I don’t think the diversity scholarships are guaranteed for a particular set of scores.
I don’t think any scholarships are guaranteed for a particular set of scores;)
Yes, please do everyone. We are in same boat – not holding out much hope for a merit scholarship (only received notice of a $5500 loan so far), but not giving up officially until 3/1 comes and goes.
Welcome video came today.
@nycdadof2 Do you know how many days after your buttons changed for the email or video? I noticed my DS buttons changed but he has not received an email yet.
@motict I applied 11/30 and received my decision 1/31, just for data points. I didn’t notice the button change, just got an email saying I was admitted.
@thevulcan I know your son is likely going to MIT or Stanford, but I’m wondering if he got a Chancellor’s invitation?
He did not.
Also, he hadn’t heard from Stanford yet (applied RD), it is MIT and Caltech:)
@TheVulcan I am truly so perplexed by that! I thought for sure that was the reason he hadn’t heard about any merit yet. SMH as the kids say. (Sorry about my mix up with Stanford and Caltech. My fingers are crossed for him).
I think Chancellor’s all went out already. If he were offered to interview for it, he’d decline and pass the buck to next on the list, since we would not choose free Pitt over MIT for computer science. (He was a stamps semifinalist at Georgia tech but didn’t win, and we’re glad not to have to face that choice.)
We’re just waiting out until March 1 to make sure he officially got zero merit before cancelling his Pitt app.
Check your spam email folder for the acceptance video. I think it is often sent on Wednesday afternoon.
@TheVulcan I have to agree the no merit from Pitt seems odd…u mention above you are not interested in free Pitt over MIT (full pay?) for computer science but are waiting till to see if any merit is offered. Does that mean you still may consider Pitt? Asking really out of couriosity as we are in same situation with our son. Has acceptance to Harvard and just got a likely letter from Yale. We are full pay at both… he did get full tuition merit from Pitt but he did not get invited to Chancellor’s. He is bit differant as his interest is in going to medical school so Pitt does offer a compelling alternative to Harvard and Yale especially when 240k cheaper. Still however we are fighting with making the decision just due to the allure of the offer of admission to two of the top schools in the country. I feel in your case of computer science the decision toward MIT is a bit more clear cut as the name recognition of MIT in that area may offset the difference in cost…Was just interested in your thought process from your side.
Our son was also accepted to Georgia tech honors as well but minus the opportunity for stamps (not being selected) and being OOS that school probably doesn’t work.
@PAdude, congrats to your son on those acceptances! I remember you from the GT thread:)
We are almost full pay/“doughnut hole”, but our son’s admissions/scholarship situation makes the choice pretty obvious. Below are directly billed costs at the schools our son is admitted and their CS rankings:
1 MIT: $46K after need aid
8 Georgia Tech: $49K
11 Caltech: $62K after need aid
20 Purdue: $41K
30 Ohio State: $29K after $16.5K merit
49 Pitt: $50K
Top 100 Our in-state flagship: tuition-free plus (not full ride) after NMF merit
When son got nominated as Georgia Tech Stamps semifinalist, we were deeply conflicted, but felt that if he got the offer, we would have to take it as it represents a tremendous opportunity at a school of GT’s caliber.
We have made the decision that GT was as far down the list as we were willing to go to forego MIT, and when we learned he didn’t make it to the finals, we were just so relieved that we wouldn’t have to make the difficult decision, it almost felt like celebrating his MIT admission again.
There are still some RD decisions pending, including Princeton, Stanford, and Vandy, but even if he were offered full tuition at Vandy, the approximate $100K difference would not in our mind justify going from #1 CS school in the world to a not even top 50 in the US that is Vandy. And while both Princeton and Stanford are… well… Princeton and Stanford… they are not MIT, so even if he is offered additional admissions in the RD round, it is still unlikely to change his destination.
As for Pitt, it is the third lowest-ranked CS school on son’s list after our state flagship and Vandy, and its intended purpose was to serve as an early relative financial safety. It was the first school he applied and got accepted to (post #7). Funny how things panned out that he got no merit there or at Purdue (but honors admissions at both), but got into the dream schools. I guess things have a way of working out.
So no complaints here. We will suck it up and make MIT happen for him, not because we are certain in the financial payout, but because that is the best academic and cultural match for our son with a possible exception of Caltech that is just too expensive due to less generous need formula, esp. when MIT is also on the table for significantly less $$$.
Whether he goes to a funded graduate school after undergrad (current aspiration) or into the industry, there should not be graduate education costs for him, so we will focus at that time on his brother, who is precisely four years junior, and who just won a full tuition scholarship to our state flagship, for the second time (he’s a very competitive mathlete). Seeing the merit situation unfold the way it did for DS20, we are thinking DS24 will not be applying to OOS publics and will focus on elite privates instead.
I understand the calculus is very different for pre-med, so our though process may be very different from yours.
Either way, congratulations again to your son, and good luck with your decisions.
Changing major Question:
My D was accepted to Pitt in October
for pre-physicians assistant program.
She is now considering nursing and going back to grad school later for PA or CNP. Is it possible to
Switch her major at this point?
It would probably depend on remaining space in the nursing program.
Pitt does have a one year post BS nursing program, that might give her the flexibility to decide later on if she wants to do PA or BSN nursing/NP.
https://www.nursing.pitt.edu/degree-programs/accelerated-2nd-degree-bsn-absn
@TheVulcan …so your son didn’t get any merit from Purdue either?
@carachel2, nope. Zero. My theory is that CS is so competitive that those two schools feel that their candidate pool is sufficiently strong to not have to chase top performers, and they focus their merit money elsewhere.
There have been I think only one or two reports of a CS student getting merit at each of those schools here on CC this year, and it is hard to know what made those cases different, so I won’t speculate on that.
@TheVulcan --my theory is a new venture into a bit of yield protection for their merit offers? Maybe they think with his profile he is using Pitt as a safety school?
I find it very odd that neither Pitt or Purdue gave him merit. And you’re 100% sure he demonstrated interest and did all the things with good essays, answered all 3 essay questions wholeheartedly etc?
@carachel2, he got into both schools’ honors programs, so it couldn’t have been too bad, right?
I think the narrative of “is he using us as a safety school” is overused. Of course he is using them as a safety school. He was using GT a safety school, for God’s sake. They understand that. The question is, what are they going to do about it, and how are they going to communicate it.
Here is a fragment of the email he received from GT as a Stamps semifinalist when they were informing him he did not progress to finals:
"Despite this news, I want to assure you that we very much want you to attend Georgia Tech. I came to Tech with the firm belief that we must work diligently to attract top students like you in order for the Institute to maintain its position as a world-class education leader in the 21st century.
I sincerely hope you will choose Georgia Tech as the next step in your academic career and know you will not be disappointed."
In general, I found that the higher on the selectivity scale is the institution, the less self-congratulatory they are in their commutations with admitted students.
Purdue was sending him “it’s time to get really excited” messages, our state flagship -“we know you are excited”.
Compare to:
GT: “We are sure you will be presented with a lot of great college options, but we hope you will strongly consider choosing Georgia Tech!”
Caltech: “We are confident that you will have many excellent college options. It is our sincerest hope that you will continue your intellectual journey at Caltech and choose to discover with us.”
MIT: “I hope you’ll agree with us that MIT is the perfect place to prepare for your future”.