A new medical school in Pittsburgh

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schrizto

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schrizto said:
Saw this in the news earlier. West Penn (the other hospital system in Pittsburgh behind the behemoth that is UPMC) is planning on starting a new medical school.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_718330.html
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Hard to get too excited about the trend of another MD school opening up in a state that already has a gob of schools, and then typically giving strong preference to their own state residents. I think that will be the 8th MD school in Pennsylvania...

There is such a dearth of MD schools in the western half of the US with the majority (except California) having 1 or no schools, and that 1 usually is a state school with strong state preference. I would love to see some private MD schools open up and/or existing private schools expand out west with a satellite campus like what Creighton is doing.

Thanks for the link however, just had to let out a little frustration.
 
This has been talk for awhile and it's nice to see things finally picking up steam. That being said, I am skeptical about mission of the school in bringing in current residents of the SW PA area along with other issues. I just see a lot of internal problems with the organization. I get to see this frequently considering I work at one of their major hospitals and not as escort or environmental. Also don't be shocked if this turns out to be an Osteopathic school. Let's face it, if you want to attract more physicians to stay and work in this area then you need to expand the pool of applicants. DO is much more forgiving than MD when it comes to admissions but still not easy.
 
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pdxjazz said:
Hard to get too excited about the trend of another MD school opening up in a state that already has a gob of schools, and then typically giving strong preference to their own state residents. I think that will be the 8th MD school in Pennsylvania...

There is such a dearth of MD schools in the western half of the US with the majority (except California) having 1 or no schools, and that 1 usually is a state school with strong state preference. I would love to see some private MD schools open up and/or existing private schools expand out west with a satellite campus like what Creighton is doing.

Thanks for the link however, just had to let out a little frustration.
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
He said the University of Pittsburgh medical school became so competitive that Pennsylvania residents comprise only 26 percent of the freshman class.
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Only 26 percent? Isn't that really low for a state school, especially one that is known for its in-state bias?
 
.
 
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Mithril said:
If it's the case that a school is "known" for bias and it shows that 26% of the freshman class is made up of in-state residents, then perhaps you should be questioning the source of where you heard the school was biased.
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Yeah, I don't have a source really. I was referring to someone who posted before me. Perhaps I should have quoted him:

Hard to get too excited about the trend of another MD school opening up in a state that already has a gob of schools, and then typically giving strong preference to their own state residents.
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OK, here we go again: Isn't 26% really low for a state school, whether it be in-state biased or not?
 
"Private" doesn't really exist in PA, to my knowledge. PA universities exist under the Commonwealth system, so they don't have strong in-state preferences.

Also, I don't understand why West Penn would open up a med school.. Pitt already dominates the area. West Penn recently closed down their ED, for example.
 
PA med schools are notorious for NOT showing much instate bias. At one time, you had a better shot at getting into PCOM because of residency than any other school. (Don't know if you still do)

Lots of schools in the state but that is the nature of PA. They have a fairly favorable climate for schools.

I do think there needs to be another school somewhere in the pacific northwest, but the overall population density of the Northeast (+ohio and a few others) doesn't make it UNreasonable.

They should probably make practicing medicine in Pennsylvania more appealing over opening new schools though...
 
Any ideas as to when this new school is opening? Hopefully it opens in the next 2-3 years but that seems unlikely. Also, as previously mentioned, will it be an MD or DO school? The article makes it seem as though it will be an MD school but verification would be nice...
 
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SU1989 said:
Hmm. It says state-related. I assumed it was private. :confused:
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U of Pitt UG is public but the Medical school is part public and part private, same with Penn State Medical Hershey and TCMC. PA medical schools SUCK for IS preference. I wish I lived in Texas.
 
Evergrey said:
Also, I don't understand why West Penn would open up a med school.. Pitt already dominates the area. West Penn recently closed down their ED, for example.
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Because medical schools = Money..

ER=patients with no income who can't pay their bills so the hospital foots the cost. Besides they still have their ER going at Allegheny General which is plenty busy. x.x
 
Oh cool another extremely expensive private medical school in Pennsylvania. If only the state could open a public one. (PSU Hershey doesn't count because it's like $40k/year for tuition alone.)
 
theWUbear said:
Yes, too bad pitt's not a state school
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wrong. but whatever.


color me skeptical... who ISN'T claiming to want to open a med school nowadays? At least it's a hospital system wanting to open one and not, say, CMU or Duquesne opening a school without the slightest clue where to have their students rotating... (why the LCME isn't more strict about this, I'll never understand.)
 
Evergrey said:
"Private" doesn't really exist in PA, to my knowledge. PA universities exist under the Commonwealth system, so they don't have strong in-state preferences.
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Not really sure what you mean here by "private doesn't really exist in PA..." I may be just misunderstanding your statement, but isn't Penn private?
 
I think he/she meant "public" doesn't really exist... which is kinda sorta true. Schools like Pitt/Penn State/Temple are supported by the state, but to a really ****ty extent.
 
Ha, I go to Pitt and I'm not even sure if its a state school.

I do know that in-state residents get a break on tuition, but its only about a 4k difference on 40k of tuition.

Basically in Pittsburgh there were many competing hospital systems, and over time almost all the others closed or merged/were acquired by UPMC, which is now an absolute behemoth that is affiliated withPitt.

West-Penn Alleghany is the only other hospital system in Western-PA and is rumored to be in financial trouble. It is about 1/5th the size of UPMC, with about 4 hospitals, though certainly sufficient to support a small medical school.
 
DoctwoB said:
Ha, I go to Pitt and I'm not even sure if its a state school.

I do know that in-state residents get a break on tuition, but its only about a 4k difference on 40k of tuition.

Basically in Pittsburgh there were many competing hospital systems, and over time almost all the others closed or merged/were acquired by UPMC, which is now an absolute behemoth that is affiliated withPitt.

West-Penn Alleghany is the only other hospital system in Western-PA and is rumored to be in financial trouble. It is about 1/5th the size of UPMC, with about 4 hospitals, though certainly sufficient to support a small medical school.
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yeah, Jeff used to send students to Mercy... but UPMC bought it and kicked us out. Sad, all the people in the classes above me loved that place.
 
Geneticist said:
Any ideas as to when this new school is opening? Hopefully it opens in the next 2-3 years but that seems unlikely. Also, as previously mentioned, will it be an MD or DO school? The article makes it seem as though it will be an MD school but verification would be nice...
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I would be willing to bet it would be a MD school since WP already works with two MD schools (Drexel and Temple) and in another article temple stated they weren't involved with the medical schools project while Drexel stated, "no comment". Maybe Drexel is hoping to open a satellite campus in Pittsburgh thus why they didn't deny any involvement. Will be interesting to see.

"Temple spokeswoman Eryn Jelesiewicz on Tuesday said the university had no plans to expand in Pittsburgh. Drexel spokeswoman Rachel Sparrow declined to comment."

 
jadealer said:
I would be willing to bet it would be a MD school since WP already works with two MD schools (Drexel and Temple) and in another article temple stated they weren't involved with the medical schools project while Drexel stated, "no comment". Maybe Drexel is hoping to open a satellite campus in Pittsburgh thus why they didn't deny any involvement. Will be interesting to see.
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hmm, interesting theory. Of course Drexel is bursting at the seams as it is, so I can only imagine how they'd add even more students. (still I'd rather spend my first two years of school in Pittsburgh than East Falls.

/off topic, but what schools rotate at Geisenger now?
 
Yeah thats a real great plan. Open up a new med school for a failing hospital system as a last ditch effort to raise money. I know what these idiots are thinking. They're saying to themselves, "yeah we'll open up a kickass MD program and get a ****load of NIH funding to keep our crappy hospital afloat!" Prediction: The school never cracks the top 100 in NIH research funding. Our future is being sold out by local politicians who think that opening a "community based" med school in every city is going to bring in all kinds of federal money to "stimulate" the local economy. What a joke.
 
I doubt the new school will be an extension of Drexel or Temple. In fact I really don't see it being a partnership with any college or university. UPMC is the powerhouse in the area and for obvious reasons. It is a major university health system that attracts some of the top students and academics in the country. It may not be number one but top five or ten at least. WPAHS is a very good system but can't compete on many levels. I work for them and patients ask constantly about the new UPMC-East in Monroeville and the like. It can be discouraging.

In order to achieve their "mission" they must cater to Western Pennsylvania residents. In-state tuition is near the top in terms of cost compared to all other states. Most students from this area go to state schools like Cal U or Slippery Rock. Keep tuition low. Also, make it an osteopathic school. Let's be blunt, it is a different type of competitive than allopathic. I think many in this area would be more inclined to attend DO vs MD. Finally, WPAHS needs to make sure they have enough rotations and residency spots in their system for their students. Make that a priority and I think you would see some good things happen. All that being said, I figure WPAHS is just trying to make themselves look good and healthy after the West Penn closure along with the new UPMC-East popping up right across from Forbes Campus (I see that everyday I drive to work at Forbes).
 
I saw an article on the Internet just yesterday about this school. I think it is overall a good thing. Cities like Philly and Chicago each have several medical schools. The article implies it will be an MD program but they are being very tight lipped with details. I would guess the earliest they could start a class would be in the Fall of 2012. If they can get provisional accreditation in time they could be added to AMCAS this June for the Class of 2016. I am thinking it will likely be later.

I wish they had gotten this school up and running sooner. I live in the Pittsburgh area and for nontrad personal reasons I really wanted to stay in the area. I absolutely love Pitt :love: but it is a top 20 MD school so really tough to get accepted at. I was fortunate to get accepted into the LECOM branch campus in Greensburg, PA. It would have been a lot easier, though, for me to commute to the area where the new school would be in Pgh (26 miles round trip) than Greensburg which will be 80 miles round trip. Of course, there is no guarantee I could get accepted there. Don't worry, I won't be posting any "Should I turn down my DO acceptance to try for this new MD school next year?" threads. :laugh: I will be going to Seton Hill in the fall.

My concerns about this new school would be the following:

1) Provisional accreditation scares me. And that is what this new school would have until it graduated its first class. Plus, I think the students at the new Commonwealth school couldn't get federal student loans the first year. If I recall correctly the provisional accreditation status had something to do with that.

2) West Penn Allegheny is a struggling system. They are fighting hard not to be swallowed up by UPMC. I wish them the best because competition is always a good thing. Still, it would be a little unsettling to know that the system that ran your school was seriously struggling financially.
 
There are no state med schools in PA. The only med school that shows preference for IS students is TCMC, and it specifically shows preference for people from NW Pennsylvania because their mission is to develop physicians for the area. Pitt, Temple and PSU are state-affiliated (meaning they get significant state funding but are not beholden to state interests in terms of admissions) but all still technically private and do not show IS preference. Drexel is most assuredly private, and I believe they take the highest percentage of IS students, ranging from 30-40% over the past few years. Jefferson and Penn are also completely private.

Whoever said PA was the SUCK for IS admissions was correct. Live anywhere else but here (or CA) if you really want to go to med school.
 
Doesnt Jefferson hold seats for Delaware residents?
 
samuraiR said:
Doesnt Jefferson hold seats for Delaware residents?
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yeah, the Biden State has an agreement with Jeff for that. They also provide need-based scholarships to the Del Residents with everyone getting at least a minimum of 1500 bucks per year or so.
 
As someone who wants to stay in Pittsburgh and got rejected from Pitt, this is great news!

I think PA is the only state to not have a school that shows in-state preference.
 
SU1989 said:
Yeah, I don't have a source really. I was referring to someone who posted before me. Perhaps I should have quoted him:



OK, here we go again: Isn't 26% really low for a state school, whether it be in-state biased or not?
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I think you missed my point, it was not about Pitt being biased for IS students, but rather the trend of new medical schools that have opened in the last several years that are mostly IS biased. From the article it sounds like West Penn will be another one of those.

The other point is that these new medical schools are opening up in states that already have a number of existing MD schools. Look at what has opened recently, and what is planned and you can clearly see this trend. http://www.lcme.org/newschoolprocess.htm

These new schools certainly will help their local needs, but it does not address the needs for all applicants. Let's face it, we are all OOS applicants and with the increasing number of total applicants it is getting harder and harder to get into an OOS school. It's even more difficult for those that live in the western half of the US (not just the Pacific Northwest) because of the lack of MD schools and the relatively few schools we do have are overwhelmingly state schools and IS biased (look at a map of the US and pinpoint the MD schools in the western half). So we have to compete mostly at eastern private schools that are often state or regionally biased.

So it's hard to get too excited about another school opening up in a eastern state with several schools and whose mission is to adress "local" needs. I would be much more excited to see a private school opening up somewhere in the western part of the US that is open to all applicants.
 
saveourpens said:
As someone who wants to stay in Pittsburgh and got rejected from Pitt, this is great news!

I think PA is the only state to not have a school that shows in-state preference.
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PA really is the worst state in the country.
 
Geneticist said:
What about California?
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At least CA takes MAJORITY IS even though its ultra competitive since there are so many people applying.. where PA doesn't take majority IS at any school except TCMC.. though I am sure within time.. they will stop doing that too.
 
jadealer said:
At least CA takes MAJORITY IS even though its ultra competitive since there are so many people applying.. where PA doesn't take majority IS at any school except TCMC.. though I am sure within time.. they will stop doing that too.
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What makes you say that? Schools only show in-state preference if there's funding coming from the state government. I don't see that happening any time soon.
 
Geneticist said:
What makes you say that? Schools only show in-state preference if there's funding coming from the state government. I don't see that happening any time soon.
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the point is, PA is a ****ty state to apply to medical school for because though there is an abundance of schools in the state, none of them show IS preference because the state gov doesn't do crap to encourage it..

CA on the other hand has a bunch of schools which at give the majority of their slots to IS applicants. so even though it very difficult because of the large number of applicants.. as least there is lot of IS preference to help
 
jadealer said:
the point is, PA is a ****ty state to apply to medical school for because though there is an abundance of schools in the state, none of them show IS preference because the state gov doesn't do crap to encourage it..

CA on the other hand has a bunch of schools which at give the majority of their slots to IS applicants. so even though it very difficult because of the large number of applicants.. as least there is lot of IS preference to help
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I agree. I just don't think PA is going to change its policies any time soon to allow for more medical school funding. I mean obviously I hope they do, I just don't see that happening any time in the near future.
 
Ok, lets see if applying out of Pennsylvania is really that bad. The data is from the AAMC website, for 2010 applicants.

School and % IS matriculants
Commonwealth- 70.8
Drexel- 36.9
Jefferson- 43.5
Penn State- 49.7
Penn- 21.6
Pitt- 26.4
Temple- 55.6

Total number of all Pennsylvania applicants- 1,493
Total number of IS Pennsylvania matriculants- 500
Total IS matriculated/all IS applicants- 34%

Now compare that 34% to some of the states out west using the same AAMC data:
Oregon- 22%
Washington- 16%
Colorado- 19%
Utah- 13%
Arizona- 22%
California- 17%

Clearly things in Pennsylvania are not as bad as some other states. Your odds of getting in are much better there than in the west as there are so few IS seats for the number of IS applicants. And if you think you have it worse than Californians, as Lee Corso would say- "not so fast my friend"...

Source:
https://www.aamc.org/download/161128/data/table1-facts2010school-web-pdf.pdf

https://www.aamc.org/download/159428/data/table3-facts2010sl-web.pdf.pdf

Note: data assumes all applicants within a state applied to all schools within that state. That is not really the case, but there is no way to assimilate the AAMC data otherwise in states with multiple schools. Thus the ratios will be slightly higher but should be proportional across the board as same base data was used for calculations.
 
In thinking about it, I suppose I could get just a little more accurate, just too much work. If someone else wants too, by all means!
 
Any news as to when it will be accepting its first class?
 
circulus vitios said:
PA really is the worst state in the country.
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When you're a physician, you will learn that CA is by far the worst state in the country.
State tax in CA is 3x PA, that's just one obvious factor.
More and more I see TX as the obvious answer. F me.
I considered a faculty position at Pitt. It's a fantastic and financially sound system. Pittsburgh... not for me.:(
 
I read an article where they're expecting the 1st class to be for this year. I forget which but just search "west penn medical school" into google news.
 
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