My senior was already accepted at Pitt through rolling admission. It is her first choice. She has a very competitive list of other schools, but if all were equal ($, honors, etc) she says Pitt is favorite. We think applying elsewhere is being thorough and avoid “what if?” scenario and may increase $ available in aid.
Udel, villanova, St joes,
Bucknell, UVA, Princeton are other schools she’s considering
PA public HS:high rigor, 4.0 GPA, 8 APs, scores weakest part 1400/30-retaking, good ECs, hook: leadership
If she has good leadership she could apply to the Nordenberg and Stamps leadership scholarships at Pitt for PA students. Those would be very prestigious.
I would run net price calculators on the websites of the other schools, and see what the cost would be.
Unless you qualify for need based aid, she would be full pay at Princeton, if she gets accepted, and most likely at UVA and Bucknell.
She could apply to a few schools where aid might be possible, like U Del.
But if she likes Pitt and it’s affordable, then it’s ok to be “one and done”.
It’s okay – but occasionally students go for accepted student days and change their minds, even if they visited before. Or they change their mind about major
before May, then the previous #1 choice doesn’t look so good (one of mine did both of these). Maybe she could apply to her next 1-2 choices, just so she has chouces in the spring.
Thank you for the help, this is a very daunting process!
@mommdc we do want her to have options, but she knows that just because she is accepted to a school doesn’t mean we can automatically afford full COA. She will apply for scholarships for sure even if a long shot!
@intparent I have also heard of students having second thoughts after accepted student days. “Fit” and affordability seem to be the top factors for her, but who knows?
She’s such a hard worker like all kids these days, just not the best test taker, so not as great on paper for merit $. We are proud of her and Pitt is a great school in a great town.
Have a great day and best of luck to your kids!
My daughter is in the same exact situation (LOVES Pitt) but she did apply to Udel and Rutgers as well and plans to apply to BU soon because Merit aid is definitely a huge consideration for her and these other schools are strong as well. Pitt is a fantastic school and if merit isn’t really a huge concern since you’re In State PA than it’s ok to be one and done. My older daughter was a one and done kid and is very happy with her decision. My D18 was accepted to Pitt in September and it’s been such a blessing to have that knowledge that she’s in…now we wait on pins and needles for merit aid. I think merit will be extremely competitive again looking at the stats of the kids who were accepted, quite a strong group for sure thus far. My D18 has great stats but I’m still concerned.
Thanks for your insight. I’m guessing you are not in state for Pitt. In state tuition is quite good unless PA doesn’t renew funding for “state related” schools. Then all bets are off. It seems like different options are especially important now so D18 will have choices hopefully when it comes to fit and finances. Best of luck to your D18, where did you older daughter go?
@MPT3D We are OOS and while Pitt is still a good bargain in the world of college, we’d need some merit to make it financially viable. I’m very concerned about the funding issue with the state of PA. I was reading about it last week and it makes me nervous as it relates to Pennsylvania state schools. What is your take on this as a Pennsylvania resident? I am wondering if this shouldn’t be a consideration for us :(. What a bummer.
I’m not sure what this means for PA. It may mean raising tuition or closing satellite campuses. Penn state and Temple would be most similarly affected. It would certainly make merit money more competitive:( We can just hope the budget issue is resolved, but it most likely will be another temporary fix. Best of luck in this admission process and I’ll let you know what I find out.
I just heard on the radio that the governor is planning on signing budget legislature to continue subsidies for the state related schools. Fingers crossed that this is true:)