<p>I just got deferred from Pitt (Swanson School of Engineering for Bioengineering), which is honestly not too surprising, considering my 3.5 weighted GPA. However, although not necessarily surprised, I was nevertheless extremely disappointed by the deferral letter. Pitt is my top school and I want to go there more than anything. Here were my scores:</p>
<p>GPA (weighted):3.5
low GPA mostly due to lackluster freshman year. upward trend in my grades since then.
Almost all AP and Honors classes.
SATs: CR-700
M-670
W- 710
SAT II Bio: 650
ECs- Volunteered as local soup kitchen for the last 10 years. Volunteered for an election campaign in 2010, total about 500 volunteer hours. I have a job in a sports retail store.
Awesome essay, awesome recs.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, I REALLY want to go to Pitt. I will be taking the SAT again and hope to improve my math score. Is there ANYTHING else I can do other than keep my grades up and write a follow-up essay that might push me in front of all the other deferrals? Any advice from anyone who has been through this? Thank you people!</p>
<p>My daughter was deferred today too. I am sorry for you. I know you must be extremely disappointed. My daughter had a 3.6 and a 1200/1840 SAT score, so you are much better off than her in the SAT department.</p>
<p>I would suggest you follow the instructions in the letter and send some additional information. If you plan to retake the SAT, that would help. However, your scores are really good. Definitely send them your mid-year grades. I would go ahead and send your marking period grades. </p>
<p>I think my daughter is just going to move on. We had a tough experience with our older daughter with Pitt. Three years ago, she applied to Pitt. They asked for mid-year grades. She worked her butt of senior year and was just shy of a 4.0. She sent these grades off to Pitt. They then gave her spring admission and a spot on the wait list for fall. She never got off the wait list for fall. By the time she got spring admission she was done with it. Pitt had been her first choice, but she wanted a school to want her. Over the many months of disappointment, she just began to lose interest. So, she ended up gong to James Madison University instead. She is incredibly happy there and doing really well. So, if DD #2 wants to move on, I understand.</p>
<p>Many deferred students eventually get into Pitt. It just sucks to have to wait so long. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Hey,
I’m really sorry you got deferred. Your SAT scores are FANTASTIC so I honestly don’t think you need to take them again. Your big issue is your GPA. Try to get all A’s for the midyear report. You can do this. And honestly, if Pitt doesn’t accept you, you can always transfer or go to one of their other campuses (like Greensburg or Johnstown).</p>
<p>@BlueHen89 Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I think I would have been accepted had I applied to the College of Arts and Sciences instead of Swanson. But nevertheless, I will do my best to get A’s in my classes and I won’t give up on Pitt. Maybe I should set up an interview to show them something that they can’t get from my transcript. Best of luck to your daughter, by the way. Her GPA and SATs are good, and I’m surprised that she was deferred. She should consider Penn State if she hasn’t already; not exceptionally hard to get into, yet it has a terrific reputation. Good Luck!</p>
<p>@chronome thank you for your encouragement! Yeah, I thought my SATs might be good enough. It is just my GPA which I can hopefully bring up. Best of luck to you in your app process!:)</p>
<p>aduli22 - Sorry they deferred you. Your SAT’s are fantastic, like everyone else said, I would concentrate on bringing up your GPA. Also, since you are re-taking the SAT, obviously concentrate on the Math. Your CR and W are more than sufficient, and the 670 in Math is good too, but to try and off set your GPA, for engineering, I would really focus on bringing the Math up to 700. </p>
<p>I would also communicate as much as possible with your admissions officer, and maybe try to schedule an interview if possible. That combined with an extra essay, and improving upon your GPA and Math SAT, will hopefully put you in front of the others.</p>
<p>aduli22 - I didn’t even notice, and I certainly didn’t score 700 on my CR back in the day, or I believe they just called it “verbal” way back then - not to mention there wasn’t a writing section either!! No one could ever think you’re stupid with those stats - we all make typos!</p>
<p>hey LISTEN TO ME: my boyfriend had the EXACT SAME THING happen to him when he applied for swanson school for bioengineering with the same exact scores basically except his CR was like 590 and his M was 690. your SATs are not the problem, it is your grades. He had the same exact gpa as you. Do not give up–you can very well get accepted. The story about the one daughter getting waitlisted, etc is very rare to happen.</p>
<p>What my boyfriend did is this: he went to his adviser and said what do I do, I should send in midyear/interim grades AND PERCENTAGES if they are high. The adviser was actually pretty indifferent about this and was like “well, I guess you can try but you should wait…” but don’t do that. Send in good interim grades (no grades less than a flat B) and you should be okay. He sent in good interim grades and he was immediately accepted. Try and do this ASAP btw so you are still relevant and there is less competition in engineering, because that is the one of the most competitive schools.</p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged. I was just flat out denied because of my SAT cr+m, but I totally understand because my scores were horrible. I am taking the SAT in December also, but I have a really good reason to. I’m not so sure if you really need to because your cr+m is what like a 1370 which is definitely good enough. I don’t think you should wait and waste this time. I know this because that is the trend I see in other engineers, and what my boyfriend had. </p>
<p>Did you ask them WHY they deferred you? Try asking why so you can focus on WHAT exactly you need to concentrate on. I did this with them (they might say no, but I think my adviser knows a counselor really well because I go to a really small school helped) and they told me EXACTLY why, and that I was an otherwise perfect applicant but that one aspect couldnt be overlooked. I’m 99.9% sure it’s grades though, and they want to make sure that you will be able to do well and push through with an upward trend at this point of senioritis, especially if you didn’t do so well in the beginning of high school.</p>
<p>Pitt is my first choice too, but seriously be thankful that you weren’t denied like me, and have to make an appeal which is very hard to be accepted.</p>
<p>If you want to talk to my bf directly about this, I’m sure I can get him to talk to you about this a little bit.</p>
<p>I think that you don’t have to retake the SAT especially for the reason that the counselor told ME which I think will apply to everyone, that they focus primarily on combined CR+M, and yours is really fabulous. But talk to the counselor and make sure that SAT wasn’t a brought up reason, as I really doubt it was.</p>
<p>If it wasn’t, don’t waste precious time waiting for scores when more and more people are going to be applying for engineering who might not have any inhibiting factors that will make it more competitive for your admittance.</p>
<p>@ALLIEISAWESOME…you ARE awesome. Thank you so much for the help. I’m actually taking the SATs tomorrow morning, so that should be out of the way pretty quickly. First thing I’m going to do on Monday is schedule a meeting with my counselor to determine the best course of action. I am confident that I can end the first half of the year with good grades, albeit maybe one B. Do you know if Pitt is one of those schools that keeps track of how many times you make contact with them to see if you’re really set on them? I know that Lehigh University gives applicants ‘points’ based on how many times they call, send an email etc. Do you think setting up some sort of interview would help? Thanks so much, and I really do wish you best of luck in your college search! :)</p>
<p>I don’t know if they track how many times you contact them, but I’m pretty sure they do because that’s something most college will do, especially at a school as good as pitt. The more action and contact you make, the more you will stay relevant and you will show that you are very interested in the program, because most other people who were deferred are going to “move on”. if this is your first choice school, DO NOT GIVE UP–I certainly am not by killing myself to take the SAT and ACT in december for a chance that is very slim.</p>
<p>I don’t know about an interview but this is what you should do: have your adviser call the school and ask them if they can tell you WHY they deferred you. Ask your counselor if asking for an interview is a good idea–if he/she is a good adviser they should help you through this and let you know truely.</p>
<p>BTW–try to see if your adviser is willing to write another recommendation for you talking about your abilities as a student, etc. BF’s adviser was lazy and didnt do anything for him, but if you have a more active one it can only help. Your own letter will help too, but make sure you don’t whine. I found this sample “appeal” letter online that illustrates qualities that are pertinent in that kind of essay (even though you aren’t appealing, you can use the same techniques):</p>
<p>I’m rooting for you especially because you and my BF are literally the same person haha<3 I feel like they tend to do this to engineers a lot in general, especially BioE. They just want to make sure you really want this, as it is the hardest engineering major there pretty much.</p>
<p>Your boyfriend must be one sexy kid then, hahahaha JK. Seriously thanks so much, you’re the best. I’ll make sure to let you know if I get accepted. Keep me posted on where you decide to go. If you want to be near your BF and still get that same campus feel, try applying to Duquesne! My friend goes there and she absolutely loves it!</p>
<p>hahha and yes please doooo. I’m looking at some test optional schools and ones in Boston, but yeah I want to put in at least one other PGH one in case I get denied again–thanks for bringing up Duquesne I’ll look into that!</p>
<p>for anyone really;
When I send my midyear grades, I’m not worried about any bad grades, except for in AP Macro. At the worst, I might end up with something like a B-; most likely, i’ll end up with a B. If I do end up with a lower grade, do you think Pitt would care as much that it was in Macro, seeing that I’m applying to the School of Engineering?</p>
<p>Call your admissions counselor at Pitt. My daughter spoke to hers about a month ago and they were very helpful. Also, when my older daughter was deferred three years ago, she called and they told her exactly why she was deferred (her GPA).</p>
<p>I got deferred as well. My GPA unweighted is a 3.7 and my SAT scores are
CR:640
W:600
M:540</p>
<p>I know that my math is low…I just took the SAT’s again yesterday so hopefully they went up. My extracurriculars are pretty good. I am calling tomorrow to try and get an interview since I am visiting on Thurs/Fri, hopefully I can get one. Does anybody have any more tips that would make my chances increase? Also, does anybody know the percentage of deferrals that end up getting accepted or how many applicants do get deferred?</p>
<p>To the OP, I think I read that your supplemental materials were received in late Oct, even though the rest of your app was submitted in August. According to Pitt’s website, they say that it’s best to submit the supplement with the app to make sure that it’s reviewed by the committee. Considering that it’s early Nov. and you’ve gotten a deferral, perhaps your supplement wasn’t considered. Maybe it’s worth checking into.</p>
<p>To julia11a, I was initially surprised you got deferred until I calculated your combined SAT score (I thought it would be higher haha). I got a 590 on Reading and got accepted (to the premed program too). It scares me that you got deferred because I have a friend with a 3.6 WEIGHTED GPA and she is hoping to get into Pitt Honors. I fear that she will be denied.</p>
Your SAT scores are FANTASTIC so I honestly don’t think you need to take them again. Your big issue is your GPA. Try to get all A’s for the midyear report. You can do this. And honestly, if Pitt doesn’t accept you, you can always transfer or go to one of their other campuses (like Greensburg or Johnstown).</p>