I’m hoping we’re not going to see forced triples in our future!
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Whoa!
I can’t help but think that this is a result of the new test optional policy. Pitt’s average SAT was over 1300 prior to the test optional policy. More and more students are suddenly applying to 10+ schools. College admissions offices must be overwhelmed at many schools.
I tend to agree with you. This is happening at many, many schools. On the Northeastern thread, this year, they had an increase of 37% for ED, a 31% increase for EA (50,000 applicants!), 15% increase in EDII, and a 10% increase in RD applications (36,000!).
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I applied to Pitt biomedical engineering 11/6 and just got my acceptance letter 1/17. Stats: 36 ACT, 4.7 weighted GPA (top CA hs), 550+ volunteer hours, Stanford hospital cardiology shadowing, other health-related activities
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Congratulations. Pitt is a wonderful school for any healthcare and engineering.
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DD received an acceptance back in October. We dind’t do CSS as we don’t qualify for FA really. But I was curious if they give out any merit? Did anyone get any? TIA
We are full pay, didn’t fill out FASFA, and my daughter did receive merit. We are in state. They are usually more generous with merit for OOS.
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We didn’t complete the FAFSA or CSS either. We are OOS and my son received merit.
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We completed the FAFSA even though we don’t qualify for federal aid, but Pitt said they flagged it for verification (apparently 30 percent get flagged randomly). Anyway, it is still being processed and no word on merit. So I can’t help but think the lack of merit is linked to that holdup. Or there is no merit for us.
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I had called Pitt to specifically ask if FAFSA is needed for merit based scholarship, and they said it’s not needed. As we know merit awards are given all the way into March, so there’s always a possibility. Having said that, this year computer science awards have been v small. Which school did you apply to and what are the stats?
He applied to comp sci. SAT 1410, 4.2ish weighted gpa with a strong upward trend (3.9, 4.2, 4.5 for each year of high school- new school didn’t have many AP offerings to start out). Lots of volunteering and decent extracurriculars. And what I thought was a really strong essay.
I’m OOS and received 10k a year in merit. Still happy I got something but I’ve received more money at most of the other schools I applied to.
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Even though you’ve received more money, have you looked at the net costs from all schools that you’ve received something from and compared them? What we do at this point with the lack of a formal financial aid package is : cost of tuition + cost of room and board - merit money - Stafford Loan that our kids take = what is left for us to finance. That helps us to see if we are comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges.
And I am not certain D22 will be taking the Stafford Loan this time around.
But to help with a basic way to compare early offers. Since you are OOS, the $10,000 you have received may just be a drop in the bucket. But $5,000 for in-state can be a real help.
Best of luck figuring out what makes sense
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Agreed. For OOS it is about $50k. $10k merit would still be about $15k more than an in-state school…It all ultimately depends on how you value things and if Pitt is worth the additional money to you. I don’t look forward to trying to figure out the best option. For my son it will come down to a few things: Does he get into NC State (30 mins away to would cost him $0 since we said we will cover in-state tuition and fees)? Is so, all set. If not, then the equation is, say, Pitt, Penn State for $50k minus aid versus schools like TN (after merit it costs same as in-state for DS), UNC-Charlotte (likely $25k/year less than Pitt), U Mass Amherst for $10k less. All rather complicated. And then the distance from home factored in and ultimately what DS wants (he isn’t vocal at all about his wants and needs).
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The issue with distance too is that the costs and time consuming annoyances add up quickly. Travel, moving in and out of dorms, renting apartments etc.
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Congratulations. If that’s in CS it’s one of the higher amounts.
Absolutely. For us, Pitt is pretty good travel-wise (cheap direct flight from Raleigh to Pitt). But the costs do go up quickly compared with a 30-min drive. And for me, selfishly, I am not ready to have my first-born child too far away. He may disagree with that though 
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Oh I never even thought about moving in and out of a dorm. Ugh, that IS more hassle from far away.
Right now I think I would have to win the chancellors scholarship at Pitt to see myself going there. I live in VA and UVA should end up being cheaper than Pitt even without any merit aid from UVA (pending on my UVA acceptance of course). Right now I’m leaning towards Alabama because they gave me 28k a year and I really like the look of the Blount Scholars program (interviewing for that tomorrow, but I have heard most people invited to interview get in).
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