Yes. Waitlisted for Rolling regular at Pitt. Seems as if everywhere has been flooded by applications and the bar is raising. Already have 1 rejection from Williams College ED I and Waitlisted today by Pitt. Crossing my fingers everywhere else gets better.
Pitt is still a more affordable option for those who will not qualify for need-based aid. My Pitt junior got $5 K a year OOS and paying $45 K a year is a huge improvement over paying $85 K a year at a private school. Their health careers opportunities are fantastic, I went to 2 Ivy League schools and am constantly in awe of all she is participating in at Pitt.
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45k is great price tag. We wish we can only pay 45K or even 50K to go to Pitt. Pitt’s tuition has increased. Next school year it’s 56K for Dietrich and 66K for Rehab science.
Hello all. My DD24 was admitted yesterday to the Swanson School of Engineering (mechanical/aerospace). We were a late application to Pittsburgh (only applied on December 23) and missed the December 1 automatic merit aid consideration deadline. She’s received merit scholarships at all the schools she’s been admitted to (including Purdue, COE, Presidential Scholarship). So, her stats are strong (four years of engineering classes 35 ACT Superscore, 36 science, 34 STEM, 36 reading, 4.00+ GPA, first in her class of 450 kids, four-year varsity letter athlete, student council/senior class officer) but we are OOS and would need merit aid to attend.
We are planning to visit of spring break and I wonder if any merit aid might be awarded before then? Anyone have any insight?
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I believe merit awards continue up until March.
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Who did you reach out to to negotiate more Merit?
I’m sure the process has changed after six years. At the time there was a form and a formal process. I don’t know if that still exists.
@NiceUnparticularMan @Winky1 do you know?
What I can say is that we went through the process but what actually made the difference was making an appointment with Financial Aid, and sitting down with them f2f at an admitted student event and saying basically, first school he applied to in August, we’re still here, give us a little more and he’ll go. They did and he went.
Not sure if anyone had a more recent experience.
I have not done it but as far as I know these days there is not a formal process, people just email Financial Aid.
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It doesn’t hurt to try, but Pitt generally will not negotiate merit. I know students who met in person with Pitt’s Office of Admission and Financial Aid, prepared to commit on the spot if given more, and Pitt would not budge. We asked via email with my older daughter, who was a high flyer that ended up at a a T25 school instead because she received a full-ride — and were told no.
I am not trying to dissuade you from asking — there is no downside and I would be happy to be proven wrong — but I did want to set expectations.
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Pitt stopped having the formal document to request more aid in the 2018-2019 cycle, I believe. At around this time, maybe 2019-2020 cycle, they began matching Pell grants and reducing “regular” merit awards. I do not know what else you would do except have a meeting or email. I think this is how Pitt is now, and unless they feel this approach is unsuccessful to their enrollment, they will probably stay this way.
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Excited to book our admitted student day in February…any suggestions (neighborhood restaurants) or other ideas to get campus/student body vibe.
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OMG….SOOOOO many places to eat…
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Right near/on campus there are the classic hangouts: Primanti Bros for sandwiches piled with fries, Stack’d burgers, and The Porch at Shenley park, plus a newer place, Piada, for quick paninis. We hit one or more of these almost every trip to Pitt.
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Not food but highly recommended: tour the nationality classrooms within Cathy - very cool but difficult to describe. Also, go to the Carnegie museum in between Pitt and CMU.
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Uber or walk to the Shadyside neighborhood on Walnut Street to shop and eat: Shadygrove for pub food, Cafe Moulin for brunch, Mercurios for Italian and gelato
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Turn the corner in Shadyside from Walnut onto Highland ave to our absolute favorite restaurant, Noodlehead, which is also very cheap and VERY popular with students.
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Drive across the Smithfield st bridge from Oakland to Station square for various chainish restaurants then take the Monongahela Incline rail up for views of the city (a must)
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if you have time, you can drive to the strip district a little north of downtown (not near campus). Very busy and fun and loaded with resaturants. A little farther north is the Church Brew Works - fun church turned into a brewery
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The Porch has a great location for people watching.
The closest nicer restaurant is Butterjoint, which I would definitely recommend.
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I forgot Kelly Os diner
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This is so much fun - great list; thank you so much.
Thank you! S24 and I are also going to admitted students day in Feb and this will be our first visit to Pittsburgh.
I’ll add, if you are coming via the airport, you’ll love the view of the city exiting the tunnels.
If you have lots of time visit the Andy Warhol museum.
Stroll or drive along Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington. Several restaurants offer a view.
While on campus, walk to Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Heinz Chapel to take a peek inside… Gorgeous!
For future trips, visit Phipps Conservatory and tour The Frick House. (Gilded Age)
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Excellent recommendations around campus! If you are like me and like to walk right around a campus, you can walk 2 blocks to south craig street for some nice restaurant choices, too. The Carnegie Art Museum and Cafe are across the street from the end of S. Craig Street.
I will ad Girasole, though, if venturing to Shadyside. Small, fabulous Italian. Reservations needed, is lovely.
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Hi Everybody! My OOS S24 was accepted into the Swanson School of Engineering! He got his acceptance in mid-November (we LOVE the rolling admission thing and wish more schools did it) and thus far we haven’t received any notification about merit scholarship money. We looked everywhere in the student portal, but didn’t see anything. Given the amount of time that has passed, is it safe to say that he won’t be offered any merit scholarship money? It just seems strange that we haven’t heard ANYTHING from the school since he got his acceptance notification.
He really likes the school and the campus (we did a tour spring break 2023), but we are likely stuck in the “middle class abyss” where we don’t qualify for need-based grant money and can’t afford to pay the full OOS rack rate. And we don’t want to go down the student loan route if we don’t absolutely have to. So if there’s no merit scholarship money, we’ll likely have to pass on the opportunity 
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Very sad, and very true. While unfortunate, it happens all the time and everywhere. Love the school that loves you back. That’s our mantra in the Winky1 Family, as we are not a full pay out of pocket family. Love the school that loves you back!!
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