<p>I have been reading in these threads for a couple of years that Pitt has great merit scholarships. We were just there and at the presentation were told that you need SAT 1450, and top 5% of the class just to get the minimum $2000 merit scholarship, which seems to jive with their website. You practically need 1600/valedictorian to get a full tuition award. </p>
<p>Did they change the policy recently, is there something I missed, or is it just that when posters talk about great merit schools they assume the student in question is Einstein?</p>
<p>It does seem that those who are getting full tuition scholarships (these days) from UPitt have very high stats…maybe equivalent to ACT 34+??? </p>
<p>I think in the past, an ACT 33+ (or SAT equivalent) might get full tuition, but not anymore.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that those who get offered full tuition must have stats in the top 5% of the school.</p>
<p>Right now, the Top 25% at UPitt have an ACT 31+…so that might suggest that stats would have to be really high…maybe ACT 34/35+?? Does that sound about right?</p>
<p>Yes, the stats for the full tuition scholarships have gone up. Last year, there were students with ACT 34/35 who didn’t get the full tuition scholarship. We have watched the numbers increase since DS started at Pitt.</p>
<p>Two years ago D2 got the 12k merit and had a 1470 CR+M. She needed the full tuition scholarship to make Pitt doable since we’re OOS, so she requested a reevaluation. I posted the email response from Pitt on post #50 here:</p>
<p>FWIW, I was offered full tuition this past application cycle with 1510 CR+M and 1/97 rank (actually it may have even been 2/97 when I submitted my app).</p>
<p>How Pitt awards their scholarships has been discussed ALOT on the Pitt forum. Each year there are ALWAYS students with tippy top stats who do not get the full tuition scholarship and there are ALWAYS students who get awarded the scholarship with less than the tippy top stats. We don’t know what Pitt is looking for and it is obvious there are “exceptions” to the “recommended stats”.</p>
<p>Pitt is likely getting a lot more high stats students applying. Merit scholarships are not automatic just based on stats.</p>
<p>My ds was #2 in class, 2400 SAT got a full tuition scholarship at Pitt. He was not invited to interview for their Chancellor scholarship for a full ride. </p>
<p>I was also told to apply early in the fall for best chances for scholarship money.</p>
<p>how UPitt awards merit has been discussed many times. it does seem that students with high stats that can offer regional diversity are more likely to get merit than someone from a state that they already have a bunch of kids. So, if you’re high stats from North Dakota or Hawaii, you’re more likely to get the award than a student from NY.</p>
<p>The word is out about Pitt. In my daughter’s correspondence, Pitt also mentioned her school. So I think they also are looking for kids from competitive schools. When she went to talk with professors before she made up her mind to attend, a physics professor came right out and asked her what she thought the chances were that she would actually attend Pitt. She was clever, and answered that the chances were getting better and better as the day went on.</p>
<p>Her stats at application time were 4.0 unweighted and 1560 SAT (math/CR), ranked 2/74, plus varsity sports, music, and other ECs. She was not invited to interview for the Chancellor’s either, but we were very happy with full tuition.</p>
<p>My daughter was offered (and accepted) the full tuition scholarship at Pitt. She was valedictorian and had 2360 SATs (1560 CR/M), plus many extracurriculars. She was invited to interview for the Chancellors, but did not get it. We got the impression that it was extremely competitive. We compared Pitt’s stats from their Common Data Set with some of the UCs, and they are quite competitive. She is very excited to be headed to Pitt in August, and we are very delighted with the scholarship.</p>
<p>is it just that when posters talk about great merit schools they assume the student in question is Einstein?</p>
<p>As for UPitt and full tuition, after reading posts #11, 10, 8, and some others, it seems that the answer is, “yes.”</p>
<p>What are you looking for? If you’re looking for full tuition scholarships at the schools that offer them, look at schools where your D’s stats are within the top 5% of the school. I only know of one school that awards free tuition to those whose stats are within the top 10% of the school.</p>
<p>My son was offered full tuition and invited to interview for the Chancellor’s scholarship. He was ranked 2 in his class, and had an ACT 34 and SAT of 2340. He is in-state, not a URM, and never toured or showed much interest. He was VERY fortunate and grateful to get this offer. However, he turned it down to go to another school where we would have to pay some of the costs, but got need-based fin. aid for the rest of the cost.</p>
<p>My understanding is that Pitt is a great school, very generous with their scholarships, and are trying to recruit more high-level students for their honors college. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of kids turn down the merit scholarship opportunity because they assume the overall atmosphere is not academic enough, which may not necessarily be accurate.</p>
I don’t consider it “generous” if only a few people at the very top get offers. We would be very happy with $10K to $15K. We don’t need full tuition there. However D doesn’t even have the stats for the minimum $2K award.</p>
<p>I agree. UPitt really can’t be considered to be “generous with scholarships” because that suggests that many kids with very good stats would get merit. The fact that some kids with super-stats get large merit doesn’t qualify UPitt to be considered “generous” with merit. </p>
<p>In other threads, when people write that X school is generous because they gave THEIR child a lot of merit, I wish they would include their child’s: M+CR SAT/ACT, GPA, rank, home state and URM status…and the year their child applied…so as not to mislead the reader whose non-URM child has - say a very good ACT 30 and a 3.7 GPA, but wouldn’t get much/anything from that school…especially if that school has long changed its merit awards.</p>
<p>I think the reason Pitt gets named often ( other than I post a lot) is because there are not that many top 50 schools that offer true merit money. Pitt hovers around 50 in most rankings.</p>
<p>For my daughter, the higher -ranking schools where she was admitted( Chicago, Georgetown, and Michigan), offered no money. She was offered $8k a year at our flagship, which was full tuition for that year. </p>
<p>So even though the numbers required for merit money are high, it is nice for those who qualify. FWIW, a friend of my daughter’s, with very similar stats to hers, applied later and did not get the money DD did. So, apply early. It is an easy application.</p>
<p>I will admit, m2ck, that this thread is the first where I published DD’s stats if I am remembering correctly. She is a senior, so I figure that it is old news. No URM status.</p>
Her GPA is about 3.75/4 (unweighted), 9 honors/advanced courses, will have 2-3 AP’s next year, SAT 1300 (1970) so far. She will take ACT and SAT again in Sept/Oct. The school doesn’t tell them their ranks until start of senior year, but as nearly as I can figure at least in the top 15%.</p>