar), GPA about 4.0 UW, rank as of last year 6/225, high honor roll all terms, ACT comp 33 (36 on reading), SAT 2110 (math 660, CR 800), RIT medal winner (a junior book award), editor school paper, editor literary mag, student reporter for biggest regional newspaper, summer research internship at Univ Buff this summer plus a 30 hr/week summer job, varsity track last 4 years (captain last year and senior year prolly), varsity volleyball 2 yrs, JV 1, scholar athlete, volunteer at hospital and other community orgs prolly 100+ hours total, NHS, Key Club, horseback riding 10 years, etc. you get the message. Can write well and will have great recs.</p>

<p>Looking for a biomedical engineering program, planning on at least a masters at some point. Likes research, wants to do it in undergrad. Wants a "well-rounded" college experience, ie not techy but not too greek or preppy. She's quiet but friendly, independent, liberal, not one of the most popular girls because she doesn't "play the game" if you know what i mean (we have a cliquey school). Likes lots of interesting things to do, hiking, shopping, museums, movies, poetry, etc. I think you all probably get the picture here.</p>

<p>I would appreciate any info about Pitt!</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Your daughter will definitely be accepted into the honors college with some sort of scholarship. Although, I do hear that the students who get the Chancellors scholarship (full paid-room, board, study abroad, etc.) usually have nearly perfect SAT scores. She does have a shot at one though, since she is so well-rounded.</p>

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<p>Anybody else?</p>

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<p>Hey. Great stats and profile; agree with the prior post. Writing well will help in possibly getting the Chancellors as rumor has it that decision is based a lot on the essay you write to be considered. However, since you are looking at bioengineering, you could also be eligible for an engineering honors scholarship and you might get that if you don't get the Chancellors. Pitt's bioengineering program is now #14 USNW.</p>

<p>You say you are looking at grad school in bioengineering, but you might get referred to Pitt med school with that major for a possible guranteed admission to their med school if that at all interests you. There is a separate application/essay/interview for that if you're asked to apply.</p>

<p>The campus is urban with great transportation and is right across the street from the Carnegie museums that you get in free w/Pitt ID, also free admission to certain other museums around town. Free transportation of buses, etc, also w/ID. There is a program called PITTARTS that offers low cost evenings out for the students to the theater, ballet, syphony, opera and stuff like that if she's interested that usually also includes a cheap meal and a round trip bus ride from the Union.</p>

<p>Check it out and visit. Every time we went everyone seemed unusually happy and freely offers up how much they love the place when they find out your visiting or going to Pittstart as an incoming freshman. There is also a very active study abroad office (w/ a separate engineering study abroad advisor) as well as a great co-op office (although not too many co-op jobs for bioe, but they're working on that).</p>

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<p>"unusually happy". That seems stranger than I meant it when I wrote it. When we visited and went to Pittstart (two trips), random students (not tour guides) would sort of introduce themselves to us and tell us how much they loved Pitt. For instance, a girl from Georgia behind us in line at the ice cream place (Dave and Andy's ?), or the waitress at Ali Baba on S. Craig who just asked us why we were there (Pittstart) and then said she was a student and went on about how much she loved the place. She said "everyone just loves it". We just didn't see that much unprompted friendliness at the other schools we visited.</p>

<p>As for the co-ops in bioeng., those are jobs with a paycheck where you take a semester off to get experience and earn money. They said at Pittstart that they don't have a lot of those right now for bioeng., but are working on getting more. That's different from research positions with professors or maybe at UPMC, which are available at least; don't know about plentiful, but they're two different things. The Honors College staff and the engineering school staff seem very helpful about helping you find the opportunities you are looking for and working with you.</p>