Are you sure that they received your highest test scores?
My daughter just had the same experience with Pitt. Everything lined up with their criteria from a GPA, and ACT/SAT score perspective, but her class rank was in the top 10% not the top 5% so she got nothing, even after an appeal. From my perspective, AP classes help with getting in to a school, but hurt you for merit aid, unless you got A+ in all of them. She got a B+ in AP Calc AB and a A- in AP Chem (but got 4’s on the AP Exams) which dropped her class rank. Oddly enough my neighbor’s daughter had a lighter course load (half the AP classes of my D) got offered a partial merit scholarship from Pitt. So the lesson learned for my other children is that challenging yourself and getting a B+ in addition to being in an academically strong school district hurts you for getting merit $$$ from Pitt. My D got merit from the other 4 schools she was accepted to. Pitt came out in their Cost Analysis as most expensive even when compared to out of state schools. I guess Pitt is going to have an empty seat come May 1.
@Kaos2015 that is something I wonder about. As long as the kid has some APs, it seems having ALL of them or most of them is not as necessary, whether for merit or top schools. I had a fight with one of my kids who was bombing an AP earlier this year. I lost. There was an option to drop down and I wanted the kid to take it. The kid refused because was afraid would not get into their desired category of college without it. Is no longer bombing but running a Bish. I think the kid made a major mistake not taking the A in the regular class. I am still mad about it since guess who has to pay for tutors or spend time studying the subject with the kid but kid insisted. Why do I listen to teenagers?
You guys are wrongly assuming that merit scholarships are all about stats.
@itsgettingreal17 the first cut for these scholarships IS stats. In fact, the first cut for most merit awards is stats. The only exceptions are scholarships which clearly say they are for students who have done a certain activity. Even then…stats count a lot.
@Kaos2015 Pitt’s insistence on top 5% rank for merit does result in some kids (often in-state) “gaming” the system to ensure a higher class rank, which in turn assures merit eligibility. Fortunately many (most?) other schools do not operate in that stats vacuum, as your D’s other merit results show. I think it’s short-sighted, but each school is free to make its own rules about how merit is distributed.
I hope your D’s other options are at least as appealing to her as Pitt.
@intparent. I should have stressed the “all” which is what I was getting at given the previous posters conclusion as to why their child didn’t get the scholarship.It is very unlikely a B+ or A- in an AP class was the reason.
I would politely ask the admissions office if they can review your eligibility for merit aid. There might have been a problem, wasn’t there some snafu with test scores being delayed at that time of the year?
Has your class rank changed since then? Could you have GC write a statement about your challenges with the concussion?
If you really would like to attend OSU I would let them know it’s your first choice.