And just to add that a $5,000 award may seem skimpy when compared to other schools, but that is a normal amount for merit that is very often given by Pitt. Remember, they started matching Pell grants 100% in the fall cycle of 2018. So those bigger awards of $10,000 in state and $15,000 OOS are long gone. Sure, students can get more than a $5,000 award, but just know that it’s not common to get big merit from Pitt. And anyone who gets $5,000 from Pitt should be very happy and proud.
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As @Winky1 said, it’s very unlikely there are cutoffs for Nordenberg or Stamps. Those are focused more on overall impact kids, not specifically academic ones. I am sure grades/scores matter some, but they are a piece of the bigger puzzle.
Chancellor’s Scholarships are given to students who have already been admitted to the honors college. There are other aspects of the application process, like essays and interviews, but my impression is that the main focus is on attracting tippy top academic kids to the university through this one.
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My S23 submitted his application on September 4th and other than setting up his portal, he hasn’t heard anything. OOS, applying for Arts and Sciences.
Is it just taking longer this cycle?
My son was a Stamps Scholar at Pitt. When the scholarship was first offered at Pitt, these were the eligibility requirements. I don’t know if this has changed since then or not:
These are the full eligibility requirements that the committee looks at:
Pennsylvania residency
US Citizen or Permanent Resident
Full-time enrollment at the Pittsburgh campus
Minimum 1400 SAT (math and critical reading) or 31 [ACT]
Top 5% class rank or 3.75/4.0 overall grade point average at a non-ranking high school
Demonstrated leadership, scholarship, service, perseverance and innovation
Back then you had to be invited to apply. He was also invited to apply for Chancellor’s (also by invite only) so I am assuming the criteria was probably the same.
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Did your S submit the SRAR and check the portal to make sure Pitt isn’t waiting on any additional documents? If so, I would expect that you should hear soon.
If all the documentation is complete, including completing the SRAR, U Pitt sends an email out that the application has moved to the Review stage.
Yes, everything was submitted and I received confirmation that everything was received. I sent a message and they responded right away that it is taking about 8 weeks for an answer.
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At least as of last year, Pitt did not have any language about scores or GPA for the Stamps and Nordenberg. The other details were still relevant about the scholarships.
Wasn’t that 8 or 10 years ago? What constitutes a competitive SAT/ACT is significantly higher now, plus there is nothing that indicates those are still requirements.
fwiw, I don’t know what constitutes a competitive SAT/ACT score any more than you do. I do know that people aren’t submitting perfectly wonderful scores because the curve has been blown by test-optional, and pretty soon, the “average” test score at every selective school will be 1600/36.
(i’m not saying test-optional isn’t a good thing, but it has had this unintended consequence, which really sucks.)
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Oh, I agree with you, CCName1. Someone asked above what the cutoffs are for merit. Since there aren’t any listed, I was sharing what it used to be–before TO practices came into play. You can make your own assumptions about what it must be now.
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Does anyone know how many students get invited for the zoom screening interviews for Stamps/Nordenberg? I know it says about 30 make it to in person interviews in February, was just curious how many they start with.
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Last year, my D22 was told that 90 got the first round Zoom interview and that there were approx. 800 applicants. Also last year, 32 were invited for in-person interview from the 90. So all around, the odds are extremely good for such a huge award.
Did you get a Zoom interview?
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Yes my son received an interview.
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My daughter was just notified that they are requesting her mid-year grades. Does anyone have any experience with this? She is currently taking a fairly rigourous senior load (2 AP classes) and is doing well. Any experience with kids getting admitted after submitting their mid-year grades?
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Is this to determine her acceptance? I was wondering about that and if they look at senior grades. I was debating having my daughter reach out to see if she could send over her first quarter grades while the application is under review.
Yes, to determine admittance. She is applying to the nursing program which we know is very competitive. I told her we will take it as a good sign that she is still in the running. 
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Should my daughter decline her acceptance to the campus she is not interested in or would that hurt her chances of hopefully still getting into the Pittsburgh campus. She is 100% not interested in the other campus.
I would have her start with her guidance counselor, who might reach out to an admissions officer, especially since this is a different approach than we have seen in the past.
At this point, declining the branch campus is probably interpreted as declining Pitt In general. I would ask, or have the guidance counselor ask, if it’s possible to be on a waiting list at a spot at Pitt main. It’s not clear to me if they are continuing to consider the branch acceptances for Pittsburgh campus or not.
Last year when my older son was applying to colleges he got offered a spot at a Pitt branch campus It was worded in the letter in the doc center something to the effect of we know your first choice of campus was Pittsburgh but we cannot offer you admission there at this time . We got this in late October and it was the final decision. He did not indicate a branch campus preference on his application because he was not interested in one. He did not attend the branch campus, attended a different university and is happy there.