~University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Class of 2012

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Was there anything specific about second look that made you really excited? My financial cup had run dry so I couldn't attend, but I would love to hear from those who were lucky enough to make it.

Also, did they mention a specific date we should lock down housing by?

Thanks a lot.
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Anybody know anything about the darragh street apartments? Any native pittsburgh-ians want to share the good neighborhoods for med students to live in? I'm not sure whether or not I want to get a place alone or with a few roommates (had some roommate horror stories during UG).
 
1956Goldtop said:
Anybody know anything about the darragh street apartments? Any native pittsburgh-ians want to share the good neighborhoods for med students to live in? I'm not sure whether or not I want to get a place alone or with a few roommates (had some roommate horror stories during UG).
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Hey, I'm graduating from Pitt undergrad this year and I have friends at Pitt Med now....so I know quite a bit about housing, etc. As far as the Darragh apartments go, don't expect to get in there. Most of the current students are renewing their leases, so there are very limited openings. Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are both great places for med students to live. They are about a 25 minute walk, but buses drive through about every 10 minutes and you ride for free with your Pitt ID. They are also a bit nicer / more upscale, but also more expensive. South Oakland is much cheaper and closer, but they don't call it the "Dirty South" for nothing...haha. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM. Good luck on your search!
 
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So this probably sounds like a dumb question, but how does one go about finding an apartment prior to arriving? I mean, I need to have a place to stay the moment I arrive with all my junk right? So when do incoming students actually scope out various apartment offerings and sign leases? And does anyone know when we will be notified about whether or not we can live in the Darragh apartments? Thanks!!
 
SnoPearl said:
So this probably sounds like a dumb question, but how does one go about finding an apartment prior to arriving? I mean, I need to have a place to stay the moment I arrive with all my junk right? So when do incoming students actually scope out various apartment offerings and sign leases? And does anyone know when we will be notified about whether or not we can live in the Darragh apartments? Thanks!!
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Also curious about this!
 
SnoPearl said:
So this probably sounds like a dumb question, but how does one go about finding an apartment prior to arriving? I mean, I need to have a place to stay the moment I arrive with all my junk right? So when do incoming students actually scope out various apartment offerings and sign leases? And does anyone know when we will be notified about whether or not we can live in the Darragh apartments? Thanks!!
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I did searches online for Pittsburgh apartments and was able to find plenty that way. If you can, take a weekend to come to Pittsburgh and look at a few apartments (make appointments in advance, of course). If that's not an option for you, you can try to find an apartment when you move here (there will definitely be SOMETHING available, you'll just have to stay in a hotel til you find one) or you can agree to an apartment without seeing it first.

Often when you search online, you can see pictures of the apartments. I rent through www.colebrook.net and one of my close friends rents from http://mozartrents.com/. She's very happy with her apartment, although i didn't like the ones I saw very much.

I wouldn't set your hopes on getting a Darragh apartment. I think people in my class are pretty much keeping their apartments there for next year, so your class won't have many. Which, in my opinion, is good--living in Shadyside is awesome :)
 
Erina, do you recommend going through a real-estate agent or contacting individual landlords from online ads? Any particular areas in Shadyside that are student/young adult friendly? What is shadyside like and how big is it? Is it convenient to get to UPMC for classes and research etc.

Sorry for the bombardment of questions. Thanks in advance!
 
1956Goldtop said:
Erina, do you recommend going through a real-estate agent or contacting individual landlords from online ads? Any particular areas in Shadyside that are student/young adult friendly? What is shadyside like and how big is it? Is it convenient to get to UPMC for classes and research etc.

Sorry for the bombardment of questions. Thanks in advance!
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Shadyside's demographic is mostly young professionals and grad students. Shadyside's really nice with lots of stuff going on. I like it more than North Oakland (which is cheaper and closer to school) because there's houses and some grass around them and apartment buildings so it is more comfortable for me. For everyone here at Second Look, both nights were in the Shadyside area. Friday at AVA was in East Liberty (just across Centre Ave from Shadyside) and Saturday at Doc's was in the heart of Shadyside.

Bus is free to people with Pitt ID (students, faculty, staff) and it takes me about 15 minutes from the time I get on the bus to the time I get to the top of the hill.

To find the apartments, I went through Craigslist and a list from the University of Pittsburgh Off Campus Living (http://www.ocl.pitt.edu/apartments/privately-owned.html) to get an idea of the different management companies. The prices on the Pitt thing are outdated but that puts you in touch with companies. I called them and found out their August availability since Craigslist doesn't always have everything that they have available.

I'd recommend looking at the beginning of June for August rentals. Most companies do a 60 notice for moving out and when I looked last year, some of the companies would not give me availability until June 1st. For Shadyside, there are also some houses that have been renovated into apartments owned privately. Sometimes these don't show up on Craigslist (actually, usually they don't) but if you wander around you'll see for rent signs. I lived in one this summer and really liked it. My landlord was awesome but I've heard that's not always the case so it's a little different situation. Without having a company that has a maintenance staff you are more reliant on the landlord to get stuff fixed, which is the one big drawback.
 
1956Goldtop said:
Erina, do you recommend going through a real-estate agent or contacting individual landlords from online ads? Any particular areas in Shadyside that are student/young adult friendly? What is shadyside like and how big is it? Is it convenient to get to UPMC for classes and research etc.

Sorry for the bombardment of questions. Thanks in advance!
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Like Shantster said, contact the management companies. Looking around online is a great way to get an idea of the main companies around here and you can find some reviews, too. I also agree that Shadyside is very convenient--where I live, right off of 5th avenue, there are 3 buses that I can take in the morning to get to school. That means I'm never waiting more than 10 minutes for a bus and I get to school pretty quicklyu nee.

I'm very happy living in Shadyside. It's somewhat quiet, minus the sirens, but that's a city for you. I like being away from the majority of the college students. And trust me, seeing grass is always nice.

I can let you know about some of the apartments I looked at last spring, if ya want. PM me for that.


EDIT: One more thing--sure, the apartments in Shadyside are a little more expensive than you might find elsewhere in Pittsburgh. However, they're nice. I can't emphasize enough the importance of having an apartment that you love because when you get overwhelmed by school (which will likely happen at some point), you need a good place to make you comfortable and happy. Sacrificing your living situation just to save some money really isn't all that worth it, in my opinion.
 
Thanks Shanster and Erina! I looked at the Colebrook apartments online and they sound quite nice! Regarding the logistics of setting up an apartment... I assume none of these are furnished right? Is it difficult to furnish an apartment after arriving if you don't have a car or anything? How did you guys go about doing that? (Sorry for all these questions, I just want to make sure that I'm not scrambling at the end of July because I had no idea how much work moving in would entail.)
 
SnoPearl said:
Thanks Shanster and Erina! I looked at the Colebrook apartments online and they sound quite nice! Regarding the logistics of setting up an apartment... I assume none of these are furnished right? Is it difficult to furnish an apartment after arriving if you don't have a car or anything? How did you guys go about doing that? (Sorry for all these questions, I just want to make sure that I'm not scrambling at the end of July because I had no idea how much work moving in would entail.)
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You can find apartments that already come furnished. It'll say online if the apartment is furnished or unfurnished. I don't think any of the colebrook ones are furnished but I know there are definitely some around here.

If you have to buy your own furniture, often stores will deliver it for you if you need them to. There are definitely ways to make it work.

My parents gave me their living room furniture (mom used this as an excuse to redo the living room haha) so we moved everything in a moving truck. If you have some stuff to move anyway, like your bed or something, you can always get a moving truck and then go shopping for the rest of your furniture before returning the truck. I don't know how much things like that cost though.
 
For those of you that missed it, 2nd look kicked as$. For you guys that put it on: well done and thank you. :)

Also, on a totally unrelated note... how many of you all are liberal? It seemed that I saw a lot of "vote obama" stickers and whatnot. Lots of talk about socialized medicine (as in, it's a great idea). You know, stuff like that. Things that make ya go "huh.". Don't get me wrong, I'm fully expecting to be "that guy" no matter what school I go to. I know I'm in the minority regardless. I'm just trying to get a feel for Pitt specifically. ... I didn't really ask that too much while I was there because some folks get kinda uptight when you ask about political affiliation; it's almost like asking about their sexual preferences.

So, how about it? Which way do you lean (politically)?
 
Yeah, I will echo StealthNerd and say that Second Look was pretty great. Thanks to everybody in the M1 class who put aside their work for the weekend to entertain us! My student hosts were awesome, and the M1 turnout at that bar in Shadyside on Saturday night was pretty impressive (that was the longest flip-cup line I've ever seen).

So. Who, like me, is still on the fence about where the heck to go for med school?
 
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Do most people tend to move around once they move into an apartment MS-1 year? I'm wondering if I should invest into a solid home for the next four years, but not if I find that I find better housing situations. I'd imagine I'd have a better feel for where I'd like to live after a year in the city of pittsburgh.
 
killdevil said:
Yeah, I will echo StealthNerd and say that Second Look was pretty great. Thanks to everybody in the M1 class who put aside their work for the weekend to entertain us! My student hosts were awesome, and the M1 turnout at that bar in Shadyside on Saturday night was pretty impressive (that was the longest flip-cup line I've ever seen).

So. Who, like me, is still on the fence about where the heck to go for med school?
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Second look was a lot of fun! The M1 class and the prospectives seemed really cool. I'm pretty sure shantster was my mom :)hello:hi mom!) and she was as nice and helpful in person as she is here. I'm also up in the air about where to go - I'll know more after the Vandy second look today and tomorrow.

A few weeks ago I was pretty set on going to Vanderbilt. I think academically they both offer similar academic opportunities, but I prefer Nashville weather and I love live music, so it seemed like the place for me. Also, the people at my Pitt interview were arrogant and stuffy and just generally not people that I'd want to be in a class with. The prospectives at Pitt second look, however, were all very nice and interesting and fun.

For me, it'll probably come down to finances. I got one of the smaller merit grants from Pitt and I'm likely out of the running for need-based funds, in spite of the fact that my parents won't be helping me at all with med school. If I don't get any merit cash from Vandy, it will be an easy decision to attend Pitt. If the cost ends up being the same, second look will play a big role.
 
wisguy said:
Second look was a lot of fun! The M1 class and the prospectives seemed really cool. I'm pretty sure shantster was my mom :)hello:hi mom!) and she was as nice and helpful in person as she is here. I'm also up in the air about where to go - I'll know more after the Vandy second look today and tomorrow.

A few weeks ago I was pretty set on going to Vanderbilt. I think academically they both offer similar academic opportunities, but I prefer Nashville weather and I love live music, so it seemed like the place for me. Also, the people at my Pitt interview were arrogant and stuffy and just generally not people that I'd want to be in a class with. The prospectives at Pitt second look, however, were all very nice and interesting and fun.

For me, it'll probably come down to finances. I got one of the smaller merit grants from Pitt and I'm likely out of the running for need-based funds, in spite of the fact that my parents won't be helping me at all with med school. If I don't get any merit cash from Vandy, it will be an easy decision to attend Pitt. If the cost ends up being the same, second look will play a big role.
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Yes, I know who you are. And I looked at your MDapps and didn't realize that you did such awesome things.

As for weather, I feel that people dramatize the weather here. It doesn't rain like you're used to in Wisconsin where it has a slow rain all day long or storms for a few hours. When it rains, like it's been today, it downpours for about 20 minutes and then it's done. I just thought that we were going to get an awesome storm because there was just a big bolt and loud thunder and then it started pouring, but by the time I closed my windows it had stopped. That's how it was all summer and now it looks like it's starting again. Spring's been a little more cloudy, but in summer if it's not pouring, it's usually pretty clear out. I think the stats for having the most days of cloudy are calculated by saying that if it's cloudy at some point in the day, it's cloudy for that day even if it's mostly sunny. Winter is more rainy than I'm used to here because it doesn't really snow. It's usually a bit warmer than I'm used to (as in we might have gotten into the single digits once or twice when I'm used to it being most of the winter) and if it does snow, the grass might get covered, and if it does, it is usually gone by the next day. My weather complaints are the lack of snow and good thunderstorms, but for most people that's a plus.
 
I'm a Pittsburgh native and a current 1st year, and I'll second the suggestions that Squirrel Hill and Shadyside are great places to live and that Craig's List is a pretty good place to start looking for apartments. Mozart Management and Walnut Capital are both management companies that can be a little on the pricey side, but tend to maintain their properties better than some other companies in town.
 
I also live in Pittsburgh right now, and I agree that Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are great locations. They both have main streets with bunches of cafes, coffee shops, bars, and good stores. In the summer shadyside has street festivals where they close off the main street (Walnut St) to have bands and beer on the sidewalks, its great.

BUT I would also like to add the Bloomfield/Friendship area! It takes the same amount of time to get to campus, but personally I think the neighborhood is better.

Bloomfield has an art-sy feel to it and is a more eclectic atmosphere. There are art galleries and a glass-blowing studio and unique clothing & shoe stores. The housing is cheaper, plus its an old italian neighborhood and still has that great small-town feeling - the old men that sit in front of the diner every morning to watch people walk down the street, festivals all summer long, the best italian food in the city, homemade gelato, freshbaked italian bread... its great.

Here is a Pittsburgh neighborhood map just so you have an idea where things are. Pitt is in the Oakland neighborhood, and really all of the immediately surrounding neighborhoods would be okay to live in, except I would recommend staying away from the Hill District.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pittsburgh_neighborhoods

Oh, and here is Pitt's website that maps the neighborhoods. It also lists things like which cable/internet/phone/etc are availabe in each area, how much you can expect to pay for housing, and recommendations for places to eat, shop, and hang out.
http://www.coolpgh.pitt.edu/living/

One last housing bit - try craigslist, its great for apartments.
 
millisecond said:
Hey all: This may be what's in store for us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOrvdvczpEA

Just think about how bad the 4th guy must have been since he didn't even get any lines!!!!
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LOL... the 4th guy??? That's Evgeni Malkin... GOOOO GENOOOO!!!! He didn't get a line cause he doesn't speak English!!! :laugh:
Which doesn't mean much when you're taking your team to the Stanley Cup!!
 
Bump! Just breathing a little life into our class thread :)

Just out of curiosity, what medical specialties/departments at UPMC are known to be strong? I know transplantations are a big deal here, any others?

Also, for the MS3 and 4's, can you guys share anything about the clinical rotation experience at UPMC? How are the residents and attendings? Do you feel well-prepared for residency? Were you and your classmates happy with the match results this year?
 
anyone get their financial aid package yet?
 
So, I'm fairly sure that I am going to go to Pitt and if I do I'm definitely going to buy a house. I know that Squirrel Hill and Shadyside are the nicest places to live but what can anyone that is local tell me about Greenfield? Houses are cheaper there, so it's obviously not as nice, but is there that much of a discrepancy? Thanks in advance.
 
sesil said:
anyone get their financial aid package yet?
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It's still a little early. I think we got the information at the end of the month. If they do it like last year, they will email you a .pdf of the letter and then send a hard copy in the mail.
 
haven't got the email yet...hope it comes soon
 
Anyone know if its possible to get instate tuition at pitt after a year like the suny's?
 
My Pitt Aid came in the snail mail today. I can't believe it but I got half as much aid as I got from Northwestern! Guess I know where I'll be headed next year... Hello Chicago! yippeeeeeeee
 
So at what point do we know that we didn't get jack **** for merit money? I mean, hope keeps dwindling... but it's still there. Flickering. Barely staying alive against the cold, dark night that is my empty mailbox.
 
They have already given out non-cstp non-pstp merit money out since the fin. aid office said they would give out FA packages only after they send merit money. Since they are giving out fa packages now, im assuming that merit money has been sent. With that said, im sure that more merit scholarships will go out once people with scholarships withdraw. Unless they just anticpate people withdrawing when they give the scholarships out in the first place. If that is how it works then I think they are done giving out merit money.
 
Show me the financial aid package already. I wanna know what kind of debt I am looking at.:idea: Also anyone else buying a new laptop for school? Any recommended models would help. Right now I am looking at Dells....
 
Flake0006 said:
Show me the financial aid package already. I wanna know what kind of debt I am looking at.:idea: Also anyone else buying a new laptop for school? Any recommended models would help. Right now I am looking at Dells....
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My much more computer-savvy friends have told me that Dells are no longer a desirable laptop as they are prone to problems. The gold standard is generally the IBM thinkpad (latest models) for reliability and ability (unless you're looking to game). I'm sure someone will suggest a macbook, I guess it depends on if you're a PC or mac person.
 
SnoPearl said:
My much more computer-savvy friends have told me that Dells are no longer a desirable laptop as they are prone to problems. The gold standard is generally the IBM thinkpad (latest models) for reliability and ability (unless you're looking to game). I'm sure someone will suggest a macbook, I guess it depends on if you're a PC or mac person.
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I was actually looking at either a Sony Vaio or an HP, although the HP is less expensive. Ever since the IT guy at work explained to me that there are problems with Vista over a year now after its release, my priority is to find a machine with XP. Problem: Microsoft stops selling XP computers June 30, right before all the back-to-school sales. Even now, it's hard to find them outside of the small business sections of the companies' websites. *Sigh* Does anyone have or know more about Vista? It might not be worth the trouble is Vista is okay.
 
I had a thinkpad for a while. I am not a big fan. I ended up giving it back to my dad. For some reason I am a dell man. Whatever problems I've encountered with them I have been able to fix myself. However, HPs are looking good right now as well.
 
Can't you just downgrade to XP? Also I was wondering for anyone with a macbook thats partitioned their hardrive to run XP how well does that work?
 
does pitt require you to buy a laptop through them?
 
1956Goldtop said:
So I'm pretty sure I'll be attending Pitt. I'm super excited!!!
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Yay! It's good to know isn't it? :)

I got my finaid package today, and I'm a little confused because they don't list a breakdown of the budget. They only give me one fat number for cost of attendance. Does anyone have the budget for this year so that I can decide how much of the loans I want to take on? Thanks!!
 
I'm wondering the same thing myself. What was your COA? mine was around 61000, though I think I can cut down on loans by not taking out all of that. Though, you probably won't have to take anything out with your AMAAZZZING scholarship + whatever you got in need based grants.
 
1956Goldtop said:
I'm wondering the same thing myself. What was your COA? mine was around 61000, though I think I can cut down on loans by not taking out all of that. Though, you probably won't have to take anything out with your AMAAZZZING scholarship + whatever you got in need based grants.
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Heh yeah mine was also just under 61000. I got very little in need-based money, so along with the merit scholarship, I know I'll be taking out the full subsidized stafford. I'm hoping to not take any unsubbed stafford if possible by begging my parents to spot the rest lol.

Here's a question: I still have a bunch of unsubsidized staffords from undergrad - would it be useful if I used the 8500 of subsidized stafford from the med school loan to pay off part the unsubbed undergrad loans to reduce interest? It would mean that I'll have to pay out of pocket for living expenses.
 
StealthNerd said:
So at what point do we know that we didn't get jack **** for merit money? I mean, hope keeps dwindling... but it's still there. Flickering. Barely staying alive against the cold, dark night that is my empty mailbox.
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I'm not trying to give you any false hope, but we were asked to respond within 2 weeks to accept our merit scholarships, so if there are any that bounced back and Pitt plans to give them out again, you will probably hear very soon.
 
How much in unsub stafford do you have?

I have a little bit in sub stafford. Do you know if it is easy to get these deferred for medical school (does the gov't still pay the interest?)

You might be able to use your sub stafford to pay your ugrad unsub stafford and then take another unsub stafford, so that the interest starts anew.
 
SnoPearl said:
Here's a question: I still have a bunch of unsubsidized staffords from undergrad - would it be useful if I used the 8500 of subsidized stafford from the med school loan to pay off part the unsubbed undergrad loans to reduce interest? It would mean that I'll have to pay out of pocket for living expenses.
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The only problem I would see what that plan is if you would have problems with the loan people continuing to see that you are in deferment and they would make you pay a set amount in monthly payments. Since I didn't try to pay any of my loans at all now, I don't know how that would work, so if I were you I'd try to contact the loan company and see what their policy is about paying periodically while still in deferment without having any early prepayment charges or forced monthly payments. If that's not a problem, you could make a big payment when you get the subsidized loans and forgo interest on whatever amount you paid, but you don't want to get into a forced monthly payment if you end up needing the money for some reason.

Numbers I saw from our budget
Rent/Utilities: 850/month
Food: 350/month
Transportation: 110/month
Personal Expenses: 140/month

They assume that you are on a 10 month term so multiply all those by 10 to get the number of those expenses for the year. You can look at apartments on craigslist to get an idea of cost for rent. Comcast internet and *real* cable is ~100/month and electric is ~30/month if you average it over the year (at least for me). They are assuming sharing a 2br for that so if you live alone, your rent/utilities will be higher. The food budget is high (do you really spend >$80 a week at the grocery store to feed one person?). The bus is included in fees so your transportation cost will pretty much just be car insurance and a tank of gas a month unless you live further away from school than the major areas and need to drive and park. If you'll still have your parents' health insurance, you can take out ~2700 from the yearly budget since you won't purchase the health insurance here.

I think that's the big things with the budget that can be adjusted from the amount that you have been given as the big bill. The biggest adjustment will be once you get an apartment and figure out the rent, but you can always get an idea online if you need that.
 
1956Goldtop said:
How much in unsub stafford do you have?

I have a little bit in sub stafford. Do you know if it is easy to get these deferred for medical school (does the gov't still pay the interest?)

You might be able to use your sub stafford to pay your ugrad unsub stafford and then take another unsub stafford, so that the interest starts anew.
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I've got about 15k of unsubbed stafford from undergrad, and I'm almost certain you don't have to pay anything back during medical school (you're not making any money), and the government should be paying the interest still until you begin to pay it back yourself. Double check with your school though, I haven't done my loan exit interview yet heh.
 
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