2023-2024 Pittsburgh

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Hey everyone!

Current first year (PCAT) student here. I have a little time this week to answer some questions applicants might have about this program or Pitt in general, so feel free to send a message! While I may not be able to answer everything, I'm more than happy to share what my experience has been if it would help anyone guide their thinking.
 
itsfun2learn said:
Hey everyone!

Current first year (PCAT) student here. I have a little time this week to answer some questions applicants might have about this program or Pitt in general, so feel free to send a message! While I may not be able to answer everything, I'm more than happy to share what my experience has been if it would help anyone guide their thinking.
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Hi! Thanks so much for offering to answer questions. I'd love to hear your take on the new curriculum. Has Pitt truly phased out lectures or do you still have them occasionally? Do you feel the new model is effective for acquiring the large volume of information covered in preclinical? About how many hours a week are mandatory in person/on campus activities and when do you usually wrap up those activities? How do your classmates feel about it in general and is admin making adjustments as needed based on their feedback? Happy to DM if you feel it'd be easier to speak candidly off the record 🙂
 
For those of you who sent thank you notes to any of your 3 interviewers... did they ever end up adding it to your file? Also does anyone know if this can be helpful/detrimental? I know some schools really want to see thank you notes.
 
CHCl3 said:
For those of you who sent thank you notes to any of your 3 interviewers... did they ever end up adding it to your file? Also does this know if this can be helpful/detrimental? I know some schools really want to see thank you notes.
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2/3 did for me
 
CHCl3 said:
For those of you who sent thank you notes to any of your 3 interviewers... did they ever end up adding it to your file? Also does anyone know if this can be helpful/detrimental? I know some schools really want to see thank you notes.
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Only the student interviewer uploaded it. I really don't think this matters: 1)It simply shouldn't. 2) It doesn't seem like something enforced uniformly across interviewers.
 
HollowJ@1 said:
None of my 3 interviewers uploaded mine 😅, so also hoping it doesn’t impact anything.
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If you email it to admissions they will upload it for you! They told us that they only upload it if your interviewer forwards it to them, and not all of them do, so if you want it in your portal to email pdfs directly to admissions.
 
Bropro said:
If you email it to admissions they will upload it for you! They told us that they only upload it if your interviewer forwards it to them, and not all of them do, so if you want it in your portal to email pdfs directly to admissions.
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Oh I didn’t realize that, if I interviewed like a month ago is it still worth doing this or kind of weird at this point haha.
 
CHCl3 said:
For those of you who sent thank you notes to any of your 3 interviewers... did they ever end up adding it to your file? Also does anyone know if this can be helpful/detrimental? I know some schools really want to see thank you notes.
Click to expand...

I don’t think they care too much. During my interview they said they don’t expect anything and only started giving out the emails because so many students kept asking for them
 
CHCl3 said:
For those of you who sent thank you notes to any of your 3 interviewers... did they ever end up adding it to your file? Also does anyone know if this can be helpful/detrimental? I know some schools really want to see thank you notes.
Click to expand...
I'm certain they don't care. While it might be nice, it's more work to read them and admissions people are busy.
 
WaluigiWAH said:
I'm certain they don't care. While it might be nice, it's more work to read them and admissions people are busy.
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Definitely a formality. Most interviewers submit evaluations before they even get your thank you notes.
 
itsfun2learn said:
Hey everyone!

Current first year (PCAT) student here. I have a little time this week to answer some questions applicants might have about this program or Pitt in general, so feel free to send a message! While I may not be able to answer everything, I'm more than happy to share what my experience has been if it would help anyone guide their thinking.
Click to expand...

You rock! When did you start classes in the summer for PCAT? Also, how far away are the clinical rotations from Pitt during M3 and M4? Is it absolutely necessary to drive/ is public transportation decent?
 
Everyone here is saying it doesn’t matter to send thank you notes, but an M1 friend mentioned that I definitely should send them. I sent it and none of them responded but 2/3 got uploaded to the portal.

If it didn’t matter, I don’t see why they’d upload it to the portal. Just a guess, but wanted to put my thoughts out here
 
Muqsith said:
Everyone here is saying it doesn’t matter to send thank you notes, but an M1 friend mentioned that I definitely should send them. I sent it and none of them responded but 2/3 got uploaded to the portal.

If it didn’t matter, I don’t see why they’d upload it to the portal. Just a guess, but wanted to put my thoughts out here
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I see your point but on the opposite side of the same coin, if it does matter, then why do only some upload to the portal and in my case none😭 💀
 
HollowJ@1 said:
I see your point but on the opposite side of the same coin, if it does matter, then why do only some upload to the portal and in my case none
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I think we can agree it’s just being kind and while I’m sure there are cases, it’s unlikely it has any bearing on your final decision. If they like you and want to accept you, it’s unlikely they’re checking to see if you sent one before they accept you. If they don’t like you and don’t want to accept you, it’s unlikely that you having sent a thank you note will change that decision.
 
bumblebee123456789 said:
I think we can agree it’s just being kind and while I’m sure there are cases, it’s unlikely it has any bearing on your final decision. If they like you and want to accept you, it’s unlikely they’re checking to see if you sent one before they accept you. If they don’t like you and don’t want to accept you, it’s unlikely that you having sent a thank you note will change that decision.
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Well said
 
WaluigiWAH said:
You rock! When did you start classes in the summer for PCAT? Also, how far away are the clinical rotations from Pitt during M3 and M4? Is it absolutely necessary to drive/ is public transportation decent?
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Aw no you rock!

For our PCAT cohort, classes started on the 5th of July and went basically through the end of the month with a couple of breather days before orientation started. I think that most clinical rotations, as far as I'm aware, are either walkable or very bus accessible. You're never too far away from Presbyterian, Montefiore, the VA, Children's, or Mercy. I do use a car to get to McKeesport, but it wouldn't take too much extra planning to get there by bus if the car became unavailable (but it would be more time consuming). Further along students can probably answer better, but mostly I think public transport here is generally pretty reliable (and covered with a student ID, of course).
 
I saw on last year’s thread someone posted decisions dates for the past couple years and they ranged from late jan to mid Feb so I thought maybe we’d get lucky😭 I hate the waiting. But at least they gave us a definitive date I hadn’t seen this thank u toasted
toastedbutter said:
Nahhh not today two more weeks until you're allowed to stress. Now's the time to relax


Idk why it says "Request Rejected" but if you click on it it should take you to the Pitt Med Admissions Timeline
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anon19503486 said:
Yeah its a total tin foil hat theory but that's just the gut feeling I have
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You have a guy feeling it’s coming out today? I thought the portal had to update or something first a couple days before. At least that’s what people said in the past.

Idk it comes when it comes at this point . I’m waiting on PCAT decisions for II’s too so I can’t even stress about one thing
 
pr12 said:
idk during my admissions day i feel like i remember them saying “on feb 16th” as opposed to “by feb 16th”, but at this point it’ll come when it comes LOL
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they said "by feb 16th" at the latest on mine so i'm praying to the pitt gods that it comes before, although they've been 6 days earliest at the most in the past 10 years so i'm thinking nothing before feb 10th
 
kaleidoscope1202 said:
You have a guy feeling it’s coming out today? I thought the portal had to update or something first a couple days before. At least that’s what people said in the past.

Idk it comes when it comes at this point . I’m waiting on PCAT decisions for II’s too so I can’t even stress about one thing
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No no not today- just a gut feeling that I'm catching that post-II R
 
kaleidoscope1202 said:
Yup. I’m expecting decisions to come next Friday. Half of my week is already about to be gone from having to battle a nasty cold .

Anyone been getting sick?
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Turn on that humidifier all day and night, take day and night quil and sweat it out. I just healed from my cold two days ago.
 
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