Well, DD got in and she’s in LOVE with Pitt. There is no question Pitt has the better program. Waiting to learn about merit scholarships is very stressful, though. She has high stats, but I’ve seen some on these boards with her stats get less than we are hoping for. She could go tuition free or full ride to a few schools due to NMSF, or our own home state school for much less, but she doesn’t want to go to any of them. We promised, within reason, that cost would not dictate where she would have to attend but we are OOS, and the price tag is big, and she’ll be there for 6 years because her intended field requires a Masters. Those two years are even pricier. If she does not get a full tuition scholarship and instead we have to pay lots of money in addition to the room and board, etc. it will be a very difficult 6 years. Knowing we are spending so much more than we could have will also be a bit frustrating. Some friends and family are telling us it’s foolish. We also have another student attending college elsewhere. I don’t think we will be eligible for much in the way of Financial Aid except for student loans.
Does anyone with cumulative knowledge about past scholarships know what she might expect in the way of merit?
ACT 35
GPA 4.4 weighted
1/405 class rank
Many APs, Honors courses
Will transfer in about 36 credit hours of AP credit and Dual Enrollment credit.
She did the short answer questions with genuine, compelling writing (made her mom and grandma cry, anyway) which also appropriately highlighted some extra curricular items.
Accepted into Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and will study Communication Science and Disorders, She wants to get a Linguistics or Deaf Studies minor and an American Sign Language Certificate (She’s not deaf but wants to integrate that knowledge into a career. She walks around signing and finger-spelling everything now as it is. )
She may also be interested in working toward the BPhil.
Accepted into Honors and invited to GAP for Speech Pathology and Audiology.
She was accepted early in the process because she applied in July, so I’m hoping she may get some early info about scholarships if it works that way at all. Or we could be stressing this out until February. 8-(
She’s worked very hard. I’d like to see that hard work rewarded by Pitt. What are those chances?
While I’m obviously no expert, it’d seem that your D would be eligible for a significant chunk of scholarship money. Her ACT is over the threshold, she’s valedictorian, and has a stellar GPA. I’d definitely be expecting something–it’s just impossible to say in the way of how much. Best of luck to your D!
I think part of your job as a parent is to help her find more options and set parameters that your family can afford. One “dream school” is a recipe for trouble in the college search. I hope she gets the Pitt merit she is hoping for, but now she needs to focus on other schools and making sure she has affordable choices she would want to attend in the spring. She has great stats, she should have some good choices.
My son is in exactly the same situation. He has the same ACT and class rank although a slightly larger class-size with the Weighted GPA a 5.7. He did not make National merit semi finalist but is commended. . He scored 800 on math 2 and 730 on physics and 5 on all his AP tests. The only difference is he is in the college of engineering. He has full tuition offer from Alabama but much prefers Pittsburgh. We are also hoping that awards are given closer to mid-November than February. Also OOS. Keeping our fingers crossed here! Hoping it’s a good sign they waived his application fee and hopefully they want him to attend
@flashk I have had 3 kids @ Pitt, each 2 yrs apart, all engineering. all had nearly similar gpa/rank/scores. all got merit ranging from 10k-full tuition. Full tuition dd2 had a 34/35 act (they superscored then). although merit seems more competitive year to year, I’ll go on a limb and say I’d expect you to receive $15k to full tuition with her stats - leaning more to the full tuition possibility since she’s valedictorian as well.
I think her high scores and class rank bode well for a good chance at merit. She also has (maybe) a better chance at merit in A&S versus engineering, OOS versus IS.
I wish your D good luck. I hope it works out for her.
Welcome to the waiting room with all the rest of us who have kids who have fallen in love with Pitt!
We are using the waiting time to temper expectations and make sure the safety schools are very doable. This is hard when our kid looks longingly at the Pitt Instagram accounts daily lol.
But seriously, I think we are all very thankful for the merit scholarships they DO offer and for the relatively early decision process for admission and merit scholarships.
Thank you all for your comments and good wishes. She has applied to some fine schools for backup. None quite have the same appeal or program. We really don’t expect she will finally attend any of them and we will make Pitt work for her. Mail from Pitt yesterday, opened to find two compelling letters about why to choose Pitt. They already had us at…well…yeah.
Well, they had her at - the campus in an urban setting (big on the list) with people from different backgrounds; a variety of buildings, not cookie cutter, boring, same brick (her words) which makes it feel like a city; the Grad program which is #7 in the nation and it’s closer geographically than 1 thru 6; stellar meeting with undergrad advisor who seemed extremely committed and energetic (that would take many paragraphs to explain); open participation in Honors where they don’t guilt you or insist you are hard core Honors, but you can participate at will; real research opportunities; cooperation with, and proximity to, world class medical facilities which is essential in her intended field; a beautiful, picturesque city with all those bridges, the arts and cultural opportunities; Cathy!; the Deaf Studies and ASL courses available for minor/certificate options; and near the top of the list GAP and a history of great merit scholarships to high achieving students.
I’m sure DD could expand on this list.
Her number 2 choice is missing a few of these items, some of which are most important to her and to us.
Sounds like a fit, @flashk! My D liked her visit enough to return a second time. In November! We can’t wait, as we were unable to accomplish quite as much as you and your D the first time.
GAP acceptance is a big deal. Hopefully she’ll get a great offer, but if not I would weigh that against potentially higher merit scholarship offers from other schools (assuming the other schools aren’t offering a similar GAP program). A manageable amount of loan debt (based on her anticipated salary) would not be a bad thing.
My wife is an SLP and program director for one of the school districts in Florida. She sees a lot of people with Communicative Disorders Bachelor’s degrees failing to get into graduate school. The school districts in Florida are always short on SLPs and Audiologists, so career prospects for those who can complete the programs are excellent.
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