What are my chances at getting into Pitt?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
1

<p>Before you read this, please note that I want you to take everything into consideration, not just those top two scores you see.</p>

<p>Black Male
New Jersey
Rising Senior</p>

<p>GPA:3.34
ACT:24
Rank in class:3
Top 8 percent
National Honor Society
Going to Apply Early
Honors Classes
(My SAT scores were bad, but those are history, and I also wasn't prepared to take the test, so no one will hear about the test scores again)</p>

<p>Activities/Jobs/EC's:
Varsity Baseball 9, 10, 11, 12 - Captain
Basketball Team- 9 - Captain
Reebok-Sales Associate 11, 12
Cashier- Eport' LL - 9, 10, 11, 12
Assistant Coach-Eport' LL -10, 11, 12
Umpire-Eport' LL - 10, 11, 12
Cultural Club- 9, 10, 11, 12
Senior Spirit- Community Service- 10,11
Shadowed an Accountant- Newark YMCA- 9, 10, 11, 12
Liberty Baptist Church Soup Kitchen- Community Service- 9, 10, 11, 12
Math Club- 11, 12
Gentlemen's Awareness Club- 11,12
Delta Teen Club Member- 10, 11, 12
Knights of Columbus Scholarship Award Winner
Spelling Bee Winner-9
National Society for High School Students- 10, 11, 12
& 40+ sports related trophies, awards, plaques</p>

<p>If it helps any I am from a depressed urban city, one of the worst in America. I will be the first of the second generation kids in my family attending college. I currently have a cousin at the university of pittsburgh who has made a huge impact at the school. I will be applying early to all of the schools after my first marking period grades, which usually come out around the first week in november, which will also be an amazing boost in my gpa if I can achieve a 95 average.</p>

<p>I will mention my city, my circumstances, my cousin, and much more in my essay to try and win the admissions team over with emotional appeal.</p>

<p>Hopefully my race will play a role too even though that shouldn't be that important to me.</p>

<p>And btw, i was at University of Pitt Saturday and they mentioned that the average gpa for the incoming class was only a 3.5/3.6---hard to believe but who am I to argue?</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

2

<p>what are you planning to major in at Pitt? does your 3.34 consist mostly of B’s and a few A’s or do you have a number of C’s? Is there an upward “trend” in your grades?</p>

3

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<p>I think your best bet here is to apply as early as possible. How much will the first quarter grades change your overall GPA? If it’s not by a lot, don’t wait until November, apply in early September. You were at Pitt this weekend-- did you take a tour, talk to admissions, etc? The more active interest you show in Pitt early on, the better for you. Pitt will be much more willing to “forgive” a bad GPA or a bad SAT/ACT score if they know how serious you are about going here.</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, what are you applying for? (Engineering, Science, Humanities, etc?)</p>

<p>Also, even though your cousin goes to Pitt, I don’t <em>think</em> that will count as legacy (though I could be wrong) because I think legacy is limited to immediate family (siblings, parents, grandparents, etc.).</p>

4

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<p>Something’s fishy about this. According to the Common Data Set, the average high school GPA for entering freshman in Fall 2010 was 3.91. </p>

<p>Data is not published yet for this year’s entering class, but I doubt the average GPA fell to a 3.6.</p>

5

<p>^^^^^^This is a guess, but I wonder if one set of numbers is weighted GPA and the other is unweighted.</p>

6

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<p>Good point, although do schools ever publish unweighted GPA info? According to the OP:</p>

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<p>He never says who “they” refers to. Another student? A pathfinder? Or an actual admissions rep? Could be that a Pathfinder/student threw out numbers that could have been completely incorrect…</p>

7

<p>sorry, it was probably a path find just throwing out numbers. I am planning to major in business, and I didn’ think that the cousin thing would get me far, I’m just trying to get any advantage I can.</p>

8

<p>In order to get every advantage that you can, make sure that you submit with your application:</p>

<p>1- essay or personal statement
2- resume
3- teacher recommendations</p>

<p>Since you are applying for business they may look to see what level math you have taken and your math subscore on the ACT. Note that most business degrees will require you to take a calculus course and a statistics course.</p>

9

<p>@pamom59 is definitely correct, throw in ALL the extras you can for your application (those are also very helpful in determining merit scholarships!).</p>

<p>Also, I think for business you have to take Calc 1 and Calc 2 at least…so be prepared for that!</p>

10

<p>You geographic location is also a plus. Your scores are just below the lower 25th percentile range. It may be worth taking the ACT again if you think you can pop that up to a 25 or higher. Your high school rank is excellent. </p>

<p>Do you think you’d be good enough to [play for or walk-on Pitt’s varsity baseball team? Contacting the coaching staff may get you some connections (don’t know if they can pull any strings for walk-ons, but it might be worth contacting them if you have any interest in playing baseball at Pitt). You could start with the [recruiting</a> application here](<a href=“https://secure.assistantcoach.net/colleges/athlete_webform.asp?oid=101&sid=1586]recruiting”>https://secure.assistantcoach.net/colleges/athlete_webform.asp?oid=101&sid=1586). In any case, FYI, Pitt has baseball at the club team level as well.</p>

<p>Pitt likely reports weighted GPAs on the Common Data Set. You may have been quoted an unweighted GPA, or GPAs could be down because of the controversy in PA over budget cuts to the state-schools and resulting possibilities of increased in-state tuition. Who knows?</p>

<p>No matter what, with your story and background, I think you have a very good shot at admission. Remember, even with those 25-75 percentile numbers reported in the CDS, a whole quarter of Pitt’s class last year got in with credentials as good as (or potentially) worse than yours. Pitt often tells such students to send in updated transcripts later in their senior year to track their progress, so do not get senioritis. Work on improving that GPA as much as you can your senior year, and I think you’ll have a very good chance.</p>

11

<p>If you can get your ACT score up a little bit, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to make it into Pitt. I’ve seen people with much easier circumstances get in with something like a 3.5 and 26 ACT, without any really strong ECs and without being a URM. I think if you can get a 26 on your ACT and make sure you have strong senior grades, you will have absolutely no problem getting. Good luck!</p>