Waitlisted at Pitt

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SoFla62

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So Pitt was my first choice and I just got the notification that I've been waitlisted. I'm a little confused because I thought I nailed both interviews (in fact both interviewers said something to the effect that they would be giving me high marks). But more than confused, I'm bummed. Anyway, I was just wondering - does Pitt have multiple waitlists? Is there like a "high" and a "low" and just a regular? Should my letter indicate which I'm on?

Also, do you think there's any point contacting someone and seeing what I could do to make my application stronger for May (ie, find out what went wrong)?

Thanks guys
 
I am just curious if it is possible that Pitts class for this year is filled? considering that they have given out many many interview invites? I am also nervously waiting for the notification..... I interviewed in mid November...
 
Hey OP, when did you interview there? I'm waiting to hear as well..interviewed early november. I hear the waitlist isn't a bad place to be, but I don't know if they have several. Good luck!
 
I interviewed 10/25. Good luck to both of you.
 
Crazy i have an interview schedualed for this january! i hope there not completely filled yet. Although ill take a waitlist and the hope that comes with it over nothing
 
I'd rather take the rejection. I ended up on Pitt's wait list last year and had hope until the first day of school. I interviewed again on 10/30 and if I get another wait list, I might just tell them where they can put it.
 
SoFla62 said:
So Pitt was my first choice and I just got the notification that I've been waitlisted. I'm a little confused because I thought I nailed both interviews (in fact both interviewers said something to the effect that they would be giving me high marks). But more than confused, I'm bummed. Anyway, I was just wondering - does Pitt have multiple waitlists? Is there like a "high" and a "low" and just a regular? Should my letter indicate which I'm on?

Also, do you think there's any point contacting someone and seeing what I could do to make my application stronger for May (ie, find out what went wrong)?

Thanks guys
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It's still early in the season, a waitlist isn't TERRIBLE. I haven't heard anything yet, but your story sounds very similar to mine. I felt like both interviews went well and the second interviewer spent a good quarter of the time telling me why he thought I was a strong applicant. Your MCAT is much higher, so now I have even less hope than before >(. Anyway, they said during the interview day that applicants are ranked by each adcom member, and that the total score determines acceptance/waitlist, and presumably where you fall on the waitlist.
 
after interviewing, does your status page change at any time to indicate a decision?
 
shoe23 said:
I am just curious if it is possible that Pitts class for this year is filled? considering that they have given out many many interview invites? I am also nervously waiting for the notification..... I interviewed in mid November...
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I'm wondering that too -- they did things completely differently this year, what with the auto invite thing and all -- and I'm sure with this new process they did not have a very good sense of how many people to invite and to accept right off the bat -- and how to pace themselves. It seems like acceptances are waning as well.
 
SoFla62 said:
So Pitt was my first choice and I just got the notification that I've been waitlisted. I'm a little confused because I thought I nailed both interviews (in fact both interviewers said something to the effect that they would be giving me high marks). But more than confused, I'm bummed. Anyway, I was just wondering - does Pitt have multiple waitlists? Is there like a "high" and a "low" and just a regular? Should my letter indicate which I'm on?
Click to expand...

My experience was exactly the same. I thought both interviews went really well, and received very positive feedback (including an invitation to shadow a faculty member any time I was back in Pittsburgh). 8 weeks later (well past the "we'll notify you in 4-6 weeks mark"), I get a waitlist. While Pitt was a top choice going into the process, the interview day was not as impressive as I thought it would be (I'm from Pittsburgh, so I like the city). It may have had something to do with not meeting or seeing any students except for my student interviewer.

Just wanted to let you know you're not the only one confused by their decision.

Oh, and no change on the status page.
 
Just found out today that I got accepted!!!
 
Waitlisted here too. Early October interview.
 
Has anyone who interviewed early november hear anything back yet?
 
Nope...first week of November here. If the 10/30's are hearing something, we should hopefully know before Christmas >). Congrats on your acceptance!
 
I'm in the same boat... thought interviews went really well, but got Waitlisted. How bummed or optimistic are you guys? Do people get rejected from Pitt, or could my waitlist just be Pitt's willingness to let me wait 'til May for the big R?
 
merlinwall said:
I'm in the same boat... thought interviews went really well, but got Waitlisted. How bummed or optimistic are you guys? Do people get rejected from Pitt, or could my waitlist just be Pitt's willingness to let me wait 'til May for the big R?
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Well, I was disappointed, but if it's meant to be it will happen.
 
Just an FYI, you guys may have completely nailed the interview, but that doesn't necessarily mean an acceptance. I've seen people get high marks on both interviews but still get waitlisted while others with a lower combined average get in. Like kypdurron5 said, it's the total score that counts. Good luck.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention... I was waitlisted as well >). I thought I had already reported that. Oh well, the waiting begins...
 
Cartesio said:
Just an FYI, you guys may have completely nailed the interview, but that doesn't necessarily mean an acceptance. I've seen people get high marks on both interviews but still get waitlisted while others with a lower combined average get in. Like kypdurron5 said, it's the total score that counts. Good luck.
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Out of curiosity, any idea how is the interview score weighted against "the numbers"? I feel I had a decent (but no spetacular) interview and a rather low GPA. It makes me suspect that it's my GPA that got me the waitlist.
 
I keep reading last year's pitt waitlisters posts -- yes I'm becoming SDNF obsessed -- about TWO waitlist letters: A 'highlist' and a 'regular list' letter that people received. If there is two, mine's definitely regular because it was incredibly plain: "The AdCom has reviewed your credentials and has elected to place you on the waitlist.... we feel honored that you have chosen to apply to Pitt Med."

Did any of you get something more promising, or are we all in the same boat together?

BTW: Interviewed 11/20
 
I believe that the adcom member takes the interview score into account with all of the other factors and comes up with his or her final score, and it is that final score that determines acceptance. I may be wrong, though, and I have no idea what guidelines the adcom members are given in regards to factoring in interview reports.
 
merlinwall said:
I keep reading last year's pitt waitlisters posts -- yes I'm becoming SDNF obsessed -- about TWO waitlist letters: A 'highlist' and a 'regular list' letter that people received. If there is two, mine's definitely regular because it was incredibly plain: "The AdCom has reviewed your credentials and has elected to place you on the waitlist.... we feel honored that you have chosen to apply to Pitt Med."

Did any of you get something more promising, or are we all in the same boat together?

BTW: Interviewed 11/20
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they changed everything around this year by doing rolling admissions, and as far as i know, we are all in the same boat (only one waitlist). but there has to be some sort of ranking system in the waitlist...i think they just had no idea how many invites/acceptances/WLs/rejections they were going to give out since they changed things so much. i guess we won't know much until may. :luck: to us!
 
scentimint said:
they changed everything around this year by doing non-rolling admissions, and as far as i know, we are all in the same boat (only one waitlist). but there has to be some sort of ranking system in the waitlist...i think they just had no idea how many invites/acceptances/WLs/rejections they were going to give out since they changed things so much. i guess we won't know much until may. :luck: to us!
Click to expand...

Pitt is definitely rolling admissions...
 
HumbleMD said:
Oh. I didn't know they were non-rolling in the past.
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i thought they did things differently last year, but i must be wrong b/c i looked through some of the old threads from last year and people posted acceptances in october. maybe it was just the waitlist system that they changed then.
 
Quix said:
Aagh. I had forgotten about this thread. :scared:
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Quix! nervous? excited? both?? 😀
At least you won't have to worry about getting lost!! That was definitely a plus in having Pitt as my first interview...I knew exactly where the admissions office was. :luck:
 
scentimint said:
Quix! nervous? excited? both?? 😀
At least you won't have to worry about getting lost!! That was definitely a plus in having Pitt as my first interview...I knew exactly where the admissions office was. :luck:
Click to expand...

Yes, yes, and yes. The nervousness and excitement come in waves; great, nausea-inducing waves. I'm doing work on this textbook to take my mind off of it (proofing a case study on diabetic ketoacidosis and revising a case study on worsening metabolic acidosis and a chapter on chronic metabolic alkalosis), but still, despite my fatigue, I don't anticipate much sleep tonight.
 
hey guys-- I'm here in Pitt too... work in Montefiore. We should commiserate in the scaife-ateria some time.
 
merlinwall said:
hey guys-- I'm here in Pitt too... work in Montefiore. We should commiserate in the scaife-ateria some time.
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Wow...you live there, work in one of their hospitals, and still weren't accepted?

PS- I'm not suggesting that local=acceptance, but it's just interesting that you're so close to the system. Did you get any recommendations from school-associated physicians?
 
ouch, I think? nah, it's alright, I know what you mean.

I've only been here a couple months so I've only had my PI write a letter-- my guess is if proximity equaled acceptance, med schools would be overrun with sniffly pre-meds. Though I'm sure being here didn't hurt.
 
kypdurron5 said:
Wow...you live there, work in one of their hospitals, and still weren't accepted?

PS- I'm not suggesting that local=acceptance, but it's just interesting that you're so close to the system. Did you get any recommendations from school-associated physicians?
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i did...still on the WL! 😱
 
I was waitlisted as well. A student there who does interviews told me he has seen people get perfect scores on the interview and still end up on the waitlist...he was not sure why though.

I wrote an email to the woman who did my admin interview...she said the waitlist was "not a bad place to be" and that I may hear from them in "may or before"
 
Has anyone been thinking about the timing for letters of intent? Since they specifically said in the waitlist letter that waitlist movement wouldn't occur until May, do you guys think it would be better to wait until that time, or to get it in early?
 
I'm sending mine in March. Early March. I heard that's when they start looking over the waitlist files and even start offering spots to a few people.
 
merlinwall said:
I'm sending mine in March. Early March. I heard that's when they start looking over the waitlist files and even start offering spots to a few people.
Click to expand...

One of the assistant deans (Lisa Wick) came to speak for my post-bac program about Pitt's program in November. She mentioned that you shouldn't send waitlist letters of intent/interest until March since that's when they start looking over the files (exactly what you said above so you're right on - just supporting with a quote 😉 ). She said before then they won't have as much of an impact since they'll just get filed away but your file won't be reviewed/bumped up by the new addition until March. I would think earlier the better with update letters later for grade updates/new activities and continued interest every couple of weeks would be good but she didn't address that in her talk.
 
stiffany said:
One of the assistant deans (Lisa Wick) came to speak for my post-bac program about Pitt's program in November. She mentioned that you shouldn't send waitlist letters of intent/interest until March since that's when they start looking over the files (exactly what you said above so you're right on - just supporting with a quote 😉 ). She said before then they won't have as much of an impact since they'll just get filed away but your file won't be reviewed/bumped up by the new addition until March. I would think earlier the better with update letters later for grade updates/new activities and continued interest every couple of weeks would be good but she didn't address that in her talk.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. Hrrm. This is my first year on the waitlist, so I've not done an LOI or an update letter before... however, isn't every week a little excessive? I'm not trying to nag them into an acceptance, but I do want to be sure to communicate that Pitt is my number one choice.
 
I don't know, but my head is going to explode. I can't handle all this waiting-- even the WORD 'wait' is driving me nuts. Just tell me! Oh well... back to wwwwwwaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg.
 
Here's some juicy info, reserved just for my SDN buds.... my fellow Pitt waitlisters. I just talked to Matt, one of the two student AdComs who introduced himself with Felix right before the student interviews (you remember them-- right after lunch).

He told me: Sending letter of intent / updates once per month is a VERY good thing. paraphrased "In an interview EVERYONE says, yeah this is my top choice or one of my top choices, but then once people get waitlisted they often look elsewhere, so it's really important NOW to re-iterate that Pitt really is your top choice. What's nice is that there is a good amount of movement on the Pitt Waitlist." He also said sending once a week (like apparently some people do!) is annoying and useless-- once a month.

Also he suggested I write up my student interviewer and ask if they felt comfortable writing a letter on my behalf. If they are that's really powerful-- he also said it's good to just keep in touch with the faculty interviewer and mmmayyyybe ask them to write something, but keep in mind that they're very busy.

And lastly he said to call and talk to whatever AdCom member I met with the day of the interview-- I met with Paula Davis.

That's the skinny so far. How are you all doing with the waiting... Any other juicy nuggets you guys have picked up? Hope this helps!
 
merlinwall said:
Here's some juicy info, reserved just for my SDN buds.... my fellow Pitt waitlisters. I just talked to Matt, one of the two student AdComs who introduced himself with Felix right before the student interviews (you remember them-- right after lunch).

He told me: Sending letter of intent / updates once per month is a VERY good thing. paraphrased "In an interview EVERYONE says, yeah this is my top choice or one of my top choices, but then once people get waitlisted they often look elsewhere, so it's really important NOW to re-iterate that Pitt really is your top choice. What's nice is that there is a good amount of movement on the Pitt Waitlist." He also said sending once a week (like apparently some people do!) is annoying and useless-- once a month.

Also he suggested I write up my student interviewer and ask if they felt comfortable writing a letter on my behalf. If they are that's really powerful-- he also said it's good to just keep in touch with the faculty interviewer and mmmayyyybe ask them to write something, but keep in mind that they're very busy.

And lastly he said to call and talk to whatever AdCom member I met with the day of the interview-- I met with Paula Davis.

That's the skinny so far. How are you all doing with the waiting... Any other juicy nuggets you guys have picked up? Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
All of this sounds pretty reasonable- thanks for the info! The only thing I would question is the part about asking your student interviewer or faculty interviewer for a recommendation. Aren't they part of the admissions committee? If so, they will be helping to make the decision in committee, not by letter. And even if they aren't part of the committee that makes the decision, they still already weighed in their opinions when they rated your interview, so I'm a little skeptical of this advice. It almost seems like a conflict of interest; an interviewer is supposed to have an honest, objective opinion of you to present to the committee, as where a letter recommendation is supposed to show biased, subjective support for you. It seems strange to ask an interviewer to do both.
 
I agree it's strange to ask them to do both-- though, I was providing direct access to what Matt had told me. Keep in mind that neither the student nor the faculty interviewer are on the AdCom-- the only person you met on the AdCom was during that 15 minute 'meeting.'

I'll likely ask my student interviewer to write something if they feel like they have more to say, and I may let my faculty interviewer know I was waitlisted, just so they know...
 
merlinwall said:
I agree it's strange to ask them to do both-- though, I was providing direct access to what Matt had told me. Keep in mind that neither the student nor the faculty interviewer are on the AdCom-- the only person you met on the AdCom was during that 15 minute 'meeting.'

I'll likely ask my student interviewer to write something if they feel like they have more to say, and I may let my faculty interviewer know I was waitlisted, just so they know...
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How are you planning to approach that? What I mean is...how are you going to justify writing to them? I felt like I had a good conversation with my faculty interviewer, but I just can't think of a way to justify contacting him, especially since I already sent my thank you letter. I would think sending an "update" letter would be strange if s/he isn't on the adcom...
 
It's a good question-- I'll definitely let you know once I do it. My guess is I'll just be direct. Say, Hey I'm on the waitlist, hope it all works out, thanks again.........hmmmm. I mean they're curious what happens to us--- but probably only slightly (especially compared to their busy jobs and lives) so informative, direct, and appealing?
 
Ok, so I wrote a master letter of update/intent containing everything I could possibly want to say. Two problems. First, I just looked at my wait list letter and it says "In May, the Committee will admit from the wait list. Naturally, further consideration will be given at that time. [implied- and not before then]" I thought it was March. I was prepared to write a letter in February, and then another one in March...but now I'm looking at 4 letters; what else am I going to say, and should I save the all-out "I love the school and I will kill myself if I'm not accepted" (just kidding...) until May? I found another thread where a guy had some success writing 2 to 3 page narratives about how desperate he was to go to this one school (not Pitt); he said that he chose a different "theme" for each letter, but I can't imagine exactly what he meant. I'm guessing the May reference is May 15th, when people holding multiple acceptances must pick only one. Still, isn't there ANY waitlist movement before then? I suppose if someone withdraws before the deadline they could just accept someone else from the current interview pool, but why wouldn't they give preference to those already on the waitlist (assuming higher "applicant score")?

Second problem- my letter is very personal. They usually say "the committee has decided," etc. This letter starts out "I am writing to inform you..." and it looks like it was signed by hand (vs. printed or rubber-stamped). It also happens to be from the person I had the 15 minute meeting with, who is an (the?) Associate Dean. From what I've read, LOI's should usually be written to the dean, but should I/we make an exception in this case since were were "assigned" someone in our 15 minute meeting? What do you guys think?
 
This thread is giving me the creeping terrors. While I had a great faculty interview (he and I discussed the neurological bases of consciousness and the ability to manifest awareness in another substrate, among other abstractions) and my MS1 interview was a fellow Hoya (we talked about the faculty we had in common and I gave her some local restaurant recommendations (she wasn't from Pittsburgh)), I spent a grand total of <5 minutes with Lisa Wick. She was very personable and I enjoyed talking with her, but it was still really, *really* brief. I'm planning to drop off a summary letter of everything I've been doing at Pitt since they received my AMCAS and secondary (i.e., studies I'm PI-ing and forthcoming publications), but I have this fear that it will be for naught.
 
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