@Hydra59 a 1330 SAT will most likely not qualify you for merit aid at Pitt. This is what they publish on their website. Are you in state or out of state for Pitt?
University Scholarship Recipient Profile
In recent years, scholarship eligible students possessed ALL of the following:
Minimum SAT score of 1480 or ACT composite score of 33
Overall ‘A’ average
Challenging high school curriculums consisting of AP/IB/Honors courses
Top 5% class rank (if applicable)
NOTE: The above criteria are provided for the purposes of guidelines only and not meant as scholarship requirements or guarantees.
@carachel2 I’m not expecting to receive merit aid from Pitt for the reasons you listed. I was an out of state applicant and I think I might be eligible to receive need-based aid and was curious as to when that information might be headed my way
The freshman class is about 4,000 students every year, with most being in A&S, then the rest divided up into the other schools, nursing, business, engineering, etc.
Honors students are around 400.
You can look at the common data set but there will be students with 1300 SAT up to 1600 SAT, and all kinds of majors.
I think if you are accepted and work hard, take advantage of tutoring, office hours and study groups, you can be successful at Pitt.
Some students choose to party and some don’t, there are lots of things to do on campus and in the city.
Congrats to your son. Very bizarre. Definitely a head scratcher. Has any rep provided any insight? Maybe someone from the Honors program might be able provide an explanation. They have a vested interest in getting the Honors kids to accept so they might look for an answer.
I’m thinking Chancellor’s invitations go out soon. Doesn’t explain the lack of merit so far but hopefully he’s on the invite list.
Thanks Vulcan, I didn’t see that before. Good thing for him, he hit a 33 on a ACT - hope that gets him something. Thanks again and I’ll share whatever we learn.
@1025Pitt - Nice to see I’m not alone in that dilemma. After a lot of research, conferring with acquaintances, and of course visiting with the professors, I’m of the opinion that if cost were not a factor, I’d choose Pitt in a heartbeat. It’s hard to beat the vibe of a city - especially Pittsburgh which is literally booming these days with startups.
However, I really cannot justify an extra 45-50K (in our case). Both schools have 100% placement for engineers, excellent research resources, big time football (my son also wants to do marching band for big games). Pitt would certainly have more exposure and employment opportunities with the many blue chip companies in Pittsburgh, but nothing a good WVU grad couldn’t overcome with a bit of hustle. I also think about it from my own perspective…when I hire people, I rarely put much emphasis on where the person graduated - it’s the person and their interview performance that really makes the difference. Good luck with your decision - maybe I’ll see you around? What type of engineering are you looking at? My son is Chemical.
I contacted an admission rep in early December, and they basically gave me the party line (“we just started, it will be a few more months”). And a couple of weeks after that other things started happening…
A Chancellor’s invite would be flattering, I guess, but we would not proceed at this point.
I spoke to a Financial Aid rep yesterday. It looks like Financial Aid packages will be emailed to prospective students next week on Thursday, 1/30 or Friday, 1/31. In looking at previous threads, some people were surprised with good packages and need-based scholarships where others report only the basic 5,500 in loans. Some students also reported receiving merit, and even additional merit, through March. So I guess we will know a little more next week.
Need based aid can be state, federal and institutional.
All depend on FAFSA EFC
An instate student with a $0 FAFSA EFC can get about $3,772 PHEAA grant, Pell Grant of $6,195 and Pitt has the Pell Grant match program. Then some might get a SEOG grant and federal work study, but those are limited. Then they can get a $3,500 subsidized loan and $2,000 unsubsidized.
That is not going to cover all costs, if living on campus.
OOS students with low EFC can get Pell Grant and match, possibly SEOG and federal work study, and subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
There used to be a need based institutional grant that some OOS students reported that they received in previous years, around $7,000 maybe, but I don’t know what the FAFSA EFC needed to be for that and if that is still offered now with the Pell Grant match program.
Basically, if your FAFSA EFC is too high, you will not be offered need based aid.
Valectictorians and salutatorians from the Pittsburgh Public School system that are Pell eligible, will have their financial need met by Pitt through this program:
My son is mechanical but is interested in the dual mechanical/aerospace degree that WVU has. Which is very appealing to him and Pitt does not offer that. From the research I have been doing, I have seen with engineering where you go isn’t as impactful as some other degrees since it appears the curriculum is very similar at all schools. I think its the exposure to companies that may be a benefit from Pitt.
My son told me that he’s accepted but is still waiting for more details from the school. He applied for the Business but he said he doesn’t know the specifics yet. Will wait and update more.
Quick stats: ACT 35, GPA 3.53 (UW) 4.3 (W), most classes are IB/AP since he’s in an accelerated program. Applied on 12/14.
@QDad42 just want to share this with you as well. Good luck!
@JPE “Yes, I’m pretty sure, as he applied just before the deadline for the Nordenberg scholarship. I mistakenly mentioned the Stamps scholarship earlier - he was hoping to get the Nordenberg”
I hope your son realizes that precious few of these scholarships are granted. But good luck to him!! I hope the best for all students in getting the aid they need!
@Susanb33 Yep, thanks Susan. We certainly would be fortunate. He has a ridiculous amount of leadership and EC on his resume. We’re hoping all those years of work, and a strong essay will give him a shot. Competition is certainly tough at Pitt, which is a good thing.
My son has been accepted to both Pitt and Penn State for Computer Science. When we went to the Penn State tour, the tour guides said that only a few classes were actually over 50 students. We heard the same thing on our Pitt campus tour. However, both tour guides were not computer science majors. When we actually talked to the computer science professor at Penn State, he said that there are so many students in the computer science major there that ALL the computer major classes were over 100 students, most are 300. And recitations are at least 50 kids. So now I feel I have to ask the class size question specific for Computer science majors at Pitt. I assume foundational classes like Calculus will be > 100, but are all the computer classes large at Pitt?
@pittdecision this information is available on line. If you just google pitt class search I think you will manage to find the listings of all class sizes. I will attempt to post a link but I’m not a CS person so it may not work https://psmobile.pitt.edu/app/catalog/classSearch
I did look up CS 401 which is Intermediate Programming and the entry class for many CS majors. The max lecture capacity is 60 and max recitation capacity is 33. Neither the lecture or the recitation I looked at were full.
