2008-2009 University of Pittsburgh Secondary Application Thread

Honestly never had much moral dillema, except at this party where I could either let a male friend take advantage of a drunk passed out guy that was probably straight, or stop my friend and get punched in the face.

I ended up persuading him to have a "few" drinks with me, and managed to get him drunk and he passed out.

Would this be too risky? If I don't write this I'm just gonna say N/A.

shemarty said:

Essays:
1) Describe a personal experience which resulted in a substantial moral or ethical dilemma. What was the outcome? We are reluctant to accept assertions that you have never encountered such a situation. Please do not address cheating in an academic setting.
(Limit your response to 250 words or less.)

2) The recruitment of a diverse student body is a major goal of the University of Pittsburgh's Medical School Admissions Committee. Please tell us whether facets of your life, background or education to date would contribute to the achievement of this goal.
(Limit your response to 250 words or less.)

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doomknight said:

Honestly never had much moral dillema, except at this party where I could either let a male friend take advantage of a drunk passed out guy that was probably straight, or stop my friend and get punched in the face.

I ended up persuading him to have a "few" drinks with me, and managed to get him drunk and he passed out.

Would this be too risky? If I don't write this I'm just gonna say N/A.

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Please don't use this example. It's inappropriate for medical school admissions.

It's also really advisable to come up with something. Any appropriate anecdote would be preferable over "N/A," especially since that was specifically stated in the prompt.

And as a side note, I corrected the thread title. It's spelled "Pittsburgh" not "Pittsburg." Sorry to be nit-picky, but I was born there and I just had to change it.

At least you got it before you wrote it in their secondary

I heard stories of people writing "I wish to attend John Hopkin's Medical School and blah blah blah". The adcoms were basically, thanks for the money, to the trash it goes.

doomknight said:

Honestly never had much moral dillema, except at this party where I could either let a male friend take advantage of a drunk passed out guy that was probably straight, or stop my friend and get punched in the face.

I ended up persuading him to have a "few" drinks with me, and managed to get him drunk and he passed out.

Would this be too risky? If I don't write this I'm just gonna say N/A.

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Yeah, I wouldn't go there.

But really, we've all had moral dilema's growing up I think. The essay I wrote for Pitt (and I ended up with an acceptance there, so it couldn't have been too bad) was about when I was in highschool and hung out with the really artsy crowd, took part in the school's new LGBT, and dressed very oddly (I kind of looked like a goth hipster, haha). Anyways, I went to a really conservative highschool, and got a lot of crap for the way I dressed, from both teachers and students because I was kind of an oddball. I didn't particularly care. I had the conviction that my taste in eccentric clothing was not at all a reflection of my intellectual capabilities or the quality of my ethical character, and I had a right to dress how I wanted. And I liked having pink hair.

But come senior year, I got a lot of pressure from friends and counselors to get a makeover, because they said that my eccentric dress code might affect the quality of my LORs from some of my teachers. So my ethical dilemma was where to draw the line between being myself, and "playing the game". Was I being stubborn and unreasonable for liking to die my hair funny colors? Or was I just proudly exercising my right to self expression? Should I change my appearance to conform with what was expected of someone pursuing my path, was that just being smart or was that giving in to peer pressure?

Anyways, that was my anecodote, and it's not that dramatic, lol. I think all of us, in the process of growing up, has our morals and ethics challenged by others, or just come to realize that "life's not fair" and we have to adjust to reality and make a decision about how to deal with it. Hope my example helped, hehe. Good luck guys! Pitt's a great school!

Yeah, this moral dilemma stuff is tough. I don't have a similar situation such as the few above posters about changing themselves, or peer pressure...

would that even qualify as moral or ethical dilemma?
kind of unsure as to what that exactly means?

floja2 said:

would that even qualify as moral or ethical dilemma?
kind of unsure as to what that exactly means?

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Haha, maybe that's part of the question? Hehe...

But if you're having trouble thinking of something, try reflecting on any time you maybe had to make a tough decision, or made a decision knowing that there would be repercussions. Why did you end up doing what you did? Is there anything you're particularly proud of, or wish you hadn't done? Have you ever had to defend your actions or fight for action to be taken? Really, you can argue two sides for almost any decisions you make in your life. For example, I'm sure we've all lied to or disobeyed our parents/authority at some point, that's a moral decision right there. I think the adcom just wants to see how your ethical reasoning skills are, what you can take away from your experiences, and if you can see the big picture in your actions. I don't think they're looking for you to demonstrate you're a hero or anything.

Do you think that I could write about how one time I work, I found at $400 check on the floor and decided to turn it in to a manager. Or how a lady in front of me in the check-out line left her wallet on the counter and how I brought it to the attention of the cashier, who ran out to the lady before she got to her car (this happened yesterday)?

azuldelcielo said:

Do you think that I could write about how one time I work, I found at $400 check on the floor and decided to turn it in to a manager. Or how a lady in front of me in the check-out line left her wallet on the counter and how I brought it to the attention of the cashier, who ran out to the lady before she got to her car (this happened yesterday)?

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i dont even know whether i would consider these to be "dilemmas." to me, a dilemma is a situation that has 2 "right" answers, balancing something like, honesty vs. loyalty (say, if you saw a friend stealing something)...but in this situation, what are you balancing? honesty vs. greed? in a dilemma, you should be able to argue favorably for either side usually

I'm not referring to my questions above when I ask this, but do you think there are any cases in which an alternative is to not do anything (remaining neutral) because you don't want to get involved in the situation?

azuldelcielo said:

I'm not referring to my questions above when I ask this, but do you think there are any cases in which an alternative is to not do anything (remaining neutral) because you don't want to get involved in the situation?

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i think if you have a morally compelling reason to not want to get involved (as opposed to because you're just scared/lazy) that would work

anybody know how Queer-friendly Pitt is? i'm considering mentioning some stuff in the diversity essay and unsure of how it will be received.

lisasimpson87 said:

i dont even know whether i would consider these to be "dilemmas." to me, a dilemma is a situation that has 2 "right" answers, balancing something like, honesty vs. loyalty (say, if you saw a friend stealing something)...but in this situation, what are you balancing? honesty vs. greed? in a dilemma, you should be able to argue favorably for either side usually

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Moral dilemma is usually defined as when you must choose either x or y, and both x and y are pretty terrible. But I understand your definition--just want to make it clear that we're not being forced to choose between the triple chocolate lava cake and the cookie monster oreo supreme here. It's about choosing the lesser of two evils and why the evil you chose is the lesser one.

I have a question, when they say senior faculty what does that mean? i tried googling but didn't find much

i know full time professors are senior faculty what about assistant/associate professors? thanks!

talbo said:

I have a question, when they say senior faculty what does that mean? i tried googling but didn't find much

i know full time professors are senior faculty what about assistant/associate professors? thanks!

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Assistant or associate professors are considered junior faculty. Professors are considered senior faculty (or full-time faculty).

Schoolsucks said:

Damn. Wish i would have visited this thread before i wrote my essay....

whatcha guys think:

My best friend began to do drugs. I didnt want to. He joined a gang. I didnt want to. he got into fights. i didnt want to. Get the idea? He accused me of being a poor friend, of no caring about him anymore....i made the decision to cut ties.

then he calls me up, he got ditched by his "gang", and he got into a fist fight with his father. This is years later. He wanted me to pick him up. I didnt want to at all, but i felt bad for him and thought about everything we shared. I picked him up, took him home, and fixed his affairs with his father.

Good enuf? Ofcourse i wrote this much more eloquently on the website.

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I think it's fine. I just hope that what I put down was fine - it is borderline "academic cheating," but not what I think they were getting at when they said not to write about that.

Anyway I was a genetics preceptor and had some friends in my class. One of them asked if I would give him some extra points on assignments in exchange for money (his family was pretty wealthy). He even offered to pay off my credit card and I told him no - he ended up apologizing and it's all cool now. And my credit card is almost paid off too.

Schoolsucks said:

My perception of what you wrote:

blah blah genetics preceptor blah blah=

blah blah exchange for money blah blah=

blah blah pay off credit card blah blah=

blah blah No blah blah blah=

blah blah credit card almost paid off blah blah

i think you could turn that last line into a punch line. that would be funny. just be serious the whole time and end it like "now im happy and broke" but make it sound better. It was a good story and i dont think it goes along with cheating. If you tried to cheat, or wanted to cheat, that would be different.....it would tarnish your character, even if you didnt cheat.

GL! PM if you want more detailed feedback, i'd be happy to send you mine as well.

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Ha ha, I like how you broke down my story into smilies. Of course I presented it much more eloquently in the secondary. I would take you up on your offer of swapping stories, but since I've already submitted and can't change anything on it, I'll just leave it be.

If you're looking for feedback on yours though, I can take a look at it if you want. Good luck to you too! Pittsburgh rocks!

That first question might prevent me from applying. I honestly can't think of one moral dilemma and I've spent some time trying to think of one.

Edit: The only thing I can think of is how I had to choose whether to hang out with one of my friends at some frat party (which I didn't like) or not hang out with him. Then again, I'd hardly call that a moral dilemma.

^ Same here. I can't think of a moral dilemma worth writing about...

hmm i have 2 possible dilemmas i could write about and am not sure which one to choose...i dont want to post the possibilities on here, but would someone who has submitted already be willing to give me their opinion via pm? i would really appreciate it!

I'm having technical difficulties with entering in Pitt's course requirements. I entered everything in once, but I had to go back and make changes to certain things (user error).

After trying to modify something, I click save, and go to another page. Upon return to the page I modified, everything is blank again. Seems the database is no longer wanting to accept my data (possible problem with the update script?).

I was wondering if anyone else experienced this and had a work around

I just got an invite to interview at Pitt! Yay! I am so excited! Now maybe I'll have some more inspiration to work on the rest of these apps. Good luck everyone!

asl2101 said:

I just got an invite to interview at Pitt! Yay! I am so excited! Now maybe I'll have some more inspiration to work on the rest of these apps. Good luck everyone!

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When did you submit your secondary/LORs?

asl2101 said:

I just got an invite to interview at Pitt! Yay! I am so excited! Now maybe I'll have some more inspiration to work on the rest of these apps. Good luck everyone!

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Congratulations! I just submitted my secondary and am now all complete. I can't wait to see what happens... I too need some motivation to get through the rest!

-BP

I submitted on Monday and it was immediately marked as complete because my LORs were already received.

asl2101 said:

I just got an invite to interview at Pitt! Yay! I am so excited! Now maybe I'll have some more inspiration to work on the rest of these apps. Good luck everyone!

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Wow, that was fast! Congratulations!

EDIT: Are you EDP?

asl2101 said:

I submitted on Monday and it was immediately marked as complete because my LORs were already received.

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Did you send the LORs before submitting?

I'm not early decision, and my undergrad committee sent out my letter packet for me once i sent my AMCAS, so yeah, it was sent before many of my secondaries will be done.

Getting a list started!

copingmethods: Submitted: 7/18, Letters rec'd: ??, Complete: ??

chad5871: Submitted: 7/15, Letters rec'd: 7/17, Complete: 7/18
copingmethods: Submitted: 7/18, Letters rec'd: ??, Complete: ??

chad5871: Submitted: 7/15, Letters rec'd: 7/17, Complete: 7/18
copingmethods: Submitted: 7/18, Letters rec'd: ??, Complete: ??
serikk85: Submitted: 7/10, Letters rec'd: 7/11, Complete: 7/15

QUESTION: When filling out course requirements did you write out all your biology, physics and chemistry classes? Or did you just write out the main ones used to satisfy your premed requirements?

I have AP Credit in Bio but I still had to take bio classes to satisfy premed requirements. Do i put both?

I should elaborate - I didn't do amazing in my premed requirements but other classes that can be classified as physics, bio and chem i did well in. Should I put those as well?

chad5871: Submitted: 7/15, Letters rec'd: 7/17, Complete: 7/18
copingmethods: Submitted: 7/18, Letters rec'd: 7/22, Complete: 7/22
serikk85: Submitted: 7/10, Letters rec'd: 7/11, Complete: 7/15

Hey serikk and chad, did you guys get an email when you were complete? I'm assuming I'm complete as they've received everything, but I never got a confirmation.

copingmethods said:

Hey serikk and chad, did you guys get an email when you were complete? I'm assuming I'm complete as they've received everything, but I never got a confirmation.

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You've assumed correctly. I just saw that they had everything and declared myself complete .

shemarty said:

[*]If an official pre-professional committee does not exist at your college, three (3) academic letters, preferably from senior faculty, are required. At least two of these letters must be from science faculty.

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Umm, what are you supposed to do if you've been out of school for a few years? I already have my LORs and one is from a research advisor at school, one is from a prof whose class I TA'ed as an undergrad, and the other is from the Hospital volunteer coordinator.

There is no way I can get three more academic letters (since the two I have didn't teach me in a lecture), and even if I could, they would be terrible since I haven't known the professors in 3-4 years and I doubt any would remember me.

Soooo.... I don't really know what kind of medicine I want to go into so I'm not sure how to answer this question:

If an invitation to interview is extended, we make every effort to match applicants with faculty members of similar interests. Even though an exact match is not always possible, we would like to know your areas of interest.
Please select up to 3 of the below categories.

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Will they look down on my app if I leave this blank? Otherwise, I can pick Neuroscience because I've done some research in that.

Decicco said:

Soooo.... I don't really know what kind of medicine I want to go into so I'm not sure how to answer this question:

Will they look down on my app if I leave this blank? Otherwise, I can pick Neuroscience because I've done some research in that.

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I'm not sure what specialty I'd like to pursue either, so I just picked the specialties that I've shadowed and/or done research in. I figure it couldn't hurt to have some common ground with your interviewer.

rogerwilco said:

For Pitt's "moral/ethical dilemma" essay I wrote about how I was originally going to steal someone else's "moral/ethical dilemma" they had endured and pretend it was my own, but then I spoke with a friend who advised me against doing such a thing in case I interviewed there and they probed deeper about said incident, and that I should use a dilemma of my own. I agreed and chose not to write about the stolen incident for my moral/ethical dilemma essay. This all was the subject of my essay.


What can I say, I was tired of filling out secondaries by that point.

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Really? Because that's pretty clever... If I were on the adcom I'd grant you an interview just because I thought this was a unique way of answering the question.

rogerwilco said:

For Pitt's "moral/ethical dilemma" essay I wrote about how I was originally going to steal someone else's "moral/ethical dilemma" they had endured and pretend it was my own, but then I spoke with a friend who advised me against doing such a thing in case I interviewed there and they probed deeper about said incident, and that I should use a dilemma of my own. I agreed and chose not to write about the stolen incident for my moral/ethical dilemma essay. This all was the subject of my essay.


What can I say, I was tired of filling out secondaries by that point.

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That's awesome...just make sure you don't say that being afraid it would come up in an interview was the reason you didn't use the stolen essay.

Or...you could write an essay about deciding whether or not to mention that you didn't use the stolen essay because it would come up in an interview...

/end loop.