2015-2016 University of Pittsburgh Application Thread

[mazarine]

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Rejected too, but Pitt was a reach for me. Joining today's rejects club 😛

 

[JMMTB]

Reject. Bye Felicia!

 

[aopser]

First rejection of the cycle. Good luck to everyone in the running!

 

[Romz]

Reject. Bye Felicia!

LOL

 

[socalrulez]

Rejected as well, complete mid july. 72-75. Glad I have 2 II's though, but I thought I had a shot here with my research.

 

[musicalscientists]

All aboard the rejection train!


(Rejected btw)

 

[trini818]

Today is the day that schools must be bringing down the axe. I got a rejection from USC today, as did many others. My first and it stings. The only thing keeping me from caring too much is the invite from Pitt. This is a cruel process.

 

[neuroresearchguy23]

I guess Pitt threw me on the reject train.... IS, complete around 7/20. Oh well, it was definitely a reach for sure. Best of luck to everyone still in the running!

 

[HeismanMD]

"NO SOUP FOR YOU!" Is there room in the reject train? I paid $85 for my ticket! Good luck to all! See you later Pittsburgh!

 

[heywhatsuphello]

Rejected. Figured I'd have a good shot with all my research. At least they were kind enough to send out a formal rejection early in the cycle, so that's nice

Deuces Pittsburgh, go Ravens

 

[Almighty Saguaro]

Another one bites the dust...
Fare thee well UPSOM...
LizzyM 74, complete 8/28

PS is it bad that I feel relieved about one less plane ticket?

PPS I have apparently been booted off the secondary application page. LOLz

 

[grey_wind]

walked out of an interview, turned my phone on, boom rejected, womp onto the next one

Probably my biggest reach so not too shocked or disappointed

 

[doc_mcd94]

Rejected too. It seems like they have given out all of their interviews for the year and are just rejecting everyone else now.

 

[NotAnotherPreMed]

Rejected as well. Lizzy M 75. Complete around last week of July.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

joining the rejection train. Have some love at 7 other places, this was not meant to be. Good luck to all still in the running

 

[zenith563]

Rejected 🙁 And I was looking forward to visiting PA.

 

[Xenith]

Sorry about the rejections guys. For those without answers yet, we were recently told that only 500ish interviews out of 800ish have been given out so far. There is still some hope for the rest.

 

[MD.Hopeful]

Rejected as well! Good luck to you all.

 

[shoopshoop]

sending a secondary here today 'cause YOLO?

 

[tick_tock_tick_tock]

sending a secondary here today 'cause YOLO?

I'm with ya, babe.

 

[bobmccorweg]

rejected lewis lewis lewis

 

[shoopshoop]

I'm with ya, babe.

and sent!
frantically adding schools even though it's absurdly late because i only have two interviews so far and it's my state school and harvard, and that is a weird combination.

 

[bumblebee611]

and sent!
frantically adding schools even though it's absurdly late because i only have two interviews so far and it's my state school and harvard, and that is a weird combination.

Are you serious? What kind of range of schools did you apply to? There is no rhyme or reason to any of this. (My pattern of II, holds, rejects etc. also makes no sense.)

 

[shoopshoop]

Are you serious? What kind of range of schools did you apply to? There is no rhyme or reason to any of this. (My pattern of II, holds, rejects etc. also makes no sense.)

so serious and so worried! i mostly applied to top and mid tier schools and i realize it's a crapshoot at that range but this just seems bizarre.

 

[shoopshoop]

Are you serious? What kind of range of schools did you apply to? There is no rhyme or reason to any of this. (My pattern of II, holds, rejects etc. also makes no sense.)

would love to hear your pattern - maybe its not as weird as i think!

 

[CellPowerhouse]

and sent!
frantically adding schools even though it's absurdly late because i only have two interviews so far and it's my state school and harvard, and that is a weird combination.

My II combination is the same. Crazy how things work out sometimes haha. Good luck to you!

 

[bumblebee611]

would love to hear your pattern - maybe its not as weird as i think!

I have a very unusual personal situation--I'm happy to PM you if you are still interested.

 

[Ox King]

No II and no rejection! Complete since the first day possible lol

 

[tick_tock_tick_tock]

and sent!
frantically adding schools even though it's absurdly late because i only have two interviews so far and it's my state school and harvard, and that is a weird combination.

I think you and I might be the same person... though I only just added Harvard, along with Pitt =P this whole process is such a crapshoot! You never know. I think that by adding last-minute schools I'm allowing myself to believe I have an ounce of control in my future =P

 

[Mercedes_benzodiazepine]

Rejected yesterday, complete late July, LizzyM ~70. Best of luck to everyone still in the running!!

 

[RudyRude]

September 22, 2015 was truly a massacre for applicants at Pitt, and I too was a martyr. AXED

 

[CT9542014]

Rejected in yesterday's massacre as well. Complete 8/20, LizzyM 71. Good luck everyone!

 

[Spector1]

reject here too

 

[drhopeful2018]

Are there any urms who are current students or anyone who has applied? I have a few questions

 

[Ox King]

Does everyone's secondary status reflect their rejection status? I don't have a rejection yet, but I have a feeling it was lost in the system.

 

[texasvandy]

The people who were rejected have been locked out of the system. If you can logon, you are still active.

 

[USvWindsor]

So excited to interview here this week! The school and city both sound amazing

 

[fadelove]

.

 

[BernieSanders7]

Rejected, LizzyM 82.6

 

[texasvandy]

how do you come up with 82.6 3.96 and 44?

 

[Romz]

how do you come up with 82.6 3.96 and 44?

Haha I did the math too - she got a 43 not 44. No clue why she was rejected. That's the epitome of academic excellence. They probably thought she'd go to HYSC or somewhere along those lines.

 

[Lawpy]

how do you come up with 82.6 3.96 and 44?

Haha I did the math too - she got a 43 not 44.

But to answer your question - no clue. That's the epitome of academic excellence.

Possible combinations are a 3.96 and 43, 3.86 and 44 or 3.76 and 45 😛 either way, that is some epic MCAT

 

[texasvandy]

There had been a -1 for a while in the classic?

 

[texasvandy]

There has been a -1 in the classic LizzyM for a while?

 

[Lawpy]

There had been a -1 for a while in the classic?

There has been a -1 in the classic LizzyM for a while?

Not aware. It's been defined as 10*GPA+MCAT.

 

[Ox King]

I have still neither been rejected or received an II, complete Mid-July. Are interviews more or less booked for the season?

 

[Xenith]

I have still neither been rejected or received an II, complete Mid-July. Are interviews more or less booked for the season?

They might not be fully booked, but I am sure they are 75% done by now. I interviewed a few weeks ago and they said around 500/800 had been booked by that time.

 

[Ox King]

They might not be fully booked, but I am sure they are 75% done by now. I interviewed a few weeks ago and they said around 500/800 had been booked by that time.

Very cool. I won't keep my hopes up, but I would love to interview here.

 

[Xenith]

Not aware. It's been defined as 10*GPA+MCAT.

Hey can you explain the Generalized LizzyM in your signature?

 

[Lawpy]

Hey can you explain the Generalized LizzyM in your signature?

Because the 2015 MCAT has a significantly different scoring scale compared to the old MCAT, the classical LizzyM score would require converting the 2015 MCAT to the old MCAT based on percentile conversions. That is good for few years where the old MCAT has some effect, but for cycles beyond Class of 2022, only the 2015 MCAT becomes important.

So, the percentile conversions become meaningless as the old MCAT becomes obsolete. For the LizzyM score to reflect only the new MCAT, slight adjustments need to be made. @WedgeDawg provided one in a post a while ago

Alright guys, I have a proposed conversion for you all. The formula is:

(GPA-1)*10 + (MCAT-500) = Score

The max score (4.0/528) comes out to 58. I've gone through and made correlates between the old LizzyM score and the new one (which can be seen in the chart below). Examples:

Old 76 (i.e. 3.8/38 or 3.9/37) is new 50. This is generally the number to shoot for for top schools.

Old 73 (i.e. 3.8/35 or 3.9/34) is new 45. This is generally a good number for mid tiers while possibly being competitive for some top tiers.

Old 70 (i.e. 3.7/33 or 3.9/31) is new 40. This is generally where a "competitive" applicant for med school falls around.

Old 67 (i.e. 3.6/31 or 3.7/30) is new 35. This is around the accepted applicant median.

Old 65 (i.e. 3.6/29 or 3.7/28) is new 30. This is highly competitive for DOs and marginal for MD.

I didn't continue my color coordination after this, but you get the idea.

This score not only is easy to calculate, but provides convenient benchmarks for comparing scores to old LizzyM scores (down by 5's from 50 for new, down by 3's from 76 for old). It does break down at the MCAT extremes, but so did the old score (45/3.1 still gave you 76, for example).

Here are some spot checks:

3.7/32 is 69 old, which should be around 39ish new. Formula gives, for 3.7/512, 39, spot on!

3.4/38 is 72 old, which should be around 43-44 new. Formula gives, for 3.4/522, 46, so it's a little high, but it's also an extreme MCAT place.

3.9/32 is 71 old, which should be around 41-42 new. Formula gives, for 3.9/512, 41, right on!

3.3/36 is 69 old, which should be about 38-39 new. Formula gives, for 3.3/518, 41, so again, a little high.

This seems to work best the more "matched" the GPA and MCAT are, and gives slight favor to higher MCAT scores at the opposing extremes, but overall should be a decent estimate.

Obviously you can make it more accurate (by doing exact percentile conversions), but that would inevitably take away the simplicity of the calculation, which is the whole point. Also, because the new MCAT has multiple scores per old MCAT score, you're going to be hard pressed to find an algorithm that perfectly fits everything.

As we move away from old MCAT scores entirely, the conversion factor equality becomes far less important, and the balance between MCAT and GPA becomes the most important thing (here GPA is weighted out of 30 while MCAT is weighted out of 28, and the overall score can go as low as -32 if you have a 468 MCAT and 0.00 GPA). One MCAT point is still equivalent to 0.1 GPA points, just like the old scale.

See what you guys think!

Since it involves only linear changes to the LizzyM score, i provided a general version that can apply for any MCAT scoring scale.

I can explain more on this elsewhere.