@sam2017 thanks!
$10k honors but no chancellor. OOS Dietrich science major 34 ACT (super scored 35 though not at Pitt!) 3.9 uwGPA. 4.1 wGPA. Its a great option for him and he said it remains very high on his list even over several private schools.
If I have to guess, I think heās light on # of APs & # of As compared to most posters and that aligns with other higher awards with higher GPAs. Heās the kid with the continuously rising trajectory in grades. Both will be much higher mid senior yearā¦ hazards of applying early and taking most APs senior year.
My son received $20K/yr without Chancellor invite. OOS, business, honors, 34ACT (35 superscore), 4.02 wGPA, school does not rank, 5 AP classes, many honors classes, answered all 3 questions. For reference, he applied 9/25, accepted 10/4 via email (letter received 10/6 and stated Honors), GAP notification (MBA) 10/12, merit notification 11/16.
Seems like at times, the scholarship committee is splitting hairs. I know itās tough for those who donāt get any merit or for those who donāt seem to get as much as others. My D missed NMSF by 1 point!!! So she is commended, but what opportunities could she have pursued otherwise? I tell her to always put her best self forward, and that is all she has control over. So, congrats to those with merit $$ - it will help your kids to make better, informed decisions about which school is best for them.
I donāt think the Chancellorās invite is just about scores because all of the merit recipients have great stats. They are looking for something else.
Honestly, itās a mystery. Iād take the 20K with no chancellor since achieving chancellor is such a long shot. But I also donāt want to complain because 15K at least brings it into our ballpark. My daughter was a 34 w/ 5 APs this year and a total of 9 overall, top 2% of her class and weighted 4.55. But I think there are so many factors that go into the decision making processā¦what state you are from, which college you are applying to, short answer responses, rigor of coursework, intended major etc. So sheāll just do her best with her Chancellor essays and have to take some loans if we donāt get anything via cost analysis. Weāre still very excitedā¦but I understand the frustration of trying to figure out the secret sauce lol.
Congratulations to all you who have received Merit Scholarships. Based on the information everyone is posting, only those students close to perfect stats are getting these scholarships at Pitt. D18 has competitive stats, but her ACT is not high enough. She applied to Pitt with the idea or the hope to qualify for a Diversity Scholarships described on the Pitt Portalā¦ There is very little information as far as specific numbers or even students who have received these scholarships. She has been accepted and she would be very excited to attend. However, like everyone here, finances will play a large role in her decision.
@1917souci --stats for diversity scholarships at Pitt have always seemed right in line with the ones on the regular merit page. I think the lowest Iāve seen for a diversity scholarship here on CC for Pitt is 32-33. Are your daughters scores in line with the regular merit page?
@carachel2 - She applied with a 29 ACT and a 4.0. Good enough to get into the Pit business school but perhaps not good enough for any merit. The good news is that she has some excellent options right now including the comparable rated in state option as well as others. Hopefully, she will get a pleasant surprise from Pitt in order to make it a viable option as well. It seems like everyone being accepted to Pitt is a high stat student or at least this is the impression that CC has on me. Although, I would not be surprise that many of these high stat students end up going somewhere else as wellā¦Pitt is a fantastic school in a fantastic city. For sure an excellent place to beā¦
@1917souci how much merit would you need? The named full ride diversity scholarships are very limited and the ACT would be a deal breaker. I donāt know how many Cathedral of Learning Scholarships they offer but there are various levelsā5k,10k,15k, and full tuition. Just as a data point, someone has reported that their D was offered the full tuition with a 32 ACT.
@1917 I think the odds are very long for your daughter, unfortunately. The diversity scholarships seem to have the same requirements of the non-diversity scholarships. It seems to me that the only differentiator is that the funds are earmarked for diversity recruitment. In the past 3 years, Iāve yet to see a 29 ACT get any merit money from Pitt. In fact, the lowest Iāve seen is a 33 ACT, and I only recall seeing 1 of those reported, though my memory may be a tad faulty. So, I guess there is still hope, but I wouldnāt hold my breath. Did your Dās acceptance letter indicate that she was being considered for a scholarship? If not, thereās your answer.
Iām glad your D has other great options. 
@planner03 Probably half of the out of state tuition which does not sound doable at allā¦ We researched Pitt quite a bit prior to applying. They even contacted our daughter and waived the application fee. Nothing lost here and very little drama with them. The website is not very clear with details as far as the Diversity scholarship. I know she would do very well and be successful at Pitt. It would be a great fit and a the same time Pitt would be very lucky to have herā¦But based on your knowledge, it does not seem like this might happen.
@itsgettingreal17 Judging by your logo, you seem to be a UGA. fanā¦ UGA happens to be our in state option and she was thrilled to have been accepted yesterday afternoon along with Ohio State. Very exciting opportunities for sure and waiting for others tooā¦ I just looked at the acceptance letter and there is NO MENTION of future scholarship consideration. Just a very nice acceptance letter and another generic letter of what to do about enrollment. So if this is the case, I guess we can look at it this way. better to know now than to have any false hopes of attending Pitt .The reality is that the University of Pittsburgh or any University for that matter does not know whether an out of state student has the ability to afford such a school. They either accept or reject all these candidates based on merit , Scholarships are big bonuses. This is why is good idea to apply to many schools. Some are a little more holistic in the way the approach scholarshipsā¦ Maybe they will come through, otherwise no reason to get too excited.Still very proud to have been accepted!!!
@1917souci I feel what you are going through. My daughters SAT is below what they are looking for, but i have always said that these tests should not be the only deciding factor. My daughter has all the other criteria, and has so much to offer( i know every parent must feel this way)
For the parents that have had kids score almost perfect or perfect scores, kudos to your kids, but there still should be opportunities for other merit aid that is not based solely on the SAT or ACT.
As far as I can tell, Pitt is looking for near perfect everything - which is fine, itās their money to hand out, after all. My son liked the school enough to try to improve his 1480 SAT score, but Iāve since learned that his few B/B+ grades from 8th and 9th grade would probably disqualify him from getting a scholarship now matter what score he gets. He wouldnāt need full tuition, half tuition, or even $10K - I really wish the school were an option, but not willing to take out loans when plenty of schools would fall within budget.
@adamt12 True. There are many amazing kids out there.
The debate over how to award merit is an extensive one. Do football teams ever award spots on teams to amazing kids who try really hard but canāt run the sprints in a certain amount of time or who canāt tackle? No they donāt. A lot of these kids earning merit based on their scores are not just kids who magically showed up one time and popped out an amazing score. They holed up in their rooms after school to take practice tests and to work to get a score that they knew was most likely to get merit. Should that kind of effort be rewarded? Is the desire to set a goal and work towards that goal ahead of time an admirable trait?
This is a business. A school needs to be able to show they have strong students with strong scores in order to show they have a strong academic student body. The way to do that is to lure the higher stat kids to their school. Blame U.S. News and World Report for their ranking system that is so highly regardedā¦but donāt blame the schools for trying to keep up and to show they are strong contenders.
This is the generation of kids who all got a participation trophy and the parents are used to that as well. It all kind of stops in college and with merit awards. Some of itās fair, some of it isnāt fair. The good news is pretty much everyone gets a fresh start in college and hard work and grit and determination are more of the determinants of success than the scores on the paper. The students who are really amazing kids will shine through.
Pitt is full of a lot of amazing kids who contribute a lot to the school, campus and community. Unfortunately the school has to have some objective way to award the $$ because without the objectivity, it would all be just believing what the kids wrote in an essay or put on a resume.
Pitt publishes their guidelines very clearly on their scholarship page. It is pretty much magical thinking to hope that somehow they will see something different in the subjective information submitted by one applicant and make an exception to their published criteria.
There are scholarships at many schools for kids without the stats that Pitt considers for their merit awards. Key is to be open to and apply to those schools that will give your student scholarships based on their profile.
There so many outstanding kids that get left out of these scholarships at many of these 50 to say 100 ranked schools. These are the same kids that do not qualify for FAFSA or the like. However, some of these schools do a much better job in being upfront or describing exactly what specific stats are required.As I mentioned before, some are even more holistic than others. Many Universities do a great job by being very specific with their requirements or what is required to get these scholarships. Schools like The Ohio State University, Miami U, Alabama, etc. do a great job in posting these numbers Then you have schools like Pitt that in my opinion dedicated to whole page on Diversity Scholarships, but there is nothing specific as to what is required. Misleading? Not sure. But the overall communications from the staff is top notch.
This is a long process and lottery as well. We made sure we did our homework and kept an open mind in targeting many schools. D18 ended up applying to 8 schools including our excellent instate option which was not a given . It is just getting more and more difficult to get into our own top ranked universities. Just blessed to have been admitted. But like many kids out there, she would prefer to go to school out of state. Would it be disappointing for her to not attend an out of state school due to affordability? Probably, but I think she understands and this is why we are āplaying the gameā ( I hate putting it like that ) If we had to do it all over again, we would do it the same way. We will cross our fingers to see if Pitt comes through, otherwise, I do believe that she will to have some excellent options Hopefully many of you will too.
By the way, this board has been such a powerful tool. The amount of knowledge here is beyond anything I ever seenā¦ It is just awesome to be able to learn and bounce ideas from each other not to mention the support we are getting. A bunch of strangers coming together and helping one another. Just awesome!!!
@1917souci , I agree! And well said. I just wish I had found this board sooner bc D did not know the essays were so important and thought they were more of a formality with Pitt being so stats-driven. Oh well! Good luck to everyone!
@eh1234 - I can almost guarantee that the few B/B+ in 8/9 grade wouldnāt take him out of the running if his other grades/stats were great. So donāt dispare!
It seems Pitt is right now where GW was when I attended. A school really working hard to improve their rankings - which, sadly, is in part driven by average SAT or ACT scores. To move up, they do give very generous aid to those with the tippy top scores to entice them to come. They get the payoff of improved average scores and possible improved rankingā¦which in the end is good for everyone at PITT I guess.
Best of luck to everyone!