2014-2015 University of Pittsburgh Application Thread

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I'm glad for those of you who got great packages, but I wonder what went wrong with mine! 🙁 I was already pretty sure I would withdraw, but now that I know where I stand with financial aid, that makes the decision easier.

Good luck those of you who are still waiting, on the waitlist or for financial aid, and congrats to those who will be matriculating!
 
Did you (or anyone else) get a merit award, or know if those went out with initial acceptances?
I'm not sure if they were handed out with the acceptances... Pitt seems to be committed to making the school at least somewhat affordable for its accepted students. Their package is one of the best packages I've received so far. Everyone else should be hearing back soon.
 
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Pitt seems to be committed to making the school at least somewhat affordable for its accepted students. Their package is one of the best packages I've received so far.


That is definitely not true for me. It is by far the worst package I received and I will be withdrawing soon. It is a shame because I really liked Pitt. Good luck to everyone on the WL!
 
Does anyone know if they are handing out more? I haven't recieved mine yet.

I don't thunk they went out with acceptances. I didn't get one then.
 
That is definitely not true for me. It is by far the worst package I received and I will be withdrawing soon. It is a shame because I really liked Pitt. Good luck to everyone on the WL!
I'm not saying it was the most amazing package, but compared to my other schools, it was nice. I'm sorry it didn't work out. I hope that you end up in the best place for you!
 
I realize I'm being super neurotic here, but has anyone besides me and @lyra928 not received their fin aid package yet despite submitting everything on time? I don't want to bug the fin aid office unnecessarily, but I also don't want to be forgotten!

Edit: turns out they misspelled my email address
 
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I have not received financial aid information either, I will probably try to contact them at the end of the week unless I hear back

EDIT: I actually did receive it and did not see the email - just me being dumb
 
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So... are we expecting post-April 30th WL movement at this point?
Reading through past pages here, it looks like there was WL movement at the end of February and then nothing after that.

Patiently waiting tier 1 WL... Return my love Pitt! 🙂

I just withdrew yesterday. I hope good news comes your way!
 
Would anyone be willing to share their impressions from Second Look day? I was unfortunately unable to make it, and have a difficult choice between schools at the moment, so if anyone wanted to share their experience that would be awesome!
 
Would anyone be willing to share their impressions from Second Look day? I was unfortunately unable to make it, and have a difficult choice between schools at the moment, so if anyone wanted to share their experience that would be awesome!

i second this post! i wasn't able to attend but i'd love to hear what you all thought. thank you so much!
 
Anyone know if those on the waitlist are to expect movement this week?
 
Does anyone know how to send in the admissions deposit?
 
Does anyone know how to send in the admissions deposit?
I think you do send it via snail mail. In the acceptance email they told us it has to be postmarked by May 11 and sent to the Admissions Office.
 
Also, I'm assuming final transcripts also need to be sent directly to the Admissions Office right?
 
Got in off the waitlist tier 1 this morning. I hope this doesn't count as an offer prior to National Reply Date. It shouldn't right?
 
Got in off the waitlist tier 1 this morning. I hope this doesn't count as an offer prior to National Reply Date. It shouldn't right?

+1 -- but no, I don't think it does. since it says we have 2 weeks to reply.
 
Got in off the waitlist tier 1 this morning. I hope this doesn't count as an offer prior to National Reply Date. It shouldn't right?
double check with Pitt but you should have two weeks to respond to ANY offer unless you receive that offer after May 15 (per amcas traffic regulations).

I would call/email the school you are currently accepted at, though, and let them know "hey just so you know, I got off the waitlist at school X today. I am very happy with my position at your school and do not anticipate leaving at this moment; however as with any school offer I would like the opportunity to talk this new possibility over with my family and other important people in my life. I just wanted to confirm if it was ok for me to hold this acceptance after the april 30 deadline, so I have time to make an informed decision about my life"
 
Accepted off of 1st tier waitlist just now and will be matriculating. Hope to see some of you in the fall.

What time was your email at? No email here yet 🙁 first tier
 
I would call/email the school you are currently accepted at, though, and let them know "hey just so you know, I got off the waitlist at school X today. I am very happy with my position at your school and do not anticipate leaving at this moment; however as with any school offer I would like the opportunity to talk this new possibility over with my family and other important people in my life. I just wanted to confirm if it was ok for me to hold this acceptance after the april 30 deadline, so I have time to make an informed decision about my life"

This is sound advice. I emailed my other school and the response I got seemed to imply that whoever read my email went over to the director of admissions and specifically asked about the situation. I was given a new deadline not in line with any AMCAS recommendation I've ever read. It seems like there might not be a clear cut precedence about getting waitlist acceptances on the day of the deadline.
 
Spoke with admissions today. Adcom won't re-visit WL pool till end of May. Losing hope at this point...
 
Congrats everyone! Looking forward to seeing you on the wards when you get there!
 
Question for current students: How is the motorcycle/scooter situation? Do any students ride to class/rotations? Seems like a good medium between having a car and relying on public transport.
 
Question for current students: How is the motorcycle/scooter situation? Do any students ride to class/rotations? Seems like a good medium between having a car and relying on public transport.

I don't personally know anyone who does, but I know the permit for parking a motorcycle/scooter is only like $25 a semester or something ridiculously cheap. When on campus permit parking costs something like $350/semester and metered parking in Oakland is $3/hour, a motorcycle would be quite economical. Just keep in mind that there's a lot of rain and also winter is October-March/April. There's a motorcycle parking lot on Lothrop (near the UPMC Presby entrance)
 
How late do the buses run in Pittsburgh? At $350/semester parking, even being fortunate to have a car already, I'm not too keen on the idea of driving to campus daily. Do students typically walk back from campus/bars/what have you to their places of residence at night?

Might sound like a naive question, but my undergrad was pretty self-contained and students didn't wander too far in general.

We get free use of public transportation with our student ID. Most people who don't live in Darragh or Oakland take the bus to school. There's really no need to drive to school during MS1/MS2 unless you are averse to public transportation.

The main buses run until like 1:30am or so and start back up around 4:30-5am. These are the buses that connect Shadyside and Squirrel Hill through Oakland to Downtown (71 or 61 buses). If you live in a less common/more distant neighborhood (Bloomfield, Regent Square, etc) there are fewer buses and they usually have shorter schedules, but still run decently late (late enough to get you home from dinner, but probably not from a night at the bar).

Also street parking is free after 6pm and before 8am. Often during MS1/MS2 I would walk or take the bus home, eat dinner, and drive back to study in the library so I had my car with me and didn't have to deal with the bus late at night.
 
How late do the buses run in Pittsburgh? At $350/semester parking, even being fortunate to have a car already, I'm not too keen on the idea of driving to campus daily. Do students typically walk back from campus/bars/what have you to their places of residence at night?

Might sound like a naive question, but my undergrad was pretty self-contained and students didn't wander too far in general.

I only drive to school on weekends (sunday is unmetered). You can park in the Soldiers and Sailors lot near the undergrad buidings for 5$ all day (usually). I've never walked home from campus, always have left early enough to grab a bus. As for bars, if you live in Shadyside you'll never have to bus to a bar (unless you go to Oakland). I sometimes go out in Lawrenceville and Bloomfield and just take Lyft/Uber back home for like 4$.
 
Do people usually carpool to get groceries like Trader Joes?
 
Do people usually carpool to get groceries like Trader Joes?

Trader Joes, Target, and several grocery stores are easily accessible by bus, but people do carpool. Especially to Costco. I'd say most people have a car by 3rd year, or have access to one. There's also Zipcar.
 
Does anyone know how long it takes for newly accepted students to receive their financial aid packages?
 
@Ismet any thoughts on this draconian 3 roomate law in Pittsburgh. Started looking for places and ran into it today.

Given how many 5 bedroom+ places there are in South Oakland (undergrad city), I highly doubt this is an enforced thing given how tightly stuffed into apts undergrads are. Pretty sure there were more than 4 people in one of the house shared by a bunch of med students in my class.
 
I've never heard of it and it might be one of those things that is very loosely followed. I lived with 4 other people at one point.

Given how many 5 bedroom+ places there are in South Oakland (undergrad city), I highly doubt this is an enforced thing given how tightly stuffed into apts undergrads are. Pretty sure there were more than 4 people in one of the house shared by a bunch of med students in my class.

Do you guys know if there was some loophole used, like signing only 3 on the lease and having 1-2 more people living there. There are some news articles floating around about students getting evicted and landlords getting slapped with massive fines, and we've encountered a few landlords who flat out refuse to toe around the limit. It's given us the heebie-jeebies. :nailbiting:
 
can any current Pitt students comment on how many applicants - if any at all - have been accepted off the WL post-May 15th (April 30th this year) deadline in previous years?

@redpanda @Ismet @philip422
 
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