If the student is seriously considering attending the college, I think going to admitted students day is useful. That being said, DD16 had 5 schools she really liked and we went to admitted students day to all in spring and those visits truly helped her to make the right decision in in the end- I can say that with confidence, as she is 4 years out of her undergrad and doing a PhD elsewhere- so she chose the right school for her, based on the campus feel, talking to students, to professors, looking into departments where she wanted to minor- admitted students day truly helped her get over other people’s opinions, peer pressure and rankings and just chose with her heart and it was the best choice for her, still happy for her choice years out. DS20 could not visit due to COVID, BUT connected with students from the school he was favoring- he had 4 colleges he was interested in, one he visited before being admitted, one he knew well because it was our flagship and in the same city we used to live at the time, but he set his eyes on a third one and he befriended a couple current students and decided he’d go there even though we never visited, was OOS, thousands of miles from our new location- again, it was the best decision for him and very happy now to be still there as a grad student. My point is: trust your kids’ decisions- it’s their path, but they should own those decisions, that is they should try connect with people from the schools they’re considering, get the campus feel, etc. if they don’t seem interested in visiting and connecting, maybe it’s not among their top choices. We already did admitted students day at Pitt, so in case our DK 25 has a couple other strong choices, we can spread those in spring.
Thank you. Will look into the virtual option.
No, he has not visited Pitt yet. Looks like there is some value in attending this. Will have to think through… after seeing the outcome from other applications. Thank you.
Can anyone speak to difference btw Blue and Gold Day and admitted student day? Are they sufficiently different that it makes sense to attend both? Thx
Hi everyone- my D25 heard back and was accepted, 6 weeks to the day FYI. Yeay! one of her top choices so, while it’s the first we heard from, it takes the pressure off considerably while we wait for the others. schools on her list #s 4 - 10 are probably irrelevant now.
I wanted to provide some encouragement to others. Reading these threads with all the incredible-sounding kids with eye popping stats… it can be intimidating. My daughter is a pretty unspectacular student - decent grades, no AP before this year, 28 ACT. I think her essay saved the day.
I was pretty discouraged after spending time here, and it was a pleasant surprise for us all! So don’t be scared off by all the other amazing candidates here - this little microcosm is mostly high achievers I think…
congrats!
Congrats! Thanks for the encouragement. What major?
DS29 was accepted to biomedical engineering. Anyone know when the Honors College decisions rollout?
I think honors college releases all at once early March.
Congrats
thanks! nursing
We are in the same boat.. But if you look on frontier out of Philly you can find cheap flights. I took my son back in october to the open house they had. Tickets were 53 bucks each, my rental was 58 bucks, and hotel was 130.. so much better than driving and cost was similar. Granted this wont always be the case. Just an option if you can find someone to take him
Does anyone know the dates for Admitted Student Day besides Dec 2nd? I just realized that is part of Thanksgiving travel weekend but my daughter is anxious to go. Wondering if they’ll have one in January?
For Dietrich, these are the dates posted in the portal:
Monday, December 2 at 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Saturday, February 22 at 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Friday, February 28 at 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Friday, March 14 at 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Friday, April 4 at 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM
We were also disappointed that Dec 2nd would require travel over Thanksgiving weekend. D25 would have loved to go in December
This is one of the best post EVER. Thank you for being REAL … I am confident in saying I speak for about 98% of all parents out there! This was my son last year with Penn State UP. It was a great day when that acceptance letter came in!
My daughter was asked for mid year grades. She had an exceptionally strong MP1 senior year. Is it worth it to try and submit MP1 grades to continue showing interest?
Does anyone know what word count to shoot for on the honors college essay? I was told to aim for 450-500, but a friend told me that they saw Pitt recommended 300 words. I can’t find that anywhere online, though. Any ideas?
450-500 words sounds like what we were told when my S23 was applying. He wrote an essay slightly longer than 450 words and was admitted to honors. Just one data point.
This PDF version of one of the prompts, apparently from 2023, says “no longer than 500 words.”
So the conventional wisdom in our feederish HS is that it should indeed be in the 450-500 range, although I would bet a great but somewhat shorter essay would not be frowned on.
Since they don’t give a word limit specifically on the instructions, it is hard to judge what the “right” word count should be. My daughter just submitted her Frederick Honor College app today, and her essay was exactly 700 words. We were looking at what she did in comparison for the Schreyer’s Honor College app for Penn State, which was a lot of writing (2 essays of max. 800 words AND 7 short answer questions of no more than 200 words). I say use your best judgement. I would think that it would take at least 400 words to thoughtfully and thoroughly address any one of those essay prompts for the Honor’s program at Pitt.