In-State, just got $2000/year. Guess it’s something.
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When did you apply and get accepted
I had everything in by 9/20 and was accepted 10/3.
Congratulations! Would you be willing to share your stats? We’ve had so few in-state posts.
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Sure, Stats:
In state
4.2 w, 4.0 uw
1440 SAT
Dietrich
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Wow congrats! Did they email you with the merit offer?
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My son applied last year and he got a second merit offer after the honors college results came out.
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Nope, just checked the documents center on Wednesday and it was there. As mentioned above, it seems they release merit decisions on Tuesday nights.
I agree that Pitt is using a multi variable predictive analytic formula to award merit, and aren’t giving merit (nor honors college) to those the model suggests wouldn’t yield (even though Pitt still accepts these students).
IIRC it was @TheVulcan’s S who didn’t receive merit (and/or maybe honors college)…can you refresh our memories? I expect that was because Pitt didn’t think they would be able to get this very high stats/high level EC student. (and they were right 
)
Yes, our older was applying four years ago.
Based on what has been reported by other high-stat students on CC in previous years, we thought of Pitt as a putative financial safety, expecting a quick full-tuition merit offer to take some pressure off for the rest of the season.
He got a full-tuition merit offer from Vandy, but not a penny from Pitt (though was admitted into Honors).
In the end, we couldn’t say “no” to MIT, which after need-based aid ended up a few grand cheaper than Pitt’s sticker.
He graduated in 2.5 years, so our total out-of-pocket turned out lower than expected, and the ROI has been unimaginable.
These were his stats/ECs:
AСT 36 (36/36/36/36, Sophomore year)
GPA 4.92W/4.0UW
SAT Math 2 800
SAT Physics 800
13 APs (all 5) plus 3 more senior year
ISEF 3rd place category and special awards
USACO Platinum
USAPhO Silver Medal
AIME qualifier
I won’t speculate on Pitt’s merit process, other than to say that based on this experience, his younger brother (with similar stats and significantly higher-level EC accomplishments), who is applying to colleges this year, is not including Pitt on his list.
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Just wanted to say “Hi” Vulcan! Glad to hear all went well for your son. What a crazy time, wasn’t it? My S19 graduated with a 4.0 in 2 majors from Pitt Honors and is applying to med schools (MD/PhD) in the spring. I’m sure it will be another roller coaster ride again because of course MIT/Harvard is on the list, lol.
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Hi there @caz0743 - and thanks!
I didn’t know about that Harvard/MIT MD-PhD program, sounds like quite an adventure! Congrats on your son’s graduation, and good luck to him in his new application process and the ensuing journey.
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In state
$10k/yr
GPA 4.34 w, 3.94 u
1560 SAT
11 APs
Applied 9/15
Accepted 10/4 (Swanson)
Merit award 10/24
Several National Awards and ECs (community service, varsity sports, research, ldrship)
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You can’t compare Pitt (a state school) to Vandy or MIT. Privates work differently. Only a small percentage of students at Pitt get merit and not significant amounts.
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Back in 2019 it was not uncommon for high stat in-state kids to get between $10K-25K a year at Pitt. My S19 did. I haven’t seen anything like is since. @TheVulcan kid had all the stats but did not get the Pitt merit, neither did the #2 and #3 kids in my S19’s HS class. They ended up at Notre Dame and Case with better merit offers than Pitt.
Also, back in 2019 you didn’t need to fill out FAFSA to get merit at Pitt, not sure if you do now. But at the schools that required the CSS profile i.e. Carnegie Mellon, our S19 got nothing but a letter literally saying “you can afford the tuition at CMU”.
It was seriously a crazy time!
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We didn’t fill out FAFSA and my 2022 got merit. FAFSA hasn’t even opened for 2024 and many students have received merit.
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Of course you can compare schools. That’s how the game is played. First you compare them. Then they compare you. Then you compare them again, based on their offers (if any).
Less than 1% of Vandy’s applicants receive full-tuition merit offers (about 200 total; about half decline them, it seems), and MIT gives no merit awards.
To clarify, we are out of state for Pitt. As recently as 2019 season it would seem that OOS kids with similar stats were routinely getting full-tuition offers within weeks of applying. The 2020 season looked very different.
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IIRC this was all around the time that Pitt said they were going to start increasing need based aid at the expense of merit aid.
Not sure how that has all played out, but they wouldn’t be the first school to do that relatively recently…Tulane is another example that has stated this intended shift.
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Indeed. Our state flagship used to guarantee “full ride plus” to NMFs, and then they announced a similar shift in the late 2010s. Now even their mere full-tuition packages are competitive (i.e. not guaranteed to anyone), and a full ride is no longer offered to anyone.
Both of my kids were only offered $5K/yr there (they both won full-tuition packages via state academic competitions at various points in their school career, but that is probably something the finaid office would have to be explicitly reminded about:)
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My S23 got $20K merit at Pitt this past year. It seems to be quite dependent on major. For example, CS majors get little to nothing. Engineering majors (my kid) get the most.
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