***Official University of Pittsburgh Dental School C/O 2015 Acceptance Thread***

Finally someone created a thread. I'm in too. OOS

Congrats! See you guys in June if you take the offer - let me know if you've got any questions.

I'm a current second year, and there's a very good chance I gave you a tour ;p

I got accepted too Dec1st, OOS, International.

Wow I actually have time to contribute to SDN!
To introduce myself, I'm currently a first year at Pitt and received a PM from a potential incoming first year. I figured I'd share all of the information as I know there will be others with the same questions. Please see below for the questions asked.

1) What I'll say is that there are definitely going to be things about dental school that you're not going to be happy with. However, they're just part of being a dental student. There haven't been any downsides to Pitt as a school that I've found to be exclusive to Pitt, you basically find them at any dental school. I can't speak for possible downsides of other schools though, that may be exclusive to that school.

2) You'll get a lot more information about joining clubs and the frat next fall (its not something I'd concern myself with now). The main thing I'll say is DON'T SPREAD YOURSELF TOO THIN. I can't stress that enough. Everyone is different regarding the workload they can handle and I've definitely seen people that have simply tried to do too much. Most of the clubs don't require too much of a time investment first year, but sometimes the simple cumulative effect of having so much on your plate can become overwhelming. I recommend joining 3-4 clubs and if interested run for an officer position in one (but again, everyone is different).

3) Pittsburgh has a lot of housing variety. Here's my quick synopsis:

a. Oakland: closer to school, more of an undergrad feel. Most of the single people looking to go out a bit more often than others prefer living here. Generally lower rent than other areas.

b. Shadyside: 1-2 miles from school, so you need to get the bus. Generally a more mature area with nicer restaurants/bars/shopping. I would recommend here or Squirrel Hill for any couples or people looking for a more mature night life.

c. Squirrel Hill: about the same distance from school as Shadyside. Generally a bit more expensive and a little less night life than Shadyside but a very beautiful area to live.

d. Rooming: I would say a little more than half of students room together or with someone. You'll generally pay lower rent or get a nicer place if you do.

e. My wife and I lived in the Arlington (by Mozart) for a year and hated it. Mozart is a very money driven management company that we felt cared very little about their tenants. Unfortunately for people coming from out of town, they have the best internet presence and thus seem the most appealing. Obviously there's no guarantee that some other manager you choose won't be worse though.

4) Specializing. Here is the best advice I've determined regarding specializing: Come into D school with the objective of becoming the best dentist that you can. Try your hardest to keep the option open down the road. Obviously, until you have some experience 2nd and 3rd year, you'll have no idea what you might be best at or what you enjoy the most. I've really come to the realization that for many people (including those at the top of their class), General Dentistry makes more sense for multiple reasons. Really the only thing you have to do is try your hardest, and down the road if the option is there and it makes sense for you then great.

5) Life as a D1…one word: fast. This semester went quicker than any other of my life. For the most part, we were 8-5 M-F in lecture or rotations. Typically we had only one 3 hour rotation/week and thus would have either T morning or Th afternoon off. You'll soon find that the best thing you can do for yourself is try to get to bed early (which is easy, you'll be tired lol) and make the most of lectures. Most of us were used to barely paying attention to lectures in undergrad, then teaching ourselves before the exam. When it comes down to it, you really don't have the time to do that in D school. The more you can understand and retain from lecture the better.

6) So far our breaks that I know of are:

a. 3 days for Thanksgiving
b. 2.5 weeks for Christmas
c. ~1 week after spring semester
d. ~4 weeks (according to Black Panther) after summer semester (AFAIK most people use this to study for and/or take boards)

I hope this was helpful and I'll try to keep up with the thread during break if anyone has any questions!

******* said:

Hi, I hope finals went well!

When you have the time, can you answer some of these Qs?

1. There are lots of pros about Pitt but are there any cons that stand out to you? anything you wish they would change or things you wish you would have known before enrolling? Just want to know what im getting myself into!

2. Would joining the ADSA committee or the dental fraternity (what kinds of stuff does the frat do?) be good to be more active in school?

3. I heard shadyside is the best place to live (agree/disagree?). In regards to shadyside, what things are close by? are restaurants, grocery store, shopping walkable? just trying to get a feel of the area. What parts of shadyside would be the most convenient (arlington, lionhead, etc). Have you heard anything about the Mozart management? http://mozartrents.com/NeighborhoodD...ighborhoodID=1

Do most people live by themselves in a studio/1 bedroom apt? or do most people share?


4. How hard is it to specialize? I do not know what I would like to do, but I would like to do well in school
to leave the option open. Is it hard/super competitive to rank high enough to have that option open?

5. What the typical life of a D1 like? schedule of classes (what kinds of hours we have).

6. I heard we dont really have summer break due to summer session...is this true?! or do we just get like 2 weeks off in august.

Thanks again!

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By the way, Nflesher is one of the coolest dude I've met at PITT. Had a blast in the first semester.

No its 4 weeks for summer break.

Take out some bs courses, the few breaks and we can probably be the second 3year UOP like school. Probably a good idea!

Blue Panther said:

No its 4 weeks for summer break.

Take out some bs courses, the few breaks and we can probably be the second 3year UOP like school. Probably a good idea!

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I don't think they would even need to do that much to trim Pitt down to 3 years.
Either way though, that would take years to execute and I've gotten no whiff of any such intentions.

nflesher87 said:

I don't think they would even need to do that much to trim Pitt down to 3 years.
Either way though, that would take years to execute and I've gotten no whiff of any such intentions.

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Why would they want to take out an extra year of tuition. They can use all the money they can get after they kicked out 5-6 students from the prior class.

5 Students x $50k/year tuition = $250k * 4years= $1 MILLION!!!!

albiet, they got transfer students to replace them but 5/80 is 6% of their class!

Blue Panther said:

Why would they want to take out an extra year of tuition. They can use all the money they can get after they kicked out 5-6 students from the prior class.

5 Students x $50k/year tuition = $250k * 4years= $1 MILLION!!!!

albiet, they got transfer students to replace them but 5/80 is 6% of their class!

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So why did these 5-6 students get kicked out?! D grades? If you actually do study but are not the brightest, is it still possible to fail a class??

I'm in too! I'm from Wisconsin, where is everyone else from? Anyone from the midwest?

i got accepted too i can't wait..i'm from ohio but went to undergrad at Pitt. i loved the city too much to turn an offer down from them. all i can say is this place is on the up and up, and i can't think of one negative memory from undergrad. there's a ton of students from pitt, the surrounding colleges and other young professionals in this city.

keep this thread goin! i want to talk to some future panthers for the class of 2015!

The 5-6 students were dismissed, most likely (I don't know for SURE) based on the "failure" rule. If you get 2 F's in ANY courses, you are dismissed, no questions asked. This goes for operative courses such as Dental Anatomy Lab as well. These classes are under the complete autonomy of the instructor. So, if you fail one of these courses and struggle with another didactic, you're done....Welcome to Pitt! (seriously though, ds is doable).

No it is if you get two D's not F's. Which I guess are F's.

I stand corrected.

liriano said:

The 5-6 students were dismissed, most likely (I don't know for SURE) based on the "failure" rule. If you get 2 F's in ANY courses, you are dismissed, no questions asked. This goes for operative courses such as Dental Anatomy Lab as well. These classes are under the complete autonomy of the instructor. So, if you fail one of these courses and struggle with another didactic, you're done....Welcome to Pitt! (seriously though, ds is doable).

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Yeah, as Blue said, I'm pretty sure the rule is 2 D's in the same academic year, which is most likely during the first year, since it's so science heavy.

And we didn't lose 5-6 for purely academic reasons, we had one student pass away, and another go on maternity leave, and she'll be joining your class full time in the Spring. Some of the academic causes were partly due to new policies that were put in place ( i.e. not being able to remediation either class if you get 2 D's in the same semester, and not being able to repeat a year if you end up not passing two classes), and that, (I felt) they didn't really communicate this to all of the instructors very well.

Anyways, no one should be scared away by this, they're working the kinks out of the system. DS is very doable, it's just a HUGE adjustment from undergrad.

thanks to the current students for helping out in the thread!

Would one of you be willing to make a Facebook group? and maybe open it up to some of the current students to join it as well? Just so we have an online group to communicate, and for other accepted students to find us.

Happy new year! go panthers!!

crooked castle said:

thanks to the current students for helping out in the thread!

Would one of you be willing to make a Facebook group? and maybe open it up to some of the current students to join it as well? Just so we have an online group to communicate, and for other accepted students to find us.

Happy new year! go panthers!!

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Great Idea. I just created a group page, here is the linkhttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_135869176472858

I left the group open, so any current students feel free to join.

Hey, I envy you..... I applied late... so, I got the interview late too( End of January) I am so nervous. >.< Would you please, let me know that I have to write some kinds of essays on the interview? Thanks

liriano said:

The 5-6 students were dismissed, most likely (I don't know for SURE) based on the "failure" rule. If you get 2 F's in ANY courses, you are dismissed, no questions asked. This goes for operative courses such as Dental Anatomy Lab as well. These classes are under the complete autonomy of the instructor. So, if you fail one of these courses and struggle with another didactic, you're done....Welcome to Pitt! (seriously though, ds is doable).

Click to expand...

So wait... 2 F's -- one for the initial assessment and one for remediation or is it 2 F's in remediating operative courses ? That doesn't sound so unfair.

i have an interview on jan 31st.. which is this monday.. is the admissions rolling now or do they have a date for spring admission that they let all post dec 1st interviewees know about acceptance?

thanks!

Has anyone gotten anything since the $750 deposit? I was told we were gonna get a receipt, but I have not received any mail.

pittgirl said:

i have an interview on jan 31st.. which is this monday.. is the admissions rolling now or do they have a date for spring admission that they let all post dec 1st interviewees know about acceptance?

thanks!

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Pitt takes about half of their students from pre-December interviews, and half from post-December interviews (40 and 40 roughly). There's no particular date, but I heard back within 2 weeks of my interview or so.

See you at the interview!

Vicviper said:

Pitt takes about half of their students from pre-December interviews, and half from post-December interviews (40 and 40 roughly). There's no particular date, but I heard back within 2 weeks of my interview or so.

See you at the interview!

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So I assume you had a post december inerview and heard 2 weeks after that? Since all pre-Dec. hear on the 1st..

pittgirl said:

So I assume you had a post december inerview and heard 2 weeks after that? Since all pre-Dec. hear on the 1st..

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Yes, I interviewed in mid February that year - it was actually the day after the Steelers won the super bowl too, haha. I heard back about the last week of February. At Pitt, the admissions committee normally meets the Friday after 2 interviews have been done. Also, they often use regular mail, so that can delay it a tad.

How long does it usually take Pitt to change the status on AADSAS once you've had an interview whether you're accepted, or they are looking at the application and deciding again, etc?

Has anyone else's aadsas status change to received/app complete after the interview? I had my intetview earlier this week and it just changed back to that just now.. just curious if this happens to eeveryone who interviewed or if it could mean anything bad possibly?

erin714 said:

Has anyone else's aadsas status change to received/app complete after the interview? I had my intetview earlier this week and it just changed back to that just now.. just curious if this happens to eeveryone who interviewed or if it could mean anything bad possibly?

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does your aadsas now say rec'd/application complete again?

my changed today too but it says rec'd/under review..

Also had 1/31 interview.. and mine changed to rec/under review as well..
does anyone know when the committee will be meeting to review?

Ennies said:

Also had 1/31 interview.. and mine changed to rec/under review as well..
does anyone know when the committee will be meeting to review?

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same with mine.. i wonder if erin714 who just posted a little while ago was changed to under review or complete? wish she would come back on to tell us!

mine says received/under review as well. this may be incorrect, but i heard that they will review applications from the 1/31 interview the friday after the 2nd interview session (so that should be feb 18th).

pittgirl said:

same with mine.. i wonder if erin714 who just posted a little while ago was changed to under review or complete? wish she would come back on to tell us!

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sorry it says received/under review, not app complete...

map142 said:

mine says received/under review as well. this may be incorrect, but i heard that they will review applications from the 1/31 interview the friday after the 2nd interview session (so that should be feb 18th).

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god... feb 18 seems so far away.

map142 said:

mine says received/under review as well. this may be incorrect, but i heard that they will review applications from the 1/31 interview the friday after the 2nd interview session (so that should be feb 18th).

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That sounds about right - we were just told that the 2nd to last interview will be on the 14th, so I think the committee will meet on the 18th, likely for both of these interviews.

Also, yes, your AADSAS status may change to under review after the interview, it did for me when I applied.

As far as acceptances, AADSAS updated mine the same day I got the letter in the mail. Usually they've been doing phone calls now though.

I'm sure I ran into a few of your at the interview, I'm 2nd year Mike from UC Irvine, and I led a big tour. Good luck Everybody!

Vicviper said:

That sounds about right - we were just told that the 2nd to last interview will be on the 14th, so I think the committee will meet on the 18th, likely for both of these interviews.

Also, yes, your AADSAS status may change to under review after the interview, it did for me when I applied.

As far as acceptances, AADSAS updated mine the same day I got the letter in the mail. Usually they've been doing phone calls now though.

I'm sure I ran into a few of your at the interview, I'm 2nd year Mike from UC Irvine, and I led a big tour. Good luck Everybody!

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Hi Mike. It was very nice meeting you on 31st. Thanks for the tour and answering all of my questions.
Hope to see you next year!!

..

So Dr. Etzel called me around noon today in regards to an acceptance. I'm super excited! Congratulations to anyone else that heard good news today and best of luck to those that are still waiting.

congrats! When did you have your interview?
Anyone else got a call from Dr. Etzel?

yepp I got the call yesterday as well. Interviewed on the 31st of Jan.

Ennies said:

congrats! When did you have your interview?
Anyone else got a call from Dr. Etzel?

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I'm OOS and I interviewed on Nov. 1st. I do have familial ties to PA - Pittsburgh in particular.

Congrats all... I also interviewed on Jan 31st.. but nothing yet... sigh...........
I really really wanna come to pitt.. and hopefully the ad com is not finished reviewing jan 31 interviewees...

Vicviper said:

Yes, I interviewed in mid February that year - it was actually the day after the Steelers won the super bowl too, haha. I heard back about the last week of February. At Pitt, the admissions committee normally meets the Friday after 2 interviews have been done. Also, they often use regular mail, so that can delay it a tad.

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Haha! I actually interviewed too the day after the super bowl, except the part where...the Steelers won. Poop. Anyways, thank you for just being so helpful around the Pittsburgh threads Viciper, I was just wondering: When you heard back around the last week of February was it near the end of that week?

<<< I am currently awaiting their decision, which hopefully will be good.
<<< *crosses fingers*

pangarock said:

Haha! I actually interviewed too the day after the super bowl, except the part where...the Steelers won. Poop. Anyways, thank you for just being so helpful around the Pittsburgh threads Viciper, I was just wondering: When you heard back around the last week of February was it near the end of that week?

<<< I am currently awaiting their decision, which hopefully will be good.
<<< *crosses fingers*

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If you were at the Feb 14th interview, I think you may hear back in the next 2 weeks - this reasoning because the final Pitt interview is this coming Monday, and the Admissions Committee will likely meet that Friday, and if they haven't already gone over the interviews from the 14th (which I think they may have), people would hear back the following Monday or Tuesday when they start making calls.

Hope that helps!

Vicviper said:

If you were at the Feb 14th interview, I think you may hear back in the next 2 weeks - this reasoning because the final Pitt interview is this coming Monday, and the Admissions Committee will likely meet that Friday, and if they haven't already gone over the interviews from the 14th (which I think they may have), people would hear back the following Monday or Tuesday when they start making calls.

Hope that helps!

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Yes it does, thanks a ton!

Hey everyone,

I have an interview coming up on Monday and I don't think I really got any info about the interview day schedule... if anyone could enlighten me i'd really appreciate it. Are the interviews at the beginning of the day or after lunch? Is there an essay?

Also, does anyone have any idea how many seats are remaining in the class? Or am I just interviewing for a waitlist spot?

corpus luteum said:

Hey everyone,

I have an interview coming up on Monday and I don't think I really got any info about the interview day schedule... if anyone could enlighten me i'd really appreciate it. Are the interviews at the beginning of the day or after lunch? Is there an essay?

Also, does anyone have any idea how many seats are remaining in the class? Or am I just interviewing for a waitlist spot?

Click to expand...

rhonda should have sent you an interview confirmation with the agenda attached to it as word document file. faculty interviews are from 12:30-1:30pm. if it's still the same as last year, the admissions people greet you infront of the auditorium and then give you an envelope with a faculty member's name on it (that's your interviewer). you start out the day with some introduction, then brunch with dental students, tours, financial aid review, then the formal interview session. the day ends with a writing sample and the sim clinic tour. hope this helps!

oh and the associate dean told me that there are 20 spots available as of now. around 80 people are going to be considered for those spot. 25% chance.. yikes.

I am still hoping for some news from Pittsburgh. I was at the Feb 14th interview. I already got into another school, but Pittsburgh is my top choice and I really hope to get in. I was expecting a call earlier this week since they said we would hear from them in early March. Still got my fingers crossed.

don't worry...i was at the februrary 14th interview also...we should be hearing back next week!

To anyone people who interviewed 2/14 or 2/28: did your aadsas switch back to Received/Under Review?? I'm guessing Pittsburgh usually does this before they make a decision? ::fingers crossed::

Yep, mine did too! Any chance we find out tomorrow? hmmm.dont want to wait until Monday.