congrats for more acceptances @STEM2017 @itsgettingreal17 @thshadow
So exciting for @jedwards70 that you are DONE B-)
Today D received confirmation of direct admit into IU-Bās School of Global and International Studies, which brings with it a one-time $2500 scholarship. We expected that.
Last week she learned of the $11K scholarship (stats-based, I assume, since the blinking SSP application still hasnāt been submitted). I think that was 10 or so days after she learned she was admitted.
Good news @itsgettingreal17 and @thshadow 
Thanks for all the good wishes. Iām just surprised and a little disappointed. This thread is a nice to a place to vent while keeping the (very real) story to Dā17 that we are incredibly proud of her.
This thread is also a nice place to brag when it goes the other way.Thanks to NMSF, we do have some fantastic options.
But thanks again for allowing me to vent. And truly,
Onward and upwardā¦
Wait, will that help? Now we know what zeemee is really for, the promposals to the admissions departments.
@Dave_N did your S and D both apply to engineering at Pitt?
Yes, merit seems extremely competitive this year, esp for engineering.
Both Dā17 and Sā14 applied to Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Sā14 in neuroscience, Dā17 pre-OT.
Oh I see. Wow, yes it used to seem like it was somewhat easier to get full tuition in A&S.
@Dave_N --yep, same offer from Pitt. We received it while visiting on Friday.
We only have one kid and right now itās her best option and I think weāll be able to swing itābut she will have a little undergrad debt. Itās about 5K/year over our original budget. Iād be lying though if I didnāt say there is some serious thought going into thisāUA is still a consideration.
A small engineering departmental scholarship would make it less painful. We will see.
Seems like lot of kids with high stats still havenāt heard anything from PITT yet.
@srk2017 Maybe those kids are going through several reviews?
I know that in 2014 my D found out in December about merit, and was accepted in August.
We are most likely declining Pitts offer. We are in-state and it was #1 on her list - applied in the summer when the app first opened .
D was offered the chance to apply for Stamps but received no other merit $. She did not make the class rank cut off and so was not eligible even though her GPA and test scores exceed the criteria and if she were at the school in the next district over that stopped ranking, she would be in line for some $. Good luck to all the other possible Pitt Panthers - it is a great school and we have many family members who have graduated and launched successfully.
@novicemom23kids --what was Pitts merit offer again? I tried to find your post but couldnāt.
@carachel2 Pitt offered NO merit money at all. During our tours and meeting with with AO she was under the impression that she would still be eligible. In the offers she did not receive any money but did receive the application to apply for Stamps. She is going ahead with that but is not hopeful. Even 2-4K would have kept Pitt in play but with no merit money at all we are a little bitter.
Our school board has been in discussions to remove rankings. There are some very vocal parents who want to keep it and prior to this experience I was in favor of keeping the rankings. Now that I realize so many schools no longer rank and those kids have a distinct advantage. D has a 4.65 W and 3.94 UW GPA but does not come in under Pitts target %.
@novicemom23kids --that just makes me ill for you guys. Iām so sorry.
Pitts tuition is high. Our in-state tuition at our largest, most prestigious state flagship is right around $10,000 per year. I was shocked to see for some majors that Pitt is $18,000 per year for IN-state tuition!! YIKES!!
We really like Pitt. But it will be a stretch. This is the only time I can say I am kind of a smidge glad we have just one child. If we had two we could absolutely not do it.
Congrats on all the new acceptances.
@Dave_N or anyone else with Pitt knowledge. My D is planning on Neuroscience also. Is your S working on the Bachelor of Philosophy degree? If not did he look into it? Has he had a good experience in the dept? TIA
@novicemom23kids ā wow!
āD has a 4.65 W and 3.94 UW GPA but does not come in under Pitts target %.ā
What is Pitt looking for? If her HS did not rank, I assume those grades would allow her to qualify for merit aid?
I can finally join in with an acceptance to MSU-Bozeman! It was expected, but still fun to get. Sheād prefer to go out of state, even though MSU is a great school. Weāll follow up to see what kind of scholarship she might be eligible for.
Sheās at an overnight for Model UN now, and clearly not in the best of moods. I texted her the news and her only response was that her jaw is super painful today. Sigh. I am going to hold onto the good acceptance news and hope that she gets on board soon.
@CT1417 From Pittās website (the emphasis on ALL):
In recent years, scholarship eligible students possessed ALL of the following:
minimum SAT score of 1490 or 33 ACT composite
overall āAā average
top 5% class rank (if applicable) while participating in challenging high school curriculums consisting of AP/IB/Honors courses
record of excellence in various academic and nonacademic activities outside of the classroom
D is not in top 5% in her school - although she has many APs (10 after this year) and great stats - we are in a highly ranked, highly competitive HS and D was penalized for doing music and a second language that both held down her GPA and rank since they were not highly weighted. Had she taken a daily lunch and studyhall she would have had a higher GPA and made the cutoff. She has many friends in the same boat and we are fortunate to have many great options but the idea that our state flagship would exclude these students from merit is upsetting. Pitt is a fabulous school but too many in-state students are priced out. If our school did not rank she would have certainly received merit money - this is directly from the admissions office at Pitt and confirmed by our GC who has been trying to fight this for a few years. It is frustrating that my nephew in a neighboring district has lower stats but did receive money from Pitt.
Congratulations @STEM2017 @itsgettingreal17 @thshadow and @picklesarenice
Great news!
@novicemom23kids --seriously makes me sad. Texas does this for admissions but since our two main schools donāt even give much merit, it is only an issue for admissions and not for merit.