2021-2022 Pittsburgh

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"All of those who matriculate at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine must have an undergraduate degree which includes at least one year of post secondary education in the United States or Canada." I also saw on their site "Only under exceptional circumstances will you be considered with fewer than 120 hours of undergraduate work."

Does this mean they're only seriously considering those who have taken at least 1 gap year? I'm current undergrad senior so I hope I didn't just waste money on this school and feel like an idiot. I apologize in advance if this is a silly question
 
smoldumpling said:
"All of those who matriculate at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine must have an undergraduate degree which includes at least one year of post secondary education in the United States or Canada." I also saw on their site "Only under exceptional circumstances will you be considered with fewer than 120 hours of undergraduate work."

Does this mean they're only seriously considering those who have taken at least 1 gap year? I'm current undergrad senior so I hope I didn't just waste money on this school and feel like an idiot. I apologize in advance if this is a silly question
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They're saying that you need a undergrad degree and a year of college in Canada or US. If you did your undergrad in the US or Canada it checks both boxes.
 
smoldumpling said:
"All of those who matriculate at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine must have an undergraduate degree which includes at least one year of post secondary education in the United States or Canada." I also saw on their site "Only under exceptional circumstances will you be considered with fewer than 120 hours of undergraduate work."

Does this mean they're only seriously considering those who have taken at least 1 gap year? I'm current undergrad senior so I hope I didn't just waste money on this school and feel like an idiot. I apologize in advance if this is a silly question
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"Postsecondary" means after high school, Primary = grades 1-8 and secondary (HS) 9-12.
I interpreted this to say that at least 1 year of your bachelors degree needs to be in USA or Canada.
 
wysdoc said:
"Postsecondary" means after high school, Primary = grades 1-8 and secondary (HS) 9-12.
I interpreted this to say that at least 1 year of your bachelors degree needs to be in USA or Canada.
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And to think I'm applying to medical school RIP - thank you 😅
 
probably_crying said:
Conversational interview?
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Very much so. Both the faculty and student interview went very well. The faculty interview was open file, asked me about my PS, work and activities, secondary responses. It was impressive how thoroughly he reviewed my file. The student interview is blind, she asked me about why med, why Pitt, but really was more focused on answering my questions.
 
nucleofied said:
So sorry if this wasn’t clear, on the interview manager system they have individual sessions for things like financial aid, pstp, etc. you have manually schedule the different sessions they have in your interview manager tab.
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Im trying to schedule my info sessions. Does anyone know if they all have to be scheduled at once, or if we can add more in the future?

EDIT: the answer was yes. you can also remove them after scheduling, if needed.
 
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I just submitted my secondary and checked back on my essays - did anyone else's paragraphs get pushed together into one huge paragraph? For some reason the formatting got messed up after I submitted even though prior to submitting the paragraphs all looked separated :/
 
limoneneZest said:
I just submitted my secondary and checked back on my essays - did anyone else's paragraphs get pushed together into one huge paragraph? For some reason the formatting got messed up after I submitted even though prior to submitting the paragraphs all looked separated :/
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I noticed this with many of the secondaries i submitted for different schools, i think the text boxes automatically remove paragraph spacing. In the grand scheme of things worrying about that is a waste of energy
 
For those of you who have gone to the info sessions before, what attire did you wear and did you have to be on camera for the whole thing?
 
I was complete back in early July. Does this mean a silent R?
 
matt32red said:
For those of you who have gone to the info sessions before, what attire did you wear and did you have to be on camera for the whole thing?
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I personally wore a suit and tie as a male, but I saw people attending wearing casual, business casual, and business formal attire. There were people at each session who did not have their cameras on. I will say that some sessions are smaller than others (simply based on people's availability), and it can be awkward to be the one person without your camera on in a group of 10.
 
Morningnight said:
I personally wore a suit and tie as a male, but I saw people attending wearing casual, business casual, and business formal attire. There were people at each session who did not have their cameras on. I will say that some sessions are smaller than others (simply based on people's availability), and it can be awkward to be the one person without your camera on in a group of 10.
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As one of the people that has been to several of the sessions with my camera off, It is also no big deal. In one of them i remember the presenter saying they knew some of us would probably be at work or in between classes so they did not care about attire or video presence.

so really anyone should dress however they are comfortable
 
cs_doc said:
Can’t think of a single top school that reviews applicants chronologically
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Or bottom schools for that matter! 😎

It's just a fact of life that schools are not going to allow applicants they prioritize (URM, low SES, high stat, ex-military, HYPSM, whatever) to feel unloved and maybe lose interest and go elsewhere while waiting their turn as the school grinds chronologically through its pile. It's not realistic to expect, and it just does not happen at pretty much every school. Period.

There might an exception here or there, but this is the general rule. We get our apps in ASAP so that we can be reviewed ASAP once our priority group is up for review, but no one should be under the illusion that this is a FIFO process. This is why the "stats? complete date?" questions are so irrelevant every time someone posts an II. People refuse to believe this, so the ineffective attempts at tea leaf reading continue, but it's true.
 
Can anyone who has interviewed here this cycle share their general experience with the group activity? I'm just not sure what to expect as this will be my first group interview.
 
matt32red said:
Can anyone who has interviewed here this cycle share their general experience with the group activity? I'm just not sure what to expect as this will be my first group interview.
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It’s super chill. I thought it was the easiest part of the entire day
 
nerdmonster123 said:
Do you guys think its too late to apply here?
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Absolutely not - I am a current MS1 and applied on amcas the last day in October (Oct 15) and didn't get my secondaries in until 11/30. It's not too late but make sure your interests and values align with the schools! That's one of the most important factors when choosing and applying to a school 🙂
 
hep21 said:
Absolutely not - I am a current MS1 and applied on amcas the last day in October (Oct 15) and didn't get my secondaries in until 11/30. It's not too late but make sure your interests and values align with the schools! That's one of the most important factors when choosing and applying to a school 🙂
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Do you mind sharing your stats and whether you were OOS/IS?
 
I was complete 8/6 and still haven't heard anything. I hope that doesn't mean a silent R. 🙁
 
hateithere said:
I think it kinda does. So many interviews have been issued already. It likely means that they went over the app and didnt want to immediately offer an interview. Chances are more slim.

I'm in the same spot, applied early July but silence.
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only thing i will say that a good friend of mine (now at Pitt med) got their II in Nov but applied early-ish and had wonderful stats/ECs.

I think its all a game and we're just along for the painful ride that it is.
 
I think this is often the exception and not the rule. Def comforting to hear these stories

But one can always hope! For better or for worse
 
hotlinebling0729 said:
What made you choose Pitt over your other A's?
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MDor*** said:
Aside from being research-focused, what sort of students does Pitt tend to look for in admissions and interviews that sets it apart from other T20s? Are students generally chill in preclinical years given Pitt is true P/F?

Also how did you manage to finish 56 secondaries? LMAO
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So I'll answer the secondary question first: IT WAS HORRIBLE DO NOT RECOMMEND. But grammarly and my girlfriend were my saving grace haha it was just constant editing and revising. I also tried to optimize my time and increase my chances of getting accepted into at least one medical school by submitting secondaries to schools that I might not have considered but they had the same/similar secondary prompts as the schools that I was already applying to. It was a numbers game, especially since interviews were all virtual and I could save so much money and time on not doing in-person interviews.

Pitt definitely looks for research-heavy people, but my class has a ton of nontrads that were in very different careers or well into their careers and then switched into wanting to go to medical school. Pitt also has a huge emphasis on social justice and using our medical licenses to enact change, so they do want to see a service-oriented applicant to at least some extent. I wouldn't say that there's necessarily anything that Pitt looks for specifically that is extremely different from other T20s. Just remember that the best medical schools look for Specialists first, not Generalists. That means that they want to see you passionate and dedicated to 1 activity rather than half-assing 5. Make sure that you show your dedication to your activities whatever they may be in your app and in your interview. Sorry if this was a bit generalized, my brain is off LOL

Students are DEFINITELY chill and VERY collaborative!!! Our groupme is very active and we share tons of resources back and forth, and honestly the whole true P/F system is a GODSEND. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend that you take that into consideration for when you're choosing medical schools because it really does increase your quality of life and your community's positive and collaborative nature.
 
hotlinebling0729 said:
What made you choose Pitt over your other A's?
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tl;dr: FANTASTIC research institution, in a growing city that has so much charm (at least imo 446 bridges amirite), p/f system, generous with financial aid, longitudinal research project (school really emphasizes research, which will only serve you will in residency applications), great match, amazing mentorship network that makes you feel so supported, great service/healthcare/shadowing/research opportunities all at your fingertips. Basically Pittsburgh as an institution has no shortcomings that I can see in terms of preparing you to became a physician and supporting you in residency applications!
 
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