@hailtopitt1787 What advantage, if any, for purposes of being considered for an OOS merit scholarship, is there to list courses and gpa thru the SRAR now versus having the high school send an official transcript within the next month? Is there no difference at all? If my daughter submits application today using SRAR then the Scholarship committee may not have the Secondary school report and guidance counselor recommendation to look at, which would buttress her application by recommending my daughter highly and explaining how my daughters rank is in class and the competitiveness of the high school. So I’m thinking better to wait and have high school send whole package to supplement her application.
@trackmbe3, the benefit to the SRAR is just that you don’t have to wait for the transcript. But if you prefer to send a transcript, that is totally fine!
Best of luck!
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
Thanks. If she submits application and SRAR now, the application will be deemed complete and ready for review. without the full secondary school report and guidance counselor recommendation. As I mentioned I think the school report and counselor recommendation would strengthen the overall application. While it may take a little longer I think it’s better for application to be strongest it can be before the Committee reviews it for merit aid consideration. So I think I will recommend that she order transcript and school report to be sent immediately once school resumes after Labor Day.
@trackmbe3, She just needs to make sure that she submits the application with the Self Reported Academic Record section completely blank. Submit the application any time and then send the transcript after.
Best,
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
@trackmbe3 If you read the bottom of https://oafa.pitt.edu/apply/admissions-process/freshmen/ it seems that Pitt actively discourages letters of recommendation. While other schools request pages and pages of school activities, volunteer activities, etc. and require letters of recommendation, Pitt seems to encourage the students to only include important aspects of the student in the short answer sections. If I’m wrong, let me know, but it seems they only read them in “very limited circumstances” and encourage them to “use that space (short answer) to explain or clarify what most recommenders would cover in a letter.”
My son is also OOS. While initially skeptical of the SRAR, I find it nice that we don’t have to depend on our obviously overworked guidance counselor to remember to send in his transcript. He is depending on a merit scholarship so hopefully an application finished this weekend will let him find out the scholarship result sometime in November or December. https://oafa.pitt.edu/financialaid/academic-scholarships/ says that the scholarship committee starts reviewing students for scholarships in late October. Again, if I’m wrong, let me know.
@Engineering713 and @trackmbe3, Yes, the Admissions Committee does recommend that a student discuss their extracurricular in the Short Answer Question responses rather than sending additional materials.
The Scholarship Committee starts meeting weekly in October and they make decisions on a rolling basis. So applying early is definitely to your benefit, if you would like to be considered for scholarships. At this point, you should still have time to get the transcript in.
It is entirely up to the student whether they would prefer to submit the transcript or the SRAR. We accept either one.
Hope that helps clarify!
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
@hailtopitt1787 Hi, I also have a question. I already filled out the SRAR, but I also intend to send my transcripts. Should I just delete what i did on the SRAR? Thanks so much.
@ibstudent111 only do one or the other.
@ibstudent111, Yes, you should do one or the other. Submitting a SRAR will mean your application will be processed more quickly, so we recommend you go that route. BUT, if you would prefer to send a transcript, please do delete any entries in the SRAR before submitting your application.
Best of luck!
A Pitt Admissions Staffer