2016-2017 University of Pittsburgh Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Ive heard that its very rare to be accepted outright. Its easy to get off first tier waitlist as long as you show interest, with second tier being the REAL waitlist. Anybody hear similar?
 
flapjack3d said:
Ive heard that its very rare to be accepted outright. Its easy to get off first tier waitlist as long as you show interest, with second tier being the REAL waitlist. Anybody hear similar?
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Yes, though didn't hear about any sort of tier.
 
flapjack3d said:
Ive heard that its very rare to be accepted outright. Its easy to get off first tier waitlist as long as you show interest, with second tier being the REAL waitlist. Anybody hear similar?
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All I know is that 2/3 of the class came off of the WL last year so that would seem correct.
 
flapjack3d said:
Ive heard that its very rare to be accepted outright. Its easy to get off first tier waitlist as long as you show interest, with second tier being the REAL waitlist. Anybody hear similar?
Click to expand...
I have heard similar things
 
is it rare to be accepted outright or do the people they accept outright first, defer and choose better schools?
 
aksks said:
is it rare to be accepted outright or do the people they accept outright first, defer and choose better schools?
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I suspect it's rare to be accepted outright precisely for that reason. Pitt is a great school, but because it's undergrad doesn't have a huge name, people often don't know Pitt is a great school, so there's no name, so bigger names draw people away. Also, I love Pittsburgh, but apparently people either love it or hate it.
 
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Iwannaknow said:
I suspect it's rare to be accepted outright precisely for that reason. Pity is a great school, but because it's undergrad doesn't have a huge name, people often don't know Pitt is a great school, so there's no name, so bigger names draw people away. Also, I love Pittsburgh, but apparently people either love it or hate it.
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so what kind of people are outright accepted, would you think?
 
aksks said:
so what kind of people are outright accepted, would you think?
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people who are most likely to attend. they do this whole shenanigan so their acceptance rate remains low.
 
aksks said:
so what kind of people are outright accepted, would you think?
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I have no idea. On one hand, you have the top notch students that everyone is clawing for, so getting waitlisted by Pittsburgh may turn them away to a higher/similarly ranked school. So that's an argument that Pittsburgh accepts them first.

However, those are precisely the type of students who have a higher chance of choosing another school, so if yield is a huge issue for Pittsburgh, these types of students wouldn't be accepted, but should be waitlisted to see if they reach out.

It's also odd since there are really no merit aid scholarships (some years there are a few).
 
Also on topic, on my interview day I spoke to a student at lunch who said he was waitlisted, sent in an LOI, and was accepted. People asked him why he wanted to come to Pitt so bad, and one of the many reasons he states was that it was the highest rank school he got. So, n=1, but you can draw some conclusions from that.
 
Iwannaknow said:
Also on topic, on my interview day I spoke to a student at lunch who said he was waitlisted, sent in an LOI, and was accepted. People asked him why he wanted to come to Pitt so bad, and one of the many reasons he states was that it was the highest rank school he got. So, n=1, but you can draw some conclusions from that.
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that would make sense and seems that way with a lot of med school. Outright acceptance goes to those who are obviously qualified enough and can show that they really do want to attend the school
 
Interviewing this Friday, but getting into town Thursday at noon. Quick ?s

Any faculty/staff that are must knows (i.e. favorite professors, admins, ect..)

Best eateries around the area?

Any happy hour suggestions to help calm nerves on a Thursday?
 
M2indy said:
Interviewing this Friday, but getting into town Thursday at noon. Quick ?s

Any faculty/staff that are must knows (i.e. favorite professors, admins, ect..)

Best eateries around the area?

Any happy hour suggestions to help calm nerves on a Thursday?
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Soup dumplings from the Taiwanese street food place on squirrel hill. Get there a little early so there's not a line.
 
ek999 said:
Interviewed here last Friday (12/2), it's SO chill, and literally every faculty/dean/student I met was down to earth, ultra-friendly, and *loved* Pitt. You're gonna walk out of Scaife Hall beaming at the end of the day
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Thanks for sharing your experience, I feel better already.
 
M2indy said:
Interviewing this Friday, but getting into town Thursday at noon. Quick ?s

Any faculty/staff that are must knows (i.e. favorite professors, admins, ect..)

Best eateries around the area?

Any happy hour suggestions to help calm nerves on a Thursday?
Click to expand...
I went to college night on the Thursday before my interview at Hofbräuhaus and it was a great time 🙂

And the interview is very relaxed and no trick questions so no worries, it's a great experience.
 
WhittyPsyche said:
Didn't he say they don't start looking at apps u till the end of January? Then the app closes for submission end of February.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
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yeah that's what they said during my interview day. He said they would start looking a little before the med school sends out their admissions decisions.
 
aksks said:
yeah that's what they said during my interview day. He said they would start looking a little before the med school sends out their admissions decisions.
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Oh ok. Maybe I misunderstood. I thought he said they would send out invites as early as December and as as late as March. Thanks!
 
Hey guys,

If you applied for PSTP it may be worth looking at your Pitt application page. At the bottom of my status page (under letters of rec for regular MD), I have had an additional PSTP app status ever since I applied. The status was something like "in screening" from the time my LORs for PTSP were received until approx. two weeks ago.

Now I have a status of "Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a PSTP interview this year."
I was complete for PSTP app on 9/16/16 and had both my LOR received by 9/30/16. Like I said, I noticed this change come on approx. two weeks ago.

Just heads up in case you didn't know you could see your PSTP status there, maybe you will have an update! Could be that they haven't updated statuses for those complete later. Best of luck!
 
nnhawkins3 said:
Hey guys,

If you applied for PSTP it may be worth looking at your Pitt application page. At the bottom of my status page (under letters of rec for regular MD), I have had an additional PSTP app status ever since I applied. The status was something like "in screening" from the time my LORs for PTSP were received until approx. two weeks ago.

Now I have a status of "Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a PSTP interview this year."
I was complete for PSTP app on 9/16/16 and had both my LOR received by 9/30/16. Like I said, I noticed this change come on approx. two weeks ago.

Just heads up in case you didn't know you could see your PSTP status there, maybe you will have an update! Could be that they haven't updated statuses for those complete later. Best of luck!
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Thank for the update. Sorry about the decision though. Mine has said "Ready for Screening" since I submitted it. Complete 9/20.

Has anyone else checked their portal for PSTP?
 
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does anyone know if the admissions committee meets weekly to discuss admissions or would they decide about all acceptances after all the interviews have been done. So, will they take this month to review all applicants or have they been reviewing them after the interviews?
 
aksks said:
does anyone know if the admissions committee meets weekly to discuss admissions or would they decide about all acceptances after all the interviews have been done. So, will they take this month to review all applicants or have they been reviewing them after the interviews?
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I believe it's a rolling process. That'd be too much work to do all at once.
 
flapjack3d said:
Then it's still a rolling process
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so you think if you send updates post interview they will be considered in your application or is it too late if you were already reviewed in the rolling process
 
aksks said:
so you think if you send updates post interview they will be considered in your application or is it too late if you were already reviewed in the rolling process
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There's no way to know if they've made a decision on you yet. If you have an update just go ahead and send it. It may not help, but it certainly won't hurt.
 
Just FYI - my PSTP application updated from "Ready for Screening" to "Under Review" in the portal on Tuesday. So changes are happening!
 
applesaucey said:
There's no way to know if they've made a decision on you yet. If you have an update just go ahead and send it. It may not help, but it certainly won't hurt.
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Do updates just go to the admissions email?
 
machete fred said:
I think they told us they would mail out decisions on the 31st but the portal will show our decision earlier that that. I might be completely wrong though
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Don't recall any details such as those. Just know that they said decisions out on Jan 31st, and recently spoke to the Dean a few days ago and that was repeated.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
machete fred said:
I think they told us they would mail out decisions on the 31st but the portal will show our decision earlier that that. I might be completely wrong though
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Last year I think the portal updated a day early but it was updated in batches that had no semblance of any discernable pattern and everyone got real twitchy
 
benjamin94559 said:
Last year I think the portal updated a day early but it was updated in batches that had no semblance of any discernable pattern and everyone got real twitchy
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Last year's thread has me WAY over analyzing my portal haha. For example, a couple weeks after my interview they added the "Accepted Applicants" tab, but it has nothing on it. And now I don't know if my status page said "MedA" the whole time or not! *Takes a deep breath, carries on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using SDN mobile
 
DaveCat said:
Last year's thread has me WAY over analyzing my portal haha. For example, a couple weeks after my interview they added the "Accepted Applicants" tab, but it has nothing on it. And now I don't know if my status page said "MedA" the whole time or not! *Takes a deep breath, carries on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

You're not talking about the "Admission Data Forms" tab, are you?


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