2015-2016 University of Pittsburgh Application Thread

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Hera A said:
I never have but I'm sure they get all the emails so it's fine
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+1. Also, for anyone who might be sending additional LORs, my letter writer did not receive confirmation that they received his e-mail but the LOR list on my portal was updated.
 
Does anyone know/has anyone contacted the office to find out if we should be expecting financial aid awards to come out around the 15th (like last year)?
 
kizzpot said:
Does anyone know/has anyone contacted the office to find out if we should be expecting financial aid awards to come out around the 15th (like last year)?
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Emailed and was told "Award letters will be sent out within the first two weeks of April. Last year award letters for incoming students were emailed on April 14th. I would anticipate a similar timeline this year. "
 
Can a current student, or applicant, comment on the curriculum? Is it 1.5 or 2 year pre-clerkship? P/F? Internal ranking?
I'm trying to make a decision on schools but I realized that I don't know much about the structure of their four years.. 😵
 
swagg said:
Can a current student, or applicant, comment on the curriculum? Is it 1.5 or 2 year pre-clerkship? P/F? Internal ranking?
I'm trying to make a decision on schools but I realized that I don't know much about the structure of their four years.. 😵
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Kind of between a 1.5 and 2 year. We start 3rd year in May, have to take Step 1 by the end of April in MS2. "Traditional" curriculums start 3rd year a bit later, like June or July, but we don't start as early as 1.5 year curriculums.

P/F first 2 years, then H/HP/P/LP/F for clinicals. There is no internal ranking.

Also curriculum is in blocks, not longitudinal. You'll have 7 weeks of anatomy all day every day and then take a test and then you're on to the next course. The "soft science" courses like bio stats, ethics, etc meet once a week and are longitudinal for a semester.
 
Thank you for your input! I really appreciate it :hello:
 
bamagirlie789 said:
I keep hearing mixed answers about this (and not just at Pitt, granted). A couple of my current friends are M1s there and claim there is internal ranking, FWIW
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I attended while MS1/MS2 were H/P/F, so there was an explicit way to do internal ranking with MS1/MS2 data that factored into junior AOA selection. Now, P/F makes that much more difficult. Sure everyone is paranoid about this concept of internal ranking, but the real question is what, if anything, is it used for. Does anyone really think that the data of your numerical test scores and evals is just going disappear? It may not be used for quite a while (at least until your Dean's letter gets written for residency), but it's probably naive to think it ever won't be communicated.
 
bamagirlie789 said:
I keep hearing mixed answers about this (and not just at Pitt, granted). A couple of my current friends are M1s there and claim there is internal ranking, FWIW
Click to expand...

redpanda said:
I attended while MS1/MS2 were H/P/F, so there was an explicit way to do internal ranking with MS1/MS2 data that factored into junior AOA selection. Now, P/F makes that much more difficult. Sure everyone is paranoid about this concept of internal ranking, but the real question is what, if anything, is it used for. Does anyone really think that the data of your numerical test scores and evals is just going disappear? It may not be used for quite a while (at least until your Dean's letter gets written for residency), but it's probably naive to think it ever won't be communicated.
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I was told that ranking/pre-clinical grades do not factor into junior AOA selection, it's more based on Step 1 score and involvement/leadership in the school, but that was from a student in AOA and not official word from the school so it may not be correct. We also received an email when it came time for senior AOA selection that explicitly said that since they do not rank students, only students who have gotten Honors in X number of clerkships could submit their CVs for consideration.

As the first P/F pre-clinical class to go through applications and MSPE/Dean's letter, there is zero mention of pre-clinical ranking. All it says is we passed all pre-clinical courses, not even a "hint" word about where we stand. Just one sentence.
 
Still first tier waitlist and really hoping to hear good news soon...I sent an update letter/LOI late February; should I send another one now that I have submitted my thesis and presented a poster on it?
 
Jody+Tinkles said:
Still first tier waitlist and really hoping to hear good news soon...I sent an update letter/LOI late February; should I send another one now that I have submitted my thesis and presented a poster on it?
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Hey! I'm waiting on the first tier too and Pitt is definitely my top choice. I also just defended my thesis last week and I sent an update in, couldn't hurt!
 
I called the Financial Aid office and they said they were going to hopefully be getting the award packages out via email sometime today.
 
Has anyone received any information about the pre-matriculation program yet? I've heard from other PittMed students that it can be really helpful because the first course (anatomy) can be brutal.
 
yeah seriously...... literally nothing. I'm really surprised, this is the least I've seen, and I thought Pitt was known to be generous with aid? The difference between this and another school that offered me scholarships is $180k less debt..... I guess this is a bye Pittsburgh 🙁
 
Most schools I interviewed at suggested they'd try to match or compete with financial aid offers made by other schools. Does anyone know if Pitt is similar in this regard? Or is the financial aid letter pretty much the final say?
 
Dence said:
Most schools I interviewed at suggested they'd try to match or compete with financial aid offers made by other schools. Does anyone know if Pitt is similar in this regard? Or is the financial aid letter pretty much the final say?
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This question was asked on my interview day and the director of aid said that their offer is their best foot forward, they do not match.
 
RuggerMD said:
This question was asked on my interview day and the director of aid said that their offer is their best foot forward, they do not match.
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From what I'd heard, most schools are like that-it's one letter and that's it. At my interview, I got the impression they were a bit offended that someone would consider asking them to match because we had that question come up too.
 
Hey everyone! Scrolled through this thread a bit but haven't been able to find my exact answer(s):

1. The curriculum is organized into blocks, but they don't seem to be organ-based. How do you like this structure?

2. Due to the blocks, I know it probably varies, but how often COULD you be in class each week, and how many of these hours are 100% required. Basically, what's your weekly schedule like?

3. What's the format of assessments?

Thanks!
 
starlite911 said:
Hey everyone! Scrolled through this thread a bit but haven't been able to find my exact answer(s):

1. The curriculum is organized into blocks, but they don't seem to be organ-based. How do you like this structure?

2. Due to the blocks, I know it probably varies, but how often COULD you be in class each week, and how many of these hours are 100% required. Basically, what's your weekly schedule like?

3. What's the format of assessments?

Thanks!
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1. It's basic science blocked first year and organ system blocked second year. I don't know anyone who has a problem with this system, but it is all we know. There is actually some sentiment of "I can't believe they do that, how does that work?" when we talk about how other schools do it. Once you get into the system, this will be your life and all you know. Personally I like it. There are pros and cons to each system. I can try to elaborate if you are really interested.

2. At maximum, you'd have class everyday from 8:00/8:30/9:00 to 4:30 except for two afternoons completely off. At minimum, you go to 2-3 things a week that total 3-6 hours.

3. Test at the end of every course. Most are in-house tests, a handful are from the boards people and taken in simulated boards style (laptops, software, etc.). Several courses/tests make up each block. You have to pass the block, but not each course. Passing is generally 2SD below mean, or hard set at 70%, depending on course. Very few things outside of tests are assessed, no more than 10% of a course grade will be other stuff.
 
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I'm on the wait list here and very much hoping to get in... I am writing an update letter/letter of interest and wasn't sure if I should just upload it to the application portal, address it to my interviewer, or address it to the dean of admissions. Does anyone know if UPSOM has a preference?
 
Hi everyone

Is there a UPSOM class of 2020 facebook group? I can't seem to find it, can anyone PM me the link? Thanks!
 
Jody+Tinkles said:
I'm on the wait list here and very much hoping to get in... I am writing an update letter/letter of interest and wasn't sure if I should just upload it to the application portal, address it to my interviewer, or address it to the dean of admissions. Does anyone know if UPSOM has a preference?
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There's no way of uploading on the portal, just sending it to the admissions email works!
 
I really thought we'd hear today since it seems like people are withdrawing
 
Heisenberg 41 said:
Any WL movement here yet?
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Doesn't look like there's been any post-April 30th movement yet - in the waitlist support group thread someone asked @gyngyn if he's seen any movement (based on info available to him as an adcom member at another school) and this was his response:
gyngyn said:
There were were several withdrawals from Pit but about as many stayed (of the ones I could see).
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