Multicultural Visit Program & Diversity Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
1

We have not visited Pitt. As a matter of fact, D20 has never stepped foot in Pennsylvania. We told her that we would consider visiting the campus over Spring Break, if she received a financial award that would put this OOS school within reach for her. Yesterday, we were surprised to receive an email inviting us to attend Pitt’s Multicultural Visit Program on March 1 & 2. (Before Spring Break.)

Has anyone attended a previous “MVP”? Do you mind sharing your experience with us? We are trying to determine if it is worth driving over 700 miles (one way), especially, since we do not know if D20 will be awarded any scholarship money. Her stats should put her in the range of the Cathedral of Learning Achievement Scholarship (info below from the Pitt website), but we understand that it is not guaranteed that an applicant automatically gets the offer.
Minimum SAT score of 1340 or ACT composite score of 28
Overall ‘A’ average
Challenging high school curriculum consisting of AP/IB/Honors courses
Top 10% class rank (if applicable)

Any experience you can share, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated. If it helps, D20, Hispanic but not 1st generation, has applied to their school of engineering.

2

Son admitted to Dietrich with a Cathedral of Learning scholarship. We visited Pitt back in the summer, and we are going back for a second visit arranged by the Honors College. We are also OOS, it is more than seven hours away by car for us. I am glad we visited. He had the opportunity to see Pitt and had a taste of Pittsburgh, which we believe is a wonderful city. We are not planning to attend the MVP event, just because that would be our third visit.
If D20 is considering other schools, and she is serious about Pitt, perhaps it makes sense to make the trip.

3

We are at Pitt now. This evening’s MVP activity was really good for us. A great campus tour, shortly after check-in. Then dinner, separated by the specific schools, which included guest speakers and a student panel. So far, it’s been worth the 12 hour drive for us.

There is a lot on tomorrow’s agenda, but we will have to leave mid-day to get back home.