<p>My son just received letter for $10K/yr. Very happy but was hoping for more. Odds looked good we thought as he was invited to apply for Guaranteed admit to Pitt med school, eligible for Honors College and was pre-accepted to masters program for engineering when he was accepted for undergrad. </p>
<p>SAT 2210 (1500 cr/m)
ACT 34
National Merit semi-finalist - will hear in the next week or so. No rejection letter so it looks good for finalist and he listed Pitt as #1 choice
West Point leadership award
3 sport lettering athlete</p>
<p>jkeil - my dd applied and was accepted last yr - 12K merit award + invite for chancellors but didn’t get asked to interview. I think “AO” is about the most knowledgeable about admissions, trends on merit scholarships than anyone around here and she isn’t an old alumni but still at Pitt. I am sure there are lots of permutations of merit awards that we don’t know about this yr because not all candidates know about cc or post on it.</p>
<p>congratulations, Kleelak. That 34 was sweet, esp with those 3 letters. Do you think that guaranteed admit to engineering graduate school and med school will be enough to persuade him?</p>
<p>thank you, amandakayak. yes, they may have have changed one of the awards from 12 to 15K this year. This year, I haven’t heard of any 12Ks and Kleelak’s is the first mention I can remember of a 10K. I agree that AO is the most knowledgeable on this forum, and I AM making calls based on what I see happening this year and what it says on the website. She may have depth of knowledge I don’t.</p>
<p>Jkeil. Thanks very much Not sure what he’ll do. He got 4 full tuition NMF offers and other large NMF offers but doesn’t want to go to any of the schools. Still waiting to hear on acceptance to some other schools also. It’s a great engineering school but I think he wants to go farther away (we live close to Pitt).</p>
<p>I don’t mind posting his stats; previous years users posted their stats and it helped us. The first thing to keep in mind is that he applied using the Pitt Prestige app, so I don’t recall if they saw all these stats. (I don’t remember what was required.)</p>
<p>GPA 4.0/4.0 (uw) 4.73/4.0 (w)
Pseudo Rank top 1-2% (school doesn’t rank but sends percentiles and GPA ranges for those percentiles)
ACT: 35 10 essay / 35 (Super scores to 36 if they considered both scores)
SAT II : 790 Math II / 750 Bio
National Merit Commended
AP Scholar with Distinction 7 5s
Senior sched: 6 more APs
Average ECs with a lot time spent on Football + some community service groups
Sent 2 Recs
Didn’t do a an essay. </p>
<p>We visited while on vacation during a Ready, Set, Pitt day.</p>
<p>Dave_N
Congrats! Are you OOS? My son also has a 4.0/4.0, ranked #2 and has 5 AP’s classes. Has already taken 2 math classes at Pitt thru his HS and is a National Merit finalist. Similar SATII (790M/710 Chem) but only got a 10K scholarship. Very confused and disappointed. Pitt was his top choice but is now hoping to go elsewhere due to small scholarship offer.</p>
<p>I’d say it is not likely you would be admitted. The evidence of a willingness to work really hard over a semester-length just isn’t there. </p>
<p>If Pitt is your dream school, you could do a year at a community college (30 credit hours would be better than 24) and see if Pitt would allow you to transfer. Lots of students do this who didn’t have it together early in high school or who were ill one year. Take the gen ed. requirements at Pitt in h.s. Be in touch with the Pitt transfer admissions people.</p>
<p>kleelak, University Central Florida was beautiful. they prob have most generous NM scholarship and i’ve heard Bama treats their nm kids very well too even past the generous scholarhships.</p>
<p>and i’m pretty sure both schools allow u to modify ur NM designation to make them the first choice.</p>
<p>Sounds like a few others have similar stories. The total Scholarship amount I was originally awarded was $10k from UHC and $2k from SSOE (and automatic UHC eligibility). Plus guaranteed grad school from SSOE and the invite for Chancellors.</p>
<p>And from what I have seen in the past few years- there are definitely caps on states and money. The scholarship committee/admissions office may not come out and say it, but they’re definitely there.</p>
<p>Kleelak, one of my twins had similar test score stats and got $15K but she is OOS. So your $10K in state is better than the $15K OOS when comparing total cost of attending. Other twin had 36 ACT and received full tuition. Both girls were invited for Chancellors. Don’t think they take into account ECs for scholarships, but they sent in Activities Resume along with Essay and letters of Rec. They have 5 APs done and 4 more APs this year. We never visited formally. Also NMF. Where did he get 4 full rides for NMF? My girls received letters but the schools weren’t on their radar. Always wonder if that was a mistake.</p>
<p>Dave N - OMG - 13APs! And congrats! Is this his top school? </p>
<p>I just saw a listing of all the kids that absolutely ROCKED the SATs/ACTs - they are nominees for the Presidential Scholars Award. LOTS of names on that list in each state. Humbling. Like I keep saying, kids are working hard these days.</p>
<p>Kleelak: Pitt does not have a specific NMF scholarship, correct? So how does naming them as his first choice help (I am trying to figure this stuff help)? My parents are saying to me to name Northeastern or another school that gives huge money for finalist as first choice and not a school that doesn’t participate.
If you go to Pitt and make NMF and get the $2500, you get that whether Pitt is named as first choice or not don’t you? I’m still confused by that stuff.
With your son’s stats, I am really surprised he only got 10k a year. I agree that he might get higher ranked schools and a lot more $ in then end.</p>
<p>3tallblonds: The NMF board is really active with a lot of information about schools. My parents made me apply to a couple of schools that would give good money to finalist or semifinalist as financial safety schools. I visited one and liked it a lot and will visit Northeastern if we get official word of finalist…I know a couple of people doing this. They guarantee 30k a year + honors program and honors housing for finalist (and your girls would probably both get Scholars which is full ride). A lot of kids take the Alabama package and I have a friend going to Ok. (or univ. of Tulsa?) on a full ride if he makes finalist.</p>
<p>yes, hs grad, it is best to name a school that offers a generous NM package as your first choice if u r thinking of going to one of those schools. Or even better, not name a school at all until u have to make the designation. Not sure if NE has a specific deadline but the general deadline date that u have to name a school is May 1st. Some schools have earlier deadlines. and correct, Pitt does not have a NM scholarship. and as u noted, the NM board has tons of info on NM issues for anyone else who is in the NM pool.</p>
<p>hsgrad - Correct, Pitt doesn’t have a “formal” NM scholarship, but ds is not interested in any of the schools that do so he wouldn’t consider putting any other schools as his first choice. Believe me, it drives me nuts but I’m not going to force him to go somewhere just because it’s free. I agree with your parents if you are flexible on the school you will go to, name a school with a GREAT NMF offer and there are a bunch.</p>
<p>3tallblonds - congrats on yours twins accomplishments - that’s fantastic!!! None of the schools that sent letters/emails were on his radar, either and I also wonder if it’s a mistake, but c’est la vie!! His school doesn’t offer many AP classes and no honors classes so he gets short-changed in that category (has taken 3 college courses already during HS due to lack of advanced classes available). Has great EC’s and activities and great letters of rec. Pitt was the first school he applied to (back in September) so his essay was AWFUL (in my own opinion) so I’m sure that didn’t help. I think being in-state hurts his scholarship possiblities as it seems Pitt targets more OOS and tries to woo them more than the in-state. Got letters from Alabama, OU, UCF and UT-Dallas. Arizona and ASU also emailed or mailed him something, but I can’t remember. Got large offers from a bunch of others, but their tuition is high to begin with. Can I ask what list you saw that shows nominees for the Presidential Scholars Award?</p>
<p>He’s loved Pitt his whole life and has applied to other good schools that hopefully will offer acceptance and money. If not, “Pitt is It” and that’s fine with me. All will work out in the end and he’ll be happy wherever he ends up.</p>
<p>Kleelak, yep, those are the same schools we got letters from for NMF. We saved them so when they are whining about their loans we can remind them of this choice to ignore those. I saw that your son took all those college classes… how resourceful given the hs situation. Oh my, I’m sure his essay wasn’t AWFUL, but rather could use some improvement LOL. Presidential Scholars Award nominiees- just google it; names are listed by state by town. It’s not a financial award (humph) but rather an expense paid recognition in DC if selected. Still requires an application but my daughter is happy to do it. It’s so great that your son loves Pitt. I’m hoping that my girls feel the same way when they visit in Feb. A ton of kids from our hs applied to Pitt even though we live in NYS.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info about the NMF board. Need to go over there and check it. For now, we’ve had the girls split their #1 choice between 2 of their more likely schools, sort of like diversification. Not sure that’s the right decision though. Ugh ugh ugh.</p>