How to build a competitive resume to get into University of Pittsburgh Medical School

[deleted421268]

I will be a freshman at University of pittsburgh Greensburg starting this fall term. My goal is to get accepted into Pitt Medical School. What G.P.A. should I strive and aim to keep and mantain to be in good shape for Pitt Med School? MCAT Score that I need to be in good shape? How many hours of shadowing should I aim for? Volunteering hours? How many clubs and organizations should I enroll in? What do I need to do to make myself the best candidate I can possible be for Pitt Medical School?

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[r0703]

probably a 4.0 and 45 and 1,000,000 shadowing and volunteer hours

 

[ndafife]

Strive for a 4.0 and a 45. Don't plan on selling yourself short anywhere

The # of clubs isnt as important as your level of involvement (1 club with 1000 hours of involvement is much better than 10 with only 100 total hours). Find a couple clubs that you really like start getting really involved in them so you can progress up to leadership positions. Same with volunteering: Find a place where you can get involved for 4 years, whether its a food pantry or at your hospital. Be involved, dont look like you are collecting extracurriculars for the sake of it.

 

[mariambaby3]

You'll be disappointed if you set your sights on a single particular medical school, especially at this point in your life. Instead, to manage expectations, aim for a range of medical schools.

 

[DoctorWhoo]

You'll be disappointed if you set your sights on a single particular medical school, especially at this point in your life. Instead, to manage expectations, aim for a range of medical schools.

QFT

Even a 4.0/40/good ECs doesn't guarantee that you will get an interview at a specific school... It just greatly increases the likelihood that you'll get in somewhere.

 

[deleted407021]

You can start by looking around this forum (reading, not starting threads) and educating yourself as best you can on the realities of med school preparation and application as well as medicine in general.

Use the search function.

 

[Frazier]

Yes, as others indicate, unless you are in the guaranteed admission thing for high school grads -- don't set your heart on a single school.

No matter how impressive your app, there are no absolute certainties in med school admissions.

That said, to build a competitive application:

If you want to maximize your chances [within reasonable expectations], keep above a 3.8 GPA, score 35+ on the MCAT (or whatever the new scaled score is when you apply), do the traditional volunteering, do research to acquire at least a couple pubs/posters, build some meaningful relationships over the years to render a few shining LOR's, and find some sort of unique X-factor that separates you from the other 500 applicants just as impressive on paper as above.

Likelihood is that, if you achieve all those things above, you will be competitive at all schools and your target will slowly shift to Hopkins/Harvard/etc.

Nevertheless, Pitt is a great school with a powerful rep and countless opportunities. Graduates go all over from Derm at MGH to Neurosurgery at UCLA to small community programs in Primary Care if that is your thing. The city is largely safe, entertaining, and extremely affordable. So, in that sense, you chose a good dream school.

Good luck.

 

[deleted407021]

Wow, OP has started a lot of threads. If they've been on this forum since their freshman year of high school, you'd think they would have picked up on the little things like not focusing on just one school and joining fluff clubs. What do the teach y'all over in hSDN, @Fuarky ?

 

[deanthedream17]

No offense. You aren't even a freshman yet. You have no idea where you will be in four years. You need to be able to do well first to get into any medical school and trust me that alone is not an easy feat.

 

[Promethean]

Research. Pitt loves research. Find someone at your campus who needs help in their lab and volunteer. An MD/PhD if you can find one. Get a lab assistant job. Do everything you can to be involved in basic science research. Other than that, the higher the gpa and MCAT the better, obviously, but 3.7+ and high 30s will be competitive if you have a lot of research ECs.

 

[redpanda]

Like everyone else has said, it's not great to set your eyes on exactly one program. In a particularly specific point, perhaps you should plan to graduate from the main campus in the end as I don't know of any Pitt undergrads in the class whose degree was entirely completed at a branch campus.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Copied and pasted from @Frazier

If you want to maximize your chances [within reasonable expectations], keep above a 3.7 GPA, score 35+ on the MCAT (or whatever the new scaled score is when you apply), do the traditional volunteering, do research to acquire at least a couple pubs/posters, build some meaningful relationships over the years to render a few shining LOR's, and find some sort of unique X-factor that
separates you from the other 500 applicants just as impressive on paper as above.

I just changed the GPA to 3.7.
I recommend working with underserved communities (in the US). It's good to volunteer at the emergency department
at a county hospital. Learning Spanish can also be a huge plus if you are not already a fluent speaker.

I actually like to prepare for difficult courses beforehand. Get your hands on course material, syllabi, practice exams (that are relevant) in advance.

Treat school like a job. For example, if you're a barista at Starbucks, you're expected to make drinks and keep the store in order as soon as you show up for your shift. Treat studying and class time like a mandatory (6-7x a week) shift.
Good luck!

 

[Ismet]

Agreed with @redpanda. Try to transfer to the main campus. There are lot more opportunities here in general, and specifically in terms of pre-med opportunities. There are organizations that work closely with the medical school that you may be able to get involved in. There's also a lot of research opportunities here, and research experience is really important when applying to such a research-heavy school.

 

[3838]

Do well on the MCAT, get a good GPA, and get off this forum. Go live your life and figure out what you want. Enjoy college and being young. Discover your passions. Come back in 3 years when you have to apply.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Not sure if relevant, but if you want advice on how to build a resume to get rejected from Pitt's medical school, I'm your man.

 

[deleted421268]

Is there anyone at the school I am going to you guys think that can help me out with finding a doctor to shadow and with volunteering opportunities??? If, so who is that person.

 

[Frazier]

Is there anyone at the school I am going to you guys think that can help me out with finding a doctor to shadow and with volunteering opportunities??? If, so who is that person.

They may have a pre-med office? (Department? Program?) I'm drawing a blank as to what it would be called. See if they have any recommendations.

If the program is nonexistant because your school is too small -- or if the advice they offer is too bad (ie it conflicts with what you read on SDN), you will have to do much of the organizing on your own.