<p>your essays, well written, will help. is there any chance you could improve your 29? It’s average for Pitt admissions, but your GPA is a bit low and much harder to improve significantly (altho, a combination of improvements is always a plus). </p>
<p>have you run the net price calculator? it isn’t as accurate for students with divorced parents, but it will give you an idea if your family can afford the OOS tuition. the npcs are not exact, esp. when there’s two households involved, and sometimes it’s hard to get one or the other parent to pony up the information because s/he doesn’t want the other parent to have that info and blahblahblah, but you need to get it nonetheless.</p>
<p>if Pitt is not for you financially or academically, have you considered MA state schools? They’ll be cheaper and more likely to accept an in-state student. There are CS programs in MA that will fit you as well as Pitt’s. </p>
<p>It’s important not to focus on one school. it suggests a certain arrogance, such as that you know that at none of the other 3000 schools will you find a better fit. Silly, right? Irrational, right? Try to make big decisions, such as choosing a college, based on the knowledge you can acquire, and when it comes to choosing colleges there are a lot of choices and a lot of knowledge to base your decision upon. Put aside your ego and choose rationally. There are lots of fine CS programs for you. To apply only to Pitt is stupid, to be frank.</p>