<p>Hi all! I've been looking around on this site for awhile, but I never had the guts to post a question until now - so here goes...
I received the $2k/year scholarship from Pitt recently, and to be honest, my parents and I were disappointed. We had been aiming for a good scholarship in Pitt since I was in ninth grade so we could afford tuition and attend a nice college at the same time. We decided to ask them to re-evaluate my offer because I received offers for full rides from UT Dallas and other schools because of my National Merit Semifinalist status. I restated my grades, SAT scores, and extracurricular activities/community service and asked them if I could get more merit money. In response, the next day they sent me a Cost Analysis worksheet to fill out and send to them - University</a> of Pittsburgh: Undergraduate Admissions & Financial Aid
Sorry, their explanation of the worksheet is rather lengthy, but I had no idea how to explain it well. (As a side note, I realize that for IS students Pitt only offers either $2k or full tuition) So my question is, do you think writing in my scholarship offers from UT Dallas (full ride) and Drexel University ($26k) would be a good idea in terms of schools comparable to Pitt? Or am I being ridiculous?</p>
<p>Oh, if it helps any, my stats are:
SAT I: 760 CR, 770 M, 720 W (2250 Composite)
SAT II: 770 Math II, 770 Chemistry, 800 Biology-M
PSAT: 229 (National Merit Semifinalist)
ACT: none
GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.3 W
Class Rank: not sure
Course Load: I will be graduating with 10 AP classes - I took 4 last year and am taking 6 this year
Extracurriculars: Over 100 hours volunteering at a UPMC hospital, University of Pittsburgh Health Career Scholars Academy (former PA Governor's School), 30 hours of lab work in the University of Pittsburgh, two years of Pitt Medical Explorers, various clubs I'm involved in at school/student government, dance</p>
<p>I guess my EC's are able to show how much I want to go to Pitt better than anything I say can...</p>
<p>Wow, this was a really long post. If you made it down here, thanks for bothering to read through. Any advice is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Were you invited to compete for the chancellor’s scholarship? From old threads it looks like finalists get their scholarships bumped to full tuition after the interview.</p>
<p>Sadly, no…do you think I could ask them for an invitation? Not to sound arrogant, but I think my stats line up with what they specify are the requirements for Chancellor’s nominees.</p>
<p>I have to say UT-Dallas strikes me as a weird place to apply from here, but if they have a reasonable pre-med program that’s what you should do. Makes no sense at all to pass up the full ride. Drexel will be more expensive than Pitt even with the scholarship, and no better academically or by reputation.</p>
<p>If you were coming from out of state, you’d probably get full tuition at Pitt. However, you are in-state and Pitt wants to recruit out-of-state. On top of that, state support for college and college students in Pennsylvania is among the worst in the country. Taking the situation you find yourself in, the thing to do is apply out-of-state to schools that want to recruit out-of-state (like Pitt, in reverse). Sounds like that’s what you might have done already with UT-Dallas. So go ahead and follow through. Maybe your plan can be to do real well at UT-Dallas (or whereever), and then come back to Pitt for medical school without any undergraduate debt.</p>
<p>If you get more money from Pitt, that’s great and I think you deserve it. But there are many, many others in the same boat.</p>
<p>One more thing, did you happen to receive the Rensselaer Medal in high school your junior year? If so and you did not apply there, it’s worth calling them up right away. You can possibly get a full ride there with your stats and the Rensselaer Medal. Worked for me, back in the day.</p>
<p>What’s the point of the cost analysis worksheet if you are waiting on regular decision schools? Also my son have two EA acceptances with no merit packages at all. Both are private. I guess Pitt is going to say that his $2k award is looking pretty good for in state. It sounds like a re evaluation is a long shot at best.
We will take advantage of the Chancellors request though since his numbers merit the invite he did not receive.</p>
<p>honestly, i would choose UT Dallas. I got a full tuition at Pitt and full ride at UT Dallas, and chose UT Dallas. Both schools are great for premeds, and UTD’s track record for getting students into med schools is pretty good.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m in a similar boat as paperclipmoose. Nearly the same stats, except his/her EC’s are better. I too got only a 2k (IS) scholarship, but I was nominated to apply for Chancellor’s. </p>
<p>My question is, should I even bother if I only got a 2k scholarship and my EC’s are a bit weak? </p>
<p>And can I fill out that cost analysis worksheet and leave financial aid info blank since that isn’t out yet? </p>
<p>For those asking about trying for the Chancellor’s - you will certainly NOT get it if you do NOT apply. </p>
<p>One of D1’s friends is a Chancellor scholar. While I suspect her high school stats were pretty good, her EC’s were not that spectacular. What she presents, though, is a well-spoken individual who thinks and writes rather well. I’m sure that her essay responses are what got her in to the interview stage, not her resume.</p>
<p>As to the Cost Analysis worksheet - don’t bother filling it out until you get offers from other “comparable” schools. Do your homework, the more data (and competitive offers!) you have in comparing the NET cost of attendance for Pitt versus other peer institutions, the better chance you’ll have of getting consideration. (it’s not the scholarship dollar amount that matters, it’s the end result - your net out-of-pocket cost.)</p>