D25 is in-state for Pitt and received a 2k annual merit award for an approx. 35K tuition. Pre-health science major; loves the urban setting; can do a dance minor and has 60 credits coming in. 4.5 hrs from home. Plan has unofficially been Pitt since the fall even with admits from PSU, Tampa, Charleston, Delaware and Maryland.
She received RD admission to Syracuse today (somewhat expected) but unexpected was a Leadership Scholarship for 1/2 tuition for all 4 years valued a $33,290 per year and priority invite to apply to the Honors Program. Nutrition major in Falk College. D25 loved Syracuse when we visited last year but it fell way down on her list mostly due to pricetag (83K) and we are full pay apart from merit. The leadership award brings the total cost for Cuse down to around 50K/year. 2hrs from home; unsure how many credits would transfer or dance minor options here but she only pushed Syracuse down on her list due to expected cost being double+ Pitt.
We can make each school work price-wise, but there still is a tremendous cost savings with Pitt over Syracuse (15k per year). She’s applied to about 15 outside scholarships and has a fair shot at a few so cost may be lower. Should we not even entertain the offer from Syracuse? The Leadership scholarship has a special reception program and dinner in a few weeks that may be helpful but may make her feel more unsettled. I haven’t researched Syracuse as heavily as I have Pitt because I didn’t anticipate it being in play $$$ Any advice would be appreciated between these 2 schools at these pricepoints.
What does the Leadership Prigram entail and is she interested.
What’s the additional cost - abd it may be more than you think - and are you ok paying that?
Btw having 60 credits and having them all usable is not the same thing. Most certainly SU will not take all but even at Pitt you never know. My daughter had 33 but so many were counting for the same - she could only use 9.
I think if you loved Pitt b4 it’s the way to go.
If you want to give SU a try make sure you truly are ok paying more or don’t allow it to be an option.
It sounds like it’s purely financial at this point with a chance for Honors. Honors is different everywhere. So research to see if the activities are a match for her desires.
Thank you! I’m trying to find out more about the Leadership Scholars program, it seems to be a generous award with 1/2 tuition for all 4 years. I don’t know how many students receive it, but it seems similar to some Honor programs themselves with a 1 credit seminar; ability for dedicated Leadership dorms/LLC. She would be interested in Honors as well at Syracuse. They do have a dance minor from our quick research and no audition needed. I do think it may be similar to Pitt’s dance minor so considering that equal.
Pitt’s transfer tool equivalency page has 57 of her 60 credits transferring. I suspect SU would be lower unless an articulation agreement exists (it may) but I haven’t checked. Planning to research a bit more and possibly attend the Leadership Scholars reception to do our due diligence.
Does she have any academic requirements to meet in order to receive the award each year? Sometimes that requirement trips students up if college is harder than they thought and they struggle to maintain the required GPA.
Has she visited Syracuse? The immediate campus and some of the adjacent, college-centric areas are nice but the rest of the city is struggling a bit (DH is from there and we lived there for 10 years. He still has family there, so we go back several times a year). It’s also a smaller city, I believe, than Pittsburg.
Definitely check into what advantages the Leadership program provides and decide if that warrants the 15k difference per year. Everything else is probably equal.
The Leadership Scholars Program recognizes students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to academic achievement, leadership and community service. The Leadership Scholarship covers half tuition for students entering in fall 2022 and beyond. Some schools and colleges at Syracuse University may provide additional benefits to Leadership Scholars beyond the 50% tuition award.
Students who receive a University-funded scholarship must maintain a minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.75 and complete at least 12 credits per semester to continue eligibility. However, students will need to take an average of 15 credits each semester to graduate in four years.
Agree completely with the assessment and review of Syracuse seeming to be considerably less vibrant outside of the direct campus. We have been to Syracuse for bball games in the winter (where D25 once declared mid snow storm I will never even apply here and then years later in May with sunshine & flowers in bloom and she declared it was the prettiest campus we had seen at the time. I don’t think Syracuse the city/town can compare to Pitt/Oakland in terms of the arts, restaurants, social - all of which is important to D25.
Yes…and the nice thing about a scholarship that is half tuition is that if tuition goes up, so does the scholarship.
Your daughter has excellent options. Does she want to be in a city with a lot of other amenities (major league sports, first class arts, etc) in addition to what the college offers? That would be Pittsburgh and Pitt. or would she prefer a smaller city with a college and all it has to offer…that would be Syracuse.
I think both choices are good ones. Can she revisit, and make a decision. I would let her decide.
But if we are voting…I’d vote for Pitt. It has everything the college has to offer plus everything that city has to offer!
I’d vote Pitt too! that’s why I’m hesitant to really even allow Syracuse back onto the table but I don’t want her to overlook a potential great opportunity there. She’s a pre-professional ballerina as well so Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre for community classes also a huge plus along with ability to attend their company performances during the year. She loves big time sports and is also trying out for Pitt’s dance team but that result won’t be until after May 1 commitments. If that was solidified she won’t consider anywhere but Pitt because all boxes would be checked for her.
Would all of her boxes be checked at Syracuse? Including access to a great community dance program (like Pittsburgh Ballet offers)?
Also, I don’t know where you are traveling from, but driving to Syracuse when it snows can be a huge challenge. And it snows a lot more there than in Pittsburgh.
We haven’t dug into Syracuse much at all with respect to these programs or outside offerings to fairly compare.
We’re under 2hrs from Syracuse (from Northeast PA) and have gotten stuck in squalls driving up there. We are 4.5-5hrs from Pitt but seems like an easy, boring yet long drive across the state, less concerned about weather being a factor there.
To me this says a lot. But that’s you and not your daughter. So two things may happen:
She’s giddy about a great acceptance and Honor and she’ll want to see it through. But once she sees the surrounds, she’ll realize Pitt is for her.
In a day or two, after the excitement of the SU offer wears off, she realizes it (now). The offer is definitely something to be proud of and she should roll with it, at least for a few days.
I say all this as an SU alum. But at least based on what you wrote (not her), it’s Pitt for the win.
I feel like your question is basically whether it would be OK as a parent for you to say an additional $60K or so is too much extra to pay for Syracuse, which is not a notably better university given her interests than Pitt (if anything the opposite).
If I have that right, that is obviously a very personal decision, but I would say that is definitely at least one rational perspective.
If it helps, I note that sort of scholarship is really designed to make Syracuse competitive with OOS public university costs of attendance. It is not designed to be enough to make it competitive with in-state costs of attendance, which would blow a much bigger hole in Syracuse’s operating budget (meaning if it made a lot of offers to compete on cost with in-state options).
So it is a nice honor to receive, but realistically I think Syracuse knows a lot of kids will end up not taking such an offer, at least not when they have an in-state option as good as Pitt.
On the other hand, if you can comfortably afford the difference and want to leave the decision up to your D25, that would also be a reasonable choice. Again, this is all very personal.
Depending where the OP lives, the train might also be an option sometimes. It is usually a bit slower than driving (even before accounting for getting to the station), and the timing is not always the best. But it is very pleasant and relaxing, and the part of the route between around Harrisburg and Pittsburgh is very scenic (and slower, for common reasons).
It sounds to me that Pitt has absolutely everything your child wants at a very manageable cost. To me, the open questions are: Does Syracuse, with the Honors Program, surpass Pitt in any way? What benefits does the honors program provide (this varies greatly from college to college)? Is there a differential in credits accepted and is that meaningful? Does a certain GPA have to be maintained to keep the Syracuse scholarship? Is the dance program at Syracuse strong enough?
I think this is it exactly. On paper Pitt is the clear winner for her. Not knowing a whole lot about Syracuse because we’ve been so focused on Pitt’s offerings and the RD decision so late with unexpected merit; just wanting to ensure we aren’t overlooking or dismissing an equal or better opportunity. I don’t think we are, given all of the factors and opportunities with Pitt for her. A nice feather in her cap for sure, but I think Pitt will remain her choice. (I’ll need to deal with the distance as she is totally fine with it!
Grew up in Pittsburgh, SU alum, and now my son is at school in Pittsburgh (at CMU). He applied to / was accepted to both SU at Pitt and would have taken Pitt over SU as a science major. We now live in NYC and so are out of state. With merit, the price for Pitt/SU for us was similar. I LOVED my time at SU a generation ago and might still consider it over Pitt for some majors, but not pre-health. We were incredibly impressed by Pitt when we looked a couple years ago. And Pittsburgh wins as a city / environment over Syracuse - no contest. In the end, though, both great options. Good luck and congrats!
and then years later in May with sunshine & flowers in bloom and she declared it was the prettiest campus we had seen at the time. I don’t think Syracuse the city/town can compare to Pitt/Oakland in terms of the arts, restaurants, social - all of which is important to D25.