@Topcat123, I have a hunch Pitt is not done yet.
Looks like your daughter applied to CS, and there was I think only one report of merit for CS applicants here.
…It could be, though, that the CS pool is competitive enough where Pitt does not feel they need to “buy” better students.
@TheVulcan Yes, computer science. I assumed when I saw the unsubsidized loan that that was their final offer. Since we have to wait until the end of March we will see what happens. BTW, my daughter has attended Metrohacks for Women at the school your son was accepted to in New England and she absolutely loved it(both Metrohacks and the school)! She will probably end up in Boston to a school she has already been accepted to.
Congrats to your daughter, @Topcat123!
The NE school is son’s top choice. He’s flying to their preview weekend in April, and then out west to the CA school that he is even more fond of, but that is likely to be even more expensive. We will have to see what happens with the GA school:) A Stamps offer there would be a game changer. Current chances are 1:10. Very mixed feelings right now though…
To Vulcan:
I need to disagree with you. Obviously your son has the power to do what he wants as far as proceeding. However, if he is absolutely sure he would not attend even if he got the Chancellors, then I find it absolutely selfish to not decline now. If it is you talking and not him, that is a different story. In any event, it is absolutely wrong to say that that one spot would not make a difference. It could very well make a HUGE difference to that one kid that gets a shot. Maybe he/she interviews really well? Maybe they are offered the scholarship? Maybe they actually want to attend Pitt? Maybe they don’t get the scholarship but it means the world to them to be invited. Staying “in the game” simply for an ego boost is wrong.
Certainly everyone paid there fee both monetarily as well as in time effort in the application process and they have Every right to stay in the process of they choose. I fully believe that point.
That said individually/personally our son was invited to the VCU BS/MD interview for Jan 31. With the utmost of humility I will say I am very certain he would have been awarded a spot after the interview as he just does really well 8n those type forums.
After this process of admissions has evolved and he has gained what seem like other offers that are " more likely for him" the VCU offer was something we knew he would not take no matter what at this point. I said to him, hey I think you should graciously withdraw your VCU invite. He agreed it was best to do same. The following day he sent email and was thank for his email. The following day on this forum I saw a post from a member that his son was just " notified /invited" for a VCU BS/MD 8nterview and he seemed so excited about it…was he awarded our sons spot? I can’t say with certainty but I suspect he was…and it did make me feel good to see his excitement…I hope he gets it.
yes @mychicas go off!!!
Yes, but what about that kid that doesn’t interview as well (but who was initially ranked higher by Pitt based on her app) who would lose the scholarship as a result?
Seems like no matter what you do, someone might get hurt.
We can discuss this trolley problem variant all night, but in the end, all scholarships will get awarded, and who am I to pick winners and losers?
dude you just want the academic clout of being able to say your son got a chancellor’s nomination. you know it. we know it. now just fess up and stop the nonsense.
No need to make it personal. He is an MIT/Caltech admit. That’s enough clout.
As I explained above, we need to see this through, as we have another kid on a similar trajectory, and this data is valuable to us.
We are not taking anything away from anyone.
Colleges know exactly what they are doing:
https://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/2016/08/22/enrollment-management-strategies-colleges-yield
Some colleges use enrollment management strategies and predictive analytics for the broad admission process…which is typically different than the selection process of elite scholarship programs, like Pitt’s Chancellor. Those programs typically have human centered selection processes after the admission decision has been made…including multiple interviews, etc.
Hopefully hailtopitt is still paying attention to this thread.
Actually, scholarships are part of the yield management process.
They know how many (and what kinds of) people they need to invite to end up with the number of interviews and scholars they want.
They’ve done it before. We haven’t.
"Despite the windowless, bunker-like atmosphere inside the Erie conference room of the Sheraton in downtown Chicago, Galen Graber has to be impressed by his audience: a swath of the 1,500 top admissions and financial aid officials from 635 different schools who have gathered to set policies that determine which kids get into which college and how much money they’ll receive.
Cutting to the chase, Graber, a consultant, launches by taking a poll: “How many of you would say that the primary motivation for offering students merit scholarships is to reward academic achievement?”
Not a single person raises his or her hand."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2014/07/30/the-invisible-force-behind-college-admissions/
Pitt interviews about 80 students for Chancellor’s scholarship, of which they select 10-12 recipients. If one of the 80 interviewees does not intend on matriculating to Pitt even if they win the scholarship, that may take a spot from another applicant who would have received an interview…had the student with no interest bowed out of the process prior to the selection of the 80 interviewees.
If one of the applicants awarded the Chancellor’s were to turn it down, Pitt might not even award that to anyone else…I don’t know if Pitt does it that way (something to look into), but there are some schools that do not have a major scholarship ‘waitlist’, the scholarship is just lost/not awarded that cycle…meaning another applicant likely lost an opportunity to compete because the one who never intended to matriculate continued thru the process.
I think I was pretty clear that son would not be pursuing the Chancellor’s scholarship if he is invited to apply.
If Pitt feels confident they can select 12 worthy candidates out of 79 instead of inviting another student, that’s on them, not us.
What makes you think he would even get invited to Chancellor’s? So far he has not been offered a dime, and it’s been almost five months since his admission.
Now I’m a villain? Sorry. Not sorry!
If a student only gets offered the unsubsidized loan, then there is no financial need, as based on the FAFSA EFC, compared to Pitt COA.
As far as merit goes, theoretically there is still time to be awarded some.
The Panther Pride award is a need based grant that some OOS students received in the past. It seems it still exists. I’m curious to know if it is intended to fill the gap for students with low FAFSA EFC but too high an EFC to qualify for Pell and therefore Pell match
@TheVulcan It looks like you are generating similar reactions on the Pitt board as you did on the Purdue board. At some point it might be worthwhile to step back and reflect on what is causing these reactions. I see a lot of parents and students on the boards who are genuinely interested in the attending these colleges and are anxious about whether their stats will make the cut or whether they will be able to afford the cost. Your child is undoubtedly a rock star with stellar stats and many opportunities ahead. Incorporating a bit of humility and emotional intelligence into your postings may generate less backlash. Just my observations for what they are worth.
As indicated in a prior post, we were writing off Pitt because DS has not received any merit scholarships so far. He might be on the bubble for merit at Pitt with a 1480 SAT, 4.63 wgpa, rank 1 of 300 and 9 AP courses (good enough for merit at other decent colleges though).
Yesterday, his financial aid award was posted to the portal. We are from NJ and were not expecting much need-based assistance being from OOS. We were pleasantly surprised to have received both a Panther Pride Award and Pitt Success Grant, bringing the cost exactly in line with Rutgers. In contrast, my daughter applied last year and only received the Panther Pride Award, taking Pitt out of contention. I read an article indicating that the Success Grant was a new $4.5 million initiative in 2019 providing an average of $5500 per year to 800+ first-year students with significant unmet need. The program is expected to grow in the future to cover all first-year students meeting the eligibility criteria. Our EFC is somewhere around $11K as a benchmark.
We are grateful that Pitt is taking steps to address affordability and that DS has the opportunity to attend a quality university at a comparable cost to our state flagship. My stepdaughter graduated from Rutgers, and it is really large and impersonal. It took her a couple years after graduating to establish herself career-wise. Pitt seems to have a much better size, atmosphere and emphasis on experiential learning. We will be attending the Admitted Student Day on Feb. 29th to further evaluate fit. Then comes the tough decision between engineering at Pitt, MiamiOH, Purdue and Clemson, as well as Virginia Tech, Boulder and UConn if accepted. I expect that Pitt and Miami U will be about 10K less per year than the others. Hopefully, the decision will not just come down to cost.
Just a simple comment to the Vulcan. If your main goal on being on this forum is to just get info for your next child applying to school. Why post?