I think early application is being seen as demonstrated interest. It appears that with the same or similar stats awards are slowly coming down for students who applied later.
Has anyone instate received full tuition? For those gathering info on how these awards are being distributed, my D showed no demonstrated interest (we have never visited or been in touch with any reps bc she originally thought Pitt was too far away but applied after hearing great things about it).
Applied around Oct 30th, accepted a few weeks later. $15k per year instate with Chancellors invite, school doesnât rank, lots of AP classes, National Merit Semifinalist (but we donât think Pitt knows that), 35 ACT.
My daughter had applied ED somewhere else that same week and has been accepted so we wonât get to visit Pitt as planned or submit the Chancellors invite but good luck to everyone! I have never heard a bad word about Pitt (everyone raves about it) and I know you will all have a terrific experience there!
Congratulations @kayak24!!
Thank you, @Winky1! Please keep us posted on your Dâs journey! 
Ok, I will! She was deferred from her ED school, and I am surprisingly kind of grinning about that! haha, we love Pitt!! And weâd be happy to take your $15,000!!!
@Winky1 , they better give your D something! She is definitely deserving! And I really do wish we could donate awards to each other! >:D<
We are open for donations and willing to trade some of ours. LOL!
I have a feeling that Pitt will have a low enrollment yield . For whatever reason and for lack of transparency, many of these high stat students either have better scholarships or Pitt might not be their top choice. For those applicants slightly below the Merit bar, Pitt will probably not be an option. This would apply to both in state and out of state applicants.
Historically speaking, our out of state high school does not have a good history with Pitt when it comes to Merit. Yet, every student who has applied has been accepted. Every single one!!! According to Naviance, the majority of the applicants fall within the top 75 percent of Pittâs range.The CG is so frustrated that will start to steer away students who are looking for Merit from applying. This could explain the fact that kids are not choosing Pitt Many of these kids are getting better merit from other Flagships and even Elite Privates. It is all very puzzling for sure, but it is wonderful to see how all these kids do have some excellent options and we all know they will find the perfect fit.
It is a head scratcher for sure. My daughter visited twice, she wrote 3 good short answers that were honest and well written, I think they showed who she was as a person but I donât think she used them to discuss her myriad of interesting ECs and Leadership; which was perhaps a misstep. She played two varsity sports for 4 years and was a captain, attended Girls State, attended pre summer college program w/ Drexel, is President of one of her honor societies, etc. She has a decent number of volunteer hours but sheâs a normal kid who works and plays sports. Her ACT was a solid 34, her GPA uw is 4.0, wtd 4.55, #6/291 in a highly competitive class. She got a Chancellor invite but not sure if sheâll get an interview. She was given $15,000. Itâs a great award but as we all know it still makes Pitt fairly costly OOS. But weâre not complaining, and still holding a glimmer of hope sheâll get an interview for Chancellor. To be honest though other similar schools like Udel, Clemson, etc are only offering the same range so I donât feel sheâs been terribly short changed but $20K would have been incredibly helpful. Her goal is to graduate with minimal debt because of grad school and the 15K helps for sure. I think there are so many factors as to why her award was lower than some with nearly identical statsâŠschool profile (although her particular class is amazing, the overall profile for her rural HS in NJ is not great), state of residence (NJ sends a lot of kids to Pitt and I think geography plays a part), the fact that Pitt doesnât see a resume of activities hurt her and she didnât utilize her short answers to outline. Weâll seeâŠher heart is 100% with Pitt but she is waiting to see what merit offers come through from some other similarly ranked colleges. She did not apply Ivy bc sheâd be full pay and it absolutely would put her in huge debt. Iâm so sorry to those who are disappointedâŠI really canât complain seeing some of the other situations. I wish everyone the best of luck. My new favorite saying is to Love the College that Loves You. Good luck!!!
@1917souci --thatâs a puzzle. Do they have ACT 33+ and still are getting no merit? Or are they UNDER the published threshold for merit at Pitt and still frustrated? If they are under the threshold, they really shouldnât be terribly surprised. Pitt is pretty consistent in NOT giving merit for stats under their published threshold. There have been a small handful of reports over the years of ACT 32s getting merit but soooo super rare.
I canât speak for the other dorms but my daughterâs suitemates and friends in Sutherland are packed full of kids accepted to Ivy league schools and then other schools like Vandy, Notre Dame, etc. These kids turned down those offers because Pitt was more affordable. The kids do talk though and at least within her suite she has one of the lowest ACT scores (34 ACT) among 7 girls in her suite. Pitt is not suffering from an enrollment problem for sure.
As we discuss Merit at Pitt or for some the lack of, we just received this letter today.
âValue and cost play a role in evaluating, comparing, and ultimately choosing a college. As you help your student make their final decision and compare cost, please keep in mind the importance of value in the college selection process.â
The letter goes on about all the the great things Pitt is known for and finishes with âlearn more about financial aidâ etc.
Based on this letter and the lack of scholarship, it is probably a given that we are going to move on from Pitt altogether⊠The intention of the letter seems very obvious. @AmyBeth68 I love your saying âLove the College that Loves Youâ We are lucky to have gotten lots of love from a few excellent schools. Having said that, we are not upset, it only makes the process of elimination much easier. As I said before, she is very proud to have been admitted to Pitt. The acceptance video was awesome. Pitt is an amazing school!
This might be a form letter and not an indicator of merit or not because we received what sounds like the same letter but have received aid. I know Pitt revisits aid through winter.
@1917souci that is a form letter everyone will receive - itâs a marketing piece that is all. I remember getting it. Again, if your student gets into honors college and then receives some meritâŠwait until all offers are on the table and if a comparable school offers a lower COA (even in state public) - use that to ask for more merit. Donât count places out in Dec. I have two instances with 2 kids where the facts in Dec were not the final facts - merit scholarship from the specific school was offered later maybe March in one instance and in the other, we showed COA was lower from the merit awarded from 2 other schools - Pitt added to the existing scholarship so that our decision was easier.
@1917souci I remember my son getting that letter two years ago. I canât remember if we got that letter before or after my kid received his full tuition scholarship letter from Pitt.
Althougt the merit scholarships are being kind of unpredictable, I doubt enrollment will drop because PITT is still a good school and is relatively cheaper compared to a lot of other schools even with somewhat disappointing merit.
@CValle I agree that people who applied early october or even earlier might be at an advantage.
@1917souci, Hello! That letter is actually a marketing letter - it is not sent out by the scholarship committee and does not indicate a scholarship decision one way or the other.
Scholarship letters are sent to those who are selected to receive them weekly until March 1 so there is still time for her to hear from us. Best of luck to your daughter.
-A Pitt Admissions Staffer
Similar experience on the merit aid frontâŠapplied to U Pitt College of Engineering and was admitted. Submitted two ACTs and and SATâŠall in 99% with perfects scores in math and science. Scored 5s on AP Calc BC and AP Physics 1 and C. Attend highly-competitive private school in New England. Great ECs, recommendations, etc. I got only $5k per year from Pitt. Really disappointing. My school doesnât rank and doesnât do weighted GPA. I feel like the rigor of our curriculum was not considered.
Hi @finnb, are you still in the running for Pitt? I saw you on another thread and was wondering. My D was deferred from her ED school. Everything in play now!
@Winky1 , Sorry about the deferral and good luck in RD round! I am hearing of more deferrals this year than ever.
@finnb , that sounds awfully frustrating. You said 99% âŠwould you mind sharing your specific ACT and SAT scores for info-gathering purposes?
I have two other teenagers and Iâm interested for the near future.
Thanks, @kayak24. She was deferred from her EA school as well - tough week. That one was unexpected.