Our daughter has a 1480 SAT score, 4.0 UW GPA, published research, strong ECs and business owner. Should we submit her SAT scores for top OOS merit, or go test optional? Major is neuroscience. Thanks!
My daughter had a 1470/33 and one B, she submitted scores and was offered $8000 a year.
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Do you recall if she could self report SAT scores, or did she need to send officiall from college board for her application to be reviewed? I feel like the SAT took a few days to be received from college board which could delay her application review.
Based on Class of 2026 data your D would submit her test scores as that score is above the 75%ile for all schools within Pitt. Merit is getting harder to get at Pitt, and being shifted towards need based aid, so it’s difficult to guess what merit they might award.
https://admissions.pitt.edu/first-year-student/class-profile/
Pitt requires official test scores sent from CollegeBoard and/or ACT
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Last year, Pitt required an official score report before they would start reviewing the application IF the student selected that s/he was submitting scores.
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I can’t recall if college board sends immediately once you pay for the school report or if it takes a few days to process?
It definitely takes time to process. Delays are most often on the schools’ end, as some only download reports every week or so.
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It not only depends on when the College Board sends the scores, but also how often the college in question downloads them into their system. Even if you pay an expedite fee, there may well be a lag.
Is your goal to try to get her application reviewed as quickly as possible? Is she taking the August test and you are wondering the timing? Unless she is taking it in August and you are waiting to see that score, you could send it now.
Based on the contact my 2022 daughter had with admissions, there will be no delay if you send scores now. Pitt admissions was still getting everything ready to go the first week of August, so I got the sense that there was no perceptible difference in response for an application submitted on 8/1 vs one submitted a week or so later.
Pitt may have streamlined systems/processes in the two years hence, but I wouldn’t worry about a couple of days lag for an application submitted this early.
Merit reviews don’t start until October 1, so any acceptance prior will be reviewed in that first batch. A 2023 I know applied very early in August, but didn’t realize that she needed to submit an official score report. The report wasn’t received until the end of August. She still received an acceptance in September and was therefore reviewed for merit in the first round.
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Yes, I want to get her applicatiin reviewed early for merit consideration. We aren’t waiting on test scores, we are sending June 3rd results.
I can send them now, just wasn’t sure if she had to apply before sending the scores. If theres no risk to sending ahead of the applicatiin, she will do that.
No risk to send them now! They will match it up with her app. She will also need a copy of her 6 semester transcript to complete the SRAR. Good luck to her!
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Merit consideration at Pitt is done separately from admissions and notification does not come at the same time. In prior years, the merit committee didn’t start meeting until November. There is no rhyme or reason to when merit notifications come out. Some students who were accepted early don’t hear about merit until February. If your child is also applying to honors you should know that honors decisions all come out on a single day for everyone regardless of when they apply. I think it was in late February last year.
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That’s interesting because some here have reported getting merit aid much sooner than that. Hoping someone with a merit student at Pitt verifies.
Regardless. It’s best to submit your Pitt application as soon as the application goes live.
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Merit committee starts October 1. My daughter received her merit award around a week later.
While it doesn’t specifically state when merit committee commences on the page, they do relay the information in information sessions. Here is the quote under Scholarship Opportunities/University Scholarships:
*Notification of Award
Due to the competitiveness of University Scholarships, most admitted students are reviewed by the Scholarship Committee several times before a final decision is made. As a result, those students selected to receive an award will be notified anytime *between late-October and March 1 regardless of date admitted. Only students who are selected to receive an award will be notified.
Scholarships - Financial Aid | University of Pittsburgh.
Chancellor’s Scholarships, for which OOS students are eligible, coincide with Frederick Honors College notifications and come much later in the process.
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Ok so I was off by a month for when they start. The point is that applying early with good stats will probably get you an early acceptance but may not get you an early merit award. If you don’t get an early merit award you have no way of knowing whether one is coming later or whether it’s just not coming at all. There’s always people waiting up until March 1 to see if they’ll get one or not.
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So, naive question. Everyone says to apply to Pitt Early. If they dont even start considering merit until late October, what is the rush to apply? Is it a housing issue where you have to submit for housing early?
For my D22 personally, it was having an answer early in her Senior year to take the pressure off. Rolling admissions can give an answer rather quickly, in her case, first week of Sept with an 8/1 application date.
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I believe Pitt looks at those merit potentials starting with the earliest applicants. So waiting could put you lower in the queue.
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Not according to what they quote on their website about when merit scholarships are reviewed but i guess better to be safe and get it out of the way.
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I don’t think it does any harm to get this done…and out of the way!
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From D22’s admission letter. Her merit letter was dated 10/5.
Students submitting a completed application for admission, along with their personal statement or Common Application essay, by December 1, are automatically reviewed for merit scholarships. The Scholarship Committee meets from October through February and reviews admitted candidates on a weekly basis. It is not uncommon for the Committee to review a student’s credentials several times before making a final decision. Therefore, while some students are informed of a scholarship award shortly after being admitted, many more are not notified until much later. All students selected to receive a scholarship will be notified no later than March 1.
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