My son received the personalized acceptance video yesterday, relieved and so excited for him! H2P!
@TheVulcan --well, I think you’re reading way too much into those letters lol. I wouldn’t give those a second thought.
He has many choices. Time to move on. Hard to figure out the Pitt merit game but this is certainly a puzzler. I think it’s good you stayed in the game until now at least to have a data point. I tried to make my daughter do the same for two of her schools just because I was curious lol!
Oh yeah, this is a data gathering mission at this point:)
But wouldn’t you know, there is a letter from Pitt’s finaid office showing in informed delivery this morning. Wonder if there is a last minute surprise, or it’s just another mass mailing.
Will update:)
If they ask for mid term grades does anyone know how long after you hear if you got in or not?
HI hailtopitt1787, my son applied on on January 17, do you know when he will know the results. His GPA is 3.975 and SAT 1300. He applied for CS
Welp, that was just the award letter for the 5,500 unsubsidized loan that showed up on the portal a while back 
Congrats Vulcan!
@Chekov Did you send the deposit? Lol. What a head scratcher your son’s story is with Pitt. Congratulations on him having some great options though. Good luck.
LOL, @chmcnm 
Folks, thank you for taking the interest over the past few months.
It was certainly a stressful journey (it is for everyone), as we were beginning to feel in the fall that lack of merit from Pitt may have been an indication that son is not as compelling a candidate as we had hoped he would be, not just at Pitt, but also at other schools.
But now after the story repeating itself at Purdue (honors, but no merit), after him getting into the reaches and getting invited to interview for Stamps at GT (one of 150 OOS kids), and very few people reporting getting merit at CS at both schools, I honestly think it’s nothing personal on Pitts and Purdue’s side.
CS is just that competitive and popular these days that they can fill their CS class with kids with average ACT 30-34 without offering merit, so why not spend the money where it can help them more, like at Dietrich, where average ACT is 27-32 (and that’s with more merit offered).
https://oafa.pitt.edu/explore/class-profile
“It’s not personal, it’s business”.
Do I wish they were more clear in setting the expectations? Of course I do. OSU, on the other hand, was pretty predictable in their awards, and I would say the three places are peers overall, with Purdue being a clear leader in CS, followed by OSU (#20 Purdue #30 OSU #50 Pitt).
We are, of course, beyond excited about son’s application outcomes. The good surprises certainly outweigh the bad.
But future readers of this thread may benefit from yet another confirmation of the ultra-competitive nature of CS admission and merit landscape so they can adjust their strategies accordingly.
Good luck to everyone with the outstanding applications, final decisions, and the next stage of their kids’ journeys.
Buttons on the 11th, video on the 14th. Welcome packet in mail on the 18th.
@Vulcan thanks for the updates. Your son’s story has been an interesting one for sure. I know he’s going to do great and for the record my D would trade her merit for his MIT admission! 
@TheVulcan --Coming out of lurking mode here (my oldest will be going through this next year–but NOT the same caliber student as your son I must add). Thank you so much for your transparency and insights. Holy eye opening. And admittedly sobering. And please report back on where he finally lands–I’m kind of invested now. 
@Vulcan I hope it was OK to jest. I’m guessing we all need our sense of humor through this. It is a stressful time with big decisions. I also really appreciate that you shared your story. It will be helpful in 3 years when we face the same process with our son. I have learned a lot from you and a few others like you. Thank you.
@Susanb33, thank you for the kind words, and for bearing with me when I was at my less patient:)
Thank you as well, @WafflesMom. He is mentally committed to MIT at this point. As I mentioned in post #1112, the remaining RD applications are extremely unlikely to change that - but he is still very much looking forward to his scheduled Prefrosh visit to Caltech right after coming back from the MIT one, even though it’s a little early to start scoping out grad schools:)
My DS was asked for mid year grades and after that receiving notice from UPitt with waitlist letter options for Dietrich.
- Stay on waitlist for with guaranteed admissions to Spring 2021
- Just stay on waitlist for Fall 2020
- Branch Campus
- Cancel App
He applied for Biology at Pitt. We are instate and he likes to pursue med school. At Penn State he applied and got admitted into Biomedical Engineering. He also got good scholarships at Temple and Ursinus and TCNJ ( which are both supposed to be good for Biology). We are waiting for a few results in March. We are in Philadelphia suburbs.
When we visited Pitt last summer we liked Pitt as first choice. However, since we got Penn State in Early Action in December (especially Biomedical Engineering where you could go the Pre-Med track or industry), Penn State has also emerged as a good choice if not Pitt. Please chime in between these two options.
What percent of students get off the waitlist for Dietrich?
If we choose waitlist with guarantee into Spring - do they give preference to kids just on the waitlist without guarantee into spring?
What are the pros and cons of the waitlist and spring admission?
@Susanb33 what we have learned from this process is that you can’t predict anything. Watching my daughter and her friends, all with similar high stats and impressive ECs, compare offers has been eye opening. Pitt ranged from honors with $20,000 a year to nothing, no merit aid and no honors (my kid). Other schools it flipped around. Mine was admitted to high honors program with significant scholarships while friends were deferred. Schools where they “demonstrated interest” offered little. Schools they never visited offered a lot. About the only thing that has been consistent is that finding a good engineering program at a lower cost then our in state flagship (Maryland) has been nearly impossible.
@hokie95 that’s for sure! It’s anybody’s guess. So I guess it’s good to make sure you have a variety of applications submitted to affordable institutions and throw in a few dream schools to see where the chips fall!
@phillyboysmom that is strange that Pitt asked for midyear grades/ waitlisted for A&S and PSU admitted straight to engineering which should be more competitive.
I also thought that PSU placed more emphasis on GPA and Pitt on test scores (in addition to GPA and class rank).
I would be careful with studying bioengineering at PSU if pre-med. What if he gets weeded out, or GPA suffers? Average engineering GPA at Pitt is less than 3.0 I think, is PSU similar?
He could still study biology at PSU or Pitt. That would open up other health careers (dentistry, PA, PT, OT, pharmacy, optometry).
If he decides to stay on Pitt waitlist or start in spring, I would try to have him take some Gen Eds at a local college that would be accepted at Dietrich.
Spring start can be tricky for Gen Bio 1 and 2 and Gen chem 1 and 2 that have to be taken in sequence.
Would he have the on campus housing guarantee if he starts in spring?
We are comparing Biology at Pitt (waitlist or spring) vs admission to Biomedical Engineering at Penn State. He wanted a good backup like Biomedical Engg in case his med school plans change. He could still move to Biology or other sciences at Penn State.
At Pitt, Spring semester does not have guaranteed housing after one semester but I am not considering that in the decision yet assuming we can manage that if need be. Just trying to decide on comparing Penn State Biomedical Engineering vs Pitt Biology (with a possibility of getting off waitlist or starting in Spring). Didn’t want to have all options tied just to med school in case he changes mind. Pitt mentioned you can start some course at a different school and they will take the credit with a grade of C or higher.
For spring starts, when does the four year degree end?
We just got that letter too and I was hoping it was an offer of merit aid, as well. My S20 has high stats (36/1600/3.93 UW GPA/NMF) and he only got the $5500 loan as well from Pitt. He is also CS.
It IS really a crapshoot and I love CC for all of the information since we went into this knowing that and having safeties. My son was deferred EA from GT, CWRU, and Northeastern. I think a lot of that was yield protection and we were very close to visiting Northeastern again and he was literally about to send his LOCI to them, but then got his decision from his ED2 school. So, Vanderbilt it is!! He’s thrilled. It was a nice result after getting rejected at UIUC for CS, which was a bit of surprise since we are in-state. But definitely not the only one I’ve heard that happened to! It’s all such an interesting puzzle!