Son Waiting for SCI.
Congratulations!
FYI - the maximum in-state merit (University Scholarship) award last year was $5,000 (annually) and the median award was $2,000 based on data collected in CC (in the 2026 version of this thread). Iâve heard rumors of larger awards but nothing substantiated in the forums. There are also the big ones (Chancellorâs and Stamps) but there are very few of those and the timelines are March / April.
In terms of the more mainstream merit scholarship offers, they are much lower in amount since Pitt overhauled their financial aid model two years ago. My post is not directed at you - this is meant more as a PSA for the forum, as I donât want in-state folks disappointed because they expect huge offers that look like the ones that went out in 2019 or what they might see posted by out-of-state applicants.
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lol, that was me collecting the data.
And yeah, the awards for in-state are puny.
Meanwhile, my kid is in!!!
Applied 8/1
Got review letter 8/15
Buttons this afternoon.
No letter in doc center yet.
Stats:
In-state
GPA: 3.94 W
ACT: 32
College: Dietrich
3 APs, 3 more this year, some honors classes, good ECs.
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Great. You will have a good night tonight!
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For those wondering how long it takes to get the acceptance letter after the buttons appear: Buttons at around 10:30 Thursday morning and letter arrived at 7 PM in the document center Friday.
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How long after acceptance in your portal to receiving an email?
About 24 hrs. But it was not an email- it was a document in the document center (accessed through the portal). So you only see the letter if you check the document center. Itâs all pretty confusing. Too many different places to look.
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They have to send an email at some point, donât they?? Mine is waiting for an email, doesnât want to keep checking the portal if nothing has changed.
Once my student saw the letter in her document center she could care less if there is an email later telling her to look for the document she already saw but it would be cool if they get the personalized video that the accepted students received in years past. From the comments from last year, it sounds like that video took as long as an extra month after the letter
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So nice for all you who have heard! DD submitted but her school doesnât start doing letters of rec until school starts next week. And she asked the teachers last spring to write them!
Pitt admissions was very clear at our visit and in all their information that they are not seeking letters of recommendation. My accepted student did not submit any
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this is correct. our daughter (accepted) also did not submit any LOR.
What school was she applying into? It seems that decisions for some schools havenât started being released yet.
No LOR are necessary for admissions. Honors College, I think yes, but nothing else at this point.
https://forms.admissions.pitt.edu/supplemental-application-documents
I donât even think the honors college asks for letters or recâŠ
Yeah, looks like youâre right. I had written down that it was optional, but I donât know where I got that from.
What does merit look like for OOS students?
I donât think we know what merit will look like this year but the trend seems to be less and less over the years. Our older daughter got into Pitt and the Honors program in 2019. She got $5000 per year. I suspect our current daughter will get the same or less, if she even gets into honors, despite being a more accomplished student. She did get guaranteed admission into a graduate program, though (Public and International Affairs). Maybe they are using grace school admission guarantees as a new way of enticing kids to commit without major merit awards.
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Thanks. Mine also got guaranteed admission to the same graduate school. That, for us, isnât enticement enough; we need COA to come down. We will have to wait and see on merit.
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My data collection was anecdotal only; there is absolutely nothing statistically significant in the data from people who report info on this CC thread.
But what I gathered was that the top OOS general merit award was $20k.
Almost every person who reported all the info and got merit said that their kid submitted test scores.
The one OOS person who reported not submitting a test score received merit of $5k.
*** Note that not every person who reported receiving merit answered the question of whether test scores were submitted.
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