We haven’t scheduled an admitted students’ day because I couldn’t find much info on what was included and it’s a 9hr drive for us. TBH, Pitt’s lack of information and communication is a reason it has slipped from D22’s top choice. It makes me wonder how difficult it would be for her to deal with the school administration, financial aid office, etc. once she’s a student. I want to feel comfortable that they can manage the number of students they are serving.
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Still crickets here. File still says pending. Applied 11/30. No request for mid-year grades or anything like that. Applied for humanities so not an impacted major.
My daughter applied 11/19 and was accepted in early February. She has 3 friends at her high school who all applied 11/30 to Pitt and none have heard back yet, so you are definitely not alone.
Good to know we’re not alone!
Or to throw another wrinkle in, a kid (like D22) who didn’t apply to honors and did receive merit IS.
I agree with this. Pitt is my kid’s #1 - has been since the beginning. A distant 2 is University of Delaware. It is 100% his decision , but I just feel Delaware is better with communication and doesn’t seem as impersonal.
I’m hoping this weekend changes this.
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I hope so too. I didn’t have issues with them this year or with older kids of mine. Maybe i am just more familiar with them/their ways? This thread has tons of phenomenal students represented. Pitt would be lucky to have them
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Merit is not tied to need or Honors College acceptance since most merit is allocated long before honors results come out. We are OOS full-pay, my current Pitt freshman had high (not spectacular) stats and got $5,000/year. Her roommate (also OOS and full-pay) has spectacular stats and got $10,000/year. Another friend applied for med school guarantee, didn’t get that but got Chancellor’s. Pitt CDS says in 2021, 359 currently enrolled freshmen got non-need-based merit averaging $10,000. Assuming many of those offered merit aid went elsewhere since very high stats are required.
My D applied super last minute to Honors college, she wasn’t sure there would be a benefit (and her stats were on the lower side for honors) but decided to try. I didn’t find her essay very impressive but she has really benefitted from the early registration for classes and dorm, she definitely found her people at Sutherland and has had a spectacular year so far.
She got a lot more money at Delaware but liked the energy of the Pitt campus and higher national ranking.
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Accepted today, Pittsburgh Campus. Applied 12/1. OOS, no mention of merit, only a very small unsubsidized loan. 
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We got a similar small unsubsidized loan when my son got his acceptance in mid-January. Is it safe to assume that the unsubsidized loan offer is the end of the story financially and that suggests no merit money is likely to come his way?
@HeresHoping2022 - yeah, that’s my take. Same for Colorado@Boulder.
So stop scaring me about the honors being so dependent on the essay :(! she has written a lot of GREAT ones, this was not one of her best…
Also, I agree with a LOT that has been said. My daughter applied to a LOT of schools (and I have a D20 as well) and at first, we got a little perturbed about a lot of things (I thought we were considered full pay but since we got that panther pride… I guess not ;)) but now we just kind of laugh at the craziness of it all. we even joke that the people making these decisions that we agonize over and study and look or rhyme and reason to (that sometimes it’s really hard to see!) are made by people working from home on their computer, watching a show while eating bomboms and picking a random pile to put applications in ;)! - we are clearly exaggerating, as she’s gotten a lot of what she deserves at a lot of schools, but some decisions have had us really stumped!
@SwimMI - Thanks for confirming. It’s not really what I wanted to hear, but I had suspected as much. We got a smidge more from Boulder than from Pitt, but we are in-state for Colorado, so the finances at Boulder would be a clear winner for us. Congratulations on your acceptances, even if the funding isn’t as much as we were hoping for!
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@Laura18 - Laughing is best we can do. We have had a sense of wonder at the apparent randomness as well… my student got max merit money at one school, but then was deferred from Early Action to Regular Decision at another at a school that all of the estimates had said was a safety (ie, a less competitive school than where we got the good merit money). We have scratched our head repeatedly through this process. I think things are unusually wild this year with the massive increase in applications at some schools. Hang in there, and wishing you the best!
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Just looking at DS’s portal. He received 2 letters…one letter of general acceptance to their Dietrich School A&S. The second letter is about guaranteed admission to their graduate school (with a big ask of an undergrad 3.5 GPA requirement). Is the graduate school letter just standard fare? -
I wish to congratulate you on your admission to Pitt’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Clearly, you have demonstrated outstanding ability in the classroom and on college entrance exams. You are just the kind of student to whom we would like to extend an offer of guaranteed admission to the Graduate School of Public and International
*Affairs"
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thank you, and good luck to you as well! and yes similar stuff is happening over here. She went on a multitude of interviews, where she did outstanding, jumped through hoops, then elsewhere (at a lower-ranked school) wasn’t even invited to submit an essay for the big scholarship and at a 3rd got full tuition just for writing a not-so-amazing essay (a highly ranked school!! that supposedly only accepted 4.8% in her degree this year!!!) we were like- wait, what!?!?)
It’s crazy I tell you, Crazy! lol!
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No, that is not standard! What is his major if he did not ask to be reviewed for GSPIA?
I don’t know enough about Pitt to know if it’s standard or not, but my daughter received something similar for her major:
Congratulations on your admission to the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering! Your outstanding
ability in the classroom and on college entrance exams is clear from your application. Due to your exceptional academic
performance, we are able to extend an additional admission offer – that of guaranteed admission to the MS Graduate
Engineering Program of your choice at the University of Pittsburgh.
This admission guarantee is available, provided you: 1. maintain a 3.50 cumulative quality point average (QPA) while you
are a full-time engineering undergraduate student and 2. complete your degree in a timely manner. Given your record of
attainment to date, we trust that you cannot only meet but exceed these requirements. This offer to attend graduate
school is one we make now because we would like you to begin thinking about education beyond the BS degree, and
because we believe that an MS degree not only supplements your undergraduate education but also allows you to further
develop the technical and leadership skills which are an important complement to being competitive in the international
job market.
You are further qualified to pursue the Swanson School of Engineering accelerated graduate program (dubbed the EAGr
Program) which enables students to earn both an engineering bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years. To learn more
about his option and requirements, please visit our website
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Whooo Hooooo!
thanks, it is not something new. she had it with her admission back in January, I was just sharing it in case it helps SwimMI figure theirs out.
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