<p>Hi. When should kids start hearing about scholarships? I’ve heard between Nov and January. Have any in state kids gotten more than $2000 a year in scholarships and if so and u don’t mind sharing, how much and what were stats and extra cirr like? Thanks</p>
<p>Based on the past few years, the scholarships should be arriving in mailboxes soon. However, they may have changed the timing since they have admitted students much earlier than in the past. I am sure there will be posts when the first scholarship letters are received.</p>
<p>I heard 2 responses to this- November and December- so I figure sometime over the next 2 months before the end of the year. </p>
<p>My scholarship question is how likely is it for someone to get a merit scholarship who did not get an invite to the honors college? My daughter was accepted to Swanson School of Engineering and has good stats but from a very competitive school so she missed the honors invite due to class rank alone! </p>
<p>Her stats are:
GPA: 3.7 UW / 4.5 W
ACT: 34 (composite)
SAT: 1420 (CR+M)
Class Rank: 14% (out of ~ 565 students)</p>
<p>The response she received from OAFA was a bit discouraging since this is her first choice of school but we’re OoS (NC) so she needs a scholarship to be able to attend:
“Your class rank is outside the range for an invitation to participate in the University Honors College. Typically students are within the top 5% of their high school class. This is also true for merit-based scholarships. Competition for merit-based scholarships is even more competitive within the Swanson School of Engineering.”</p>
<p>This might not go over so well on this site, but I’ve seen some stats not as high (but high enough to meet the requirement) but class rank was also in the range so they get the honors acceptance, so it is frustrating to us that so much weight is put on class rank since schools can vary so much. Not all schools even use class rank. </p>
<p>So back to my question re: scholarships what is the chance of getting a merit scholarship if you did not get invited to the honors college but still have good stats?</p>
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<p>Unfortunately it’s probably pretty slim. Considering that not all UHC students get money, and they are considered the top of the admitted class, someone who is non-UHC also getting money wouldn’t make much sense.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that they’re putting so much emphasis on class rank, since they generally didn’t in the past. Out of curiosity, what kind of classes was she taking? Was she in a lot of Honors/AP/advanced classes or no? If the answer is no, then I could see the reasoning, but if she was also challenging herself a lot, it just doesn’t make sense…</p>
<p>awesome, do u know much about in state scholarships? From reading on cc, it looks like it is either $2000 or full tuition and pretty much nothing in between. Since you’re bound to have instate friends, you’ll have more details than me. Also, kid is accepted to Liberal Arts school, he did get accepted to UHC, and got a very quick turnaround. I am wondering if maybe engineering is better endowed than liberal arts but have no idea. thanks and thanks for all your other posts too. You have to be close to graduating by now!!!</p>
<p>^ AwesomeOpossum</p>
<p>She’s taken math all the way through AP Calc AB and AP Calc BC and most of the AP sciences (AP Env. Science, AP Chem, AB Bio) and also honors Physics. Also AP English and AP Gov/Pol. Our school only offers honors level for freshman year (no AP), so she took all honors, and the school only offers 1 AP for sophomores so she took that and all the rest honors then junior year took a combination of honors and AP and this year she has 4 AP classes and the rest honors. </p>
<p>Also, the school is a 7-point grading scale (A=93-100, B=85-92, etc.), which doesn’t affect her class rank (everyone is on the same scale) but further stifles our kids when compared to schools that have 10-point grading scales- although I think that might be more prevalent south of us.</p>
<p>We have a 7 point grading school too. It makes that 85 weighted honors class look pretty bad cause it shows up as a B- on the transcript even though school weights it as an A for GPA calculations. and grades at 90 or 91 are B+ rather than A’s… :(</p>
<p>^ ctl987</p>
<p>Exactly! - Same with us and I think the grading scales up north are same or even more unforgiving (I’ve heard some even have 5 point scale). But my daughter has a friend in Florida where the entire state uses 10 point scale. </p>
<p>My daughter also applied to UF, UNC, Clemson and a couple others but really wants to go to Pitt since she has a few legacy alumni there including my grandmother (graduated ~ 1920), but it’s not looking hopeful for a scholarship 
</p>
<p>Regarding your comment about engineering being more endowed- the counselor said the competition is even more competitive there for scholarships (my daughter was admitted for Bioengineering).</p>
<p>thanks. So I take it you’re in the south… She’d love Pitt except for winter issues 
cool on legacy issues. My son would have applied to some of the schools your daughter did but for the OSS costs. UF and UNC def came up in conversation and we may visit UF next month since we will be in Fla. and he is considering transferring to a Fla school down the road. Well, my guess is based on schools she applied to and I think she has good stats and EC;s, both of which seem helpful with Pitt scholarships. Good luck!!! If we hear anything, we’ll post. I think you said it but has she been admitted yet?</p>
<p>^ ctl987
Yes, she was accepted to Swanson Engineering (Bioengineering) in August so the early acceptance made us hopeful of a scholarship but not so sure now. I’m nuts over the fact that the class rank is what prevented her from an invite to the UHC. </p>
<p>We live in NC so she applied to UNC as well. I’m from Pittsburgh and my daughter wants to ‘experience’ the cold weather (despite my warnings of it). She’s been invited to other honor colleges but really wants to hold out for Pitt. </p>
<p>We’ll see how it goes keeping fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Yes, keep them crossed!!! Cool on living in NC. I hear u on the UHC issue Our issues are good but not stellar SAT and no AP classes cause they are only online at his school and he opted to take face-to-face classes instead. So time will tell. Def a bigger deal for y’all though being out of state. Does she have option to move to Pa and establish residency before starting college? don’t know how long that takes and if she;s like mine, he was not open to that option for other states as he wants to start college right away</p>
<p>coleman4, I thought I read on here before, and maybe Awesome can remember this, but some calling UHC to have them reconsider the applicant. That likely won’t make any difference for $ though. But as you might have heard, UHC is an open membership college after your first semester anyway. Not getting UHC status as an incoming freshman really won’t prevent her from participating in it. The money issue is a different concern though, but it never hurts to call and ask, even later in the process to see if any money has freed up and to try to leverage other offers (or UNC). It is always good to give the impression that you are really interested in Pitt.</p>
<p>The good news is, despite their official line, Pitt really does want OOS state students with geographical diversity often being from a state with less students does help with aid. There were only 159 students enrolled last year from North Carolina…that includes graduates/professional students as well. That’s not as good as say, Mississippi or Alaska, but that is better than being form New York or Ohio.</p>
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<p>FYI, regarding legacy status, you might not be aware of this, but Pitt has scanned in all of their old yearbooks and commencement programs, etc. You should be able to find your grandmother or other Pitt relatives here: [Documenting</a> Pitt: Historic Publications and Images of the University of Pittsburgh](<a href=“http://digital.library.pitt.edu/d/documentingpitt/]Documenting”>http://digital.library.pitt.edu/d/documentingpitt/)</p>
<p>Wow Coleman, I just saw your kid’s stats and they are good. Well, given that she is an OSS in an “underrepresented” state with good stats, all of that can only help. Keep us posted… If she’s from one of the really good NC high schools, it can not hurt to point that out to Pitt either and I assume they know about legacy and family from the area already. if not, have her do some kind of supplemental statement that gets that info to the scholarship committee. and what I meant about the caliber of her high school, my undergrad alma mater was VERY statistically driven and so some kids from magnet schools or premier privates did not have the class percentiles sought by my college cause those kids were surrounded by other brilliant kids. And Pitt will not know(or maybe they do) what the really good public or private schools are in NC. They will know that info for Pittsburgh and Philly schools but I don’t think would be as up for it on an out of state school.</p>
<p>Last year, DS was accepted with full tuition scholarship and invite to the UHC. His high school does not rank the students. He did have very good stats and his high school is pretty well-known. </p>
<p>I think when you talk to the adcoms at Pitt, they will say different things depending on when and who you talk to. Do not be surprised to see students with lower stats (than your child) get a scholarship and invite to UHC – it really depends upon what Pitt wants each year :(</p>
<p>Mtnest - when and how do we know if we have been accepted to the honors college?</p>
<p>Coleman</p>
<p>Her stats are quite good and she also has gender (Swanson is only 25 percent female), OOS NC, and legacy on her side. </p>
<p>I will be honest, I have never heard of Pitt leaning so heavily on rank simply for the Honors College. I do think things have gotten increasingly more and more competitive there. When S who graduates in May was accepted he was invited to the Honors College, invited to apply for the Chancellors (and was simultaneously awarded Faison). My recollection was he had 1440 SAT-one sitting/ 2120 total- OOS 800 subject tests, 3 five APs 1 four from a well known very competitive school ( 20% enroll in Ivy Leagues). His school does NOT rank. And 92 is an A-. His current roommate is a Carolina boy who won a Chancellors and I believe he was 1460.</p>
<p>I would NOT give up quite yet. It’s October and often one official will say something and another will say something else. At the risk of sounding Pollyanna, I would not be entirely shocked if you came back and told us she did receive something. In the meantime, I would see what the next two weeks brings and perhaps followup with a formal letter on the rigor of your daughter’s high school and her serious intent.</p>
<p>PS He received his scholarship on Christmas Eve.</p>
<p>befrank, my kid and others were told in their acceptance letters they were eligible to participate in the UHC</p>
<p>^ wgmcp101- Thank you much for that link to the archives. I was able to find 3 legacies with just a quick search. Also for pointing out the NC stat. </p>
<p>^ washdcmom - Thank you for posting the Swanson female %</p>
<p>^ ctl987 and others for the positive encouragement and suggestion to write an additional supplement. I told me daughter we have nothing to lose to try that. The biggest worry is getting a scholarship since we are OoS. She has already gotten scholarship offers from a couple other schools but REALLY wants to go to Pitt so I hope an extra personal statement will help. </p>
<p>I’ll keep everyone posted 
… I feel like we’re all in this together!</p>
<p>Befrank2014: For the 1st child, the acceptance letter to Pitt, acceptance to UHC arrived on the same day in late October (guess they were sent out on the same day). His full tuition and engineering scholarship letters came a few weeks later. For child #2, the acceptance letter to Pitt and UHC arrived in late September and the full tuition scholarship letter arrived later. This was all via snail mail.</p>
<p>I would say it has gotten more competitive to get the scholarships and do not take what comes out of the Adcoms’ mouths as 100% true. If Pitt wants a student, they will do what they can to get that student to attend. Pitt also offers many scholarships for URMs and they mention these on their scholarship page. It is very difficult to compare why one student received a scholarship over another student unless you see their entire application file especially with just stats being posted on CC.</p>
<p>So would anyone agree that it’s possible that recommendation letters and extra-curricular resumes would help towards scholarship - separate and apart from just stats? I’m in a similar boat as many of you - daughter accepted to conditional pharmacy, invite to UHC and we are out of state - Pitt is her #1, but we really are hoping for some scholarship money to help offset the price.</p>