2009-2010 University of Pittsburgh Application Thread

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I'm also wondering how casual the dress code is for Saturday. Does casual mean khakis and a polo casual or flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt casual?
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The Enchanter said:
I'm also wondering how casual the dress code is for Saturday. Does casual mean khakis and a polo casual or flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt casual?
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My experience at Case's second look was that "Casual" was quite casual (jeans/t-shirt...I was wearing jeans and a button-up, personally).
 
The Enchanter said:
I'm also wondering how casual the dress code is for Saturday. Does casual mean khakis and a polo casual or flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt casual?
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I personally would not be showing up at a School of Medicine event in flip flops, shorts or a t-shirt. My opinion would be the most "casual" you should be would be a polo shirt and khakis. You cannot go wrong with that. As a former Pittsburgh student, I can tell you it's a pretty relaxed town-but not that relaxed. And you will be making a first impression with your possible fellow students and faculty.

For those of you going, don't forget to eat breakfast at Pamela's. It will change your life-PANCAKES!
 
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Would anyone who attended second look be willing to share their general impressions on the school, especially the social atmosphere/stress levels among the current students? I unfortunately couldn't go but I need to figure out whether I want to attend the school ASAP. Any insight is helpful, please be honest and share either on the thread or in a PM! thanks in advance :) :)
 
adele87 said:
would anyone who attended second look be willing to share their general impressions on the school, especially the social atmosphere/stress levels among the current students? I unfortunately couldn't go but i need to figure out whether i want to attend the school asap. Any insight is helpful, please be honest and share either on the thread or in a pm! Thanks in advance :) :)
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+100
 
I went to second look, and I'd be happy to answer questions by PM. Not really sure how I can describe all of it in a paragraph, though. I can also give people my AIM screen name if they like to chat that way.
 
brandon15228 said:
I personally would not be showing up at a School of Medicine event in flip flops, shorts or a t-shirt. My opinion would be the most "casual" you should be would be a polo shirt and khakis. You cannot go wrong with that. As a former Pittsburgh student, I can tell you it's a pretty relaxed town-but not that relaxed. And you will be making a first impression with your possible fellow students and faculty.

For those of you going, don't forget to eat breakfast at Pamela's. It will change your life-PANCAKES!
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I completely read that first sentence as "I personally will be showing up at a School of Medicine event in flip flops, shorts or a t-shirt."

And I was gonna say, "I hope it's the shorts! :laugh:" Then I re-read your post and was a little sad that I'd misread it.
 
brandon15228 said:
For those of you going, don't forget to eat breakfast at Pamela's. It will change your life-PANCAKES!
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I went to Pamela's for brunch before I went to the airport today. OMG! The food was great! I had the full breakfast platter with strawberry crepes and realized mid meal that if I came to Pitt, I would probably gain 40 pounds eating there all the time, lol.

adele87 said:
Would anyone who attended second look be willing to share their general impressions on the school, especially the social atmosphere/stress levels among the current students? I unfortunately couldn't go but I need to figure out whether I want to attend the school ASAP. Any insight is helpful, please be honest and share either on the thread or in a PM! thanks in advance :) :)
Click to expand...

I can talk a little about my experience but some people may have different experiences based on what they did during the weekend and who they surrounded themselves with.

Overall: I had an amazing time at Pitt. Pittsburgh is a big city with a small town feel. Everybody I met was very humble, nice and overall just concerned with how my weekend was shaping up because they wanted to show everyone a good time. I came in with the impression that there wasn't much to do in Pittsburgh but there is definitely enough to do around the city to keep you occupied with the free time that you will have as a medical student. I went out to nice restaurants/eateries for dinner/lunch when I wasn't at a banquet or event, went clubbing on friday night with some med students and partying with the prospectives on saturday night at Alto Lounge and went around exploring Pitt's campus and some of the surrounding community. There are tons of parks, a golfing range in the area, quaint shops and fun little activities to do (bars, kayaking, sports, theme park etc.) Pitt loves their sports teams (except for the Pirates) and on the day of the Penguins game I would say that half of the people I saw on the streets had a Sidney Crosby jersey on, lol.

The school kept us busy with activities during the day and gave us a chance to meet medical students, hang out with the other prospective students, do brief patient(Harvey Man) interviews and procedures in the WISER simulation center, learned how to do a neurological exam, participated in a pandemic medical care exercise (tiring but a good time), go on a bus tour of pittsburgh and surrounding areas, eat dinner around the city, and a bunch of other things that you can look up on the itinerary for the 2nd look. The students were very laid back, nice and happy to be at Pitt. They didn't have many bad things to say about Pitt. Worst thing I heard from many of the students I questioned was getting schedules late sometimes or some issue with the time placement/longitudinal nature of the scholarly project.

I was concerned about the Honors/Pass/Fail system and that 3 students or so would fail every exam but my mind was eased after talking to the students. Most said that competition was more so within a person driving themselves to study versus with other students. If you get two standard deviations below the average you fail but that is only if your score is below 70. As long as you score above 70 on an exam you will never fail an exam.

Cost of living is cheap. There are very nice neighborhoods to live in including Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. I would be in Darragh because it is convenient and even though the rooms are smaller it is still very nice, includes everything and there are dish washers and clothing washers in each unit.

We had a financial aid presentation (packets should be emailed monday or tuesday), talked with tons of students MS1 through MS4 and just had a good time getting to know Pittsburgh and Pitt Med. Pitt Med students know how to have a good time and they are a cohesive and collaborative group. The events were set up to be fun, informative and to show the prospectives that Pitt is where they should be. Overall I think the staff did a great job with the Second Look as it was definitely the best one I have gone to.
 
TaylorMDhopeful said:
We had a financial aid presentation (packets should be emailed monday or tuesday), talked with tons of students MS1 through MS4 and just had a good time getting to know Pittsburgh and Pitt Med.
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You had me at "(packets should be emailed monday or tuesday)!"
 
i just got an email with my financial aid package. i'll probably be withdrawing soon

kind of silly that it took them so long since it doesn't really seem like they needed to calculate anything :laugh:
 
I sort of have the opposite point of view--just got the finaid package and I think I'm dropping my other schools now. :D
 
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bobsmith said:
i just got an email with my financial aid package. i'll probably be withdrawing soon

kind of silly that it took them so long since it doesn't really seem like they needed to calculate anything :laugh:
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Just got mine as well. Mixed feelings. They phrased their scholarship award as if I would get need-based aid as well. I was quite excited. But, in fact, it's the only award I got. So, it puts it on par with Duke. UVA's now about 14K/yr. less. That's hard to overlook.
 
got mine as well.

no suprises, i got no grants/scholarships. however, i didn't get free money from any of my schools and pitt is the cheapest of the bunch. looks like im officially going to pitt!
 
Hey guys,

So, I have a question about Pitt (not terribly important, but has been nagging me for a while) that I can't seem to find an answer for.

Is Pitt Med a public or private school?

In the MSAR it is listed as private, although it's part of U Pitt, which is a public university. The medschool handbook from USN&WR lists it as public. Then there is the fact that it behaves very much like a private school (offering lots of institutional aid, not subsidizing in-state students' tuition by much, accepting a significant amount of out-of-state students, etc)... Hence the confusion.

Can anyone offer an answer?
 
pitt undergrad is public. pitt med is private but in-state is very slightly cheaper.
 
d1ony5u5 said:
Hey guys,

So, I have a question about Pitt (not terribly important, but has been nagging me for a while) that I can't seem to find an answer for.

Is Pitt Med a public or private school?

In the MSAR it is listed as private, although it's part of U Pitt, which is a public university. The medschool handbook from USN&WR lists it as public. Then there is the fact that it behaves very much like a private school (offering lots of institutional aid, not subsidizing in-state students' tuition by much, accepting a significant amount of out-of-state students, etc)... Hence the confusion.

Can anyone offer an answer?
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It's slightly complicated--Pennsylvania is a unique state whereby private colleges are still eligible for state subsidization, so they become "state-related."

So Pitt Med is technically a private school, but in-state students receive slightly subsidized tuition rates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_System_of_Higher_Education
 
johncalvin said:
It's slightly complicated--Pennsylvania is a unique state whereby private colleges are still eligible for state subsidization, so they become "state-related."

So Pitt Med is technically a private school, but in-state students receive slightly subsidized tuition rates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_System_of_Higher_Education
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Way to go johncalvin. I was getting ready to answer this question-which comes up all the time-and you got it right-with one exception. The University of Pittsburgh-and the School of Medicine is a PUBLIC, not PRIVATE university. The funding scheme allows Pitt to operate more independently than other universities in the state that are public, but funded in a different way-such as Pennsylvania State University.

It is indeed confusing, but in some ways it is a good funding scheme for the university. In my opinion, the university does not do enough to clarify this for the public. Even the MSAR has it wrong, calling Pitt a private university-which it is most certainly not! Anyway, way to go for getting it right!
 
Thanks for that answer. I'm still a bit confused, but that clears things up a lot. It is indeed complicated...

Thanks again!
 
i still haven't gotten my quote from Pitt. I'm most likely withdrawing, although I loved the school, but if they offer me some money, that could definitely sway my decision. anybody else not get their offer yet?
 
hello,

a quick questions directed at fellow waitlisters, did you guys recieve any confirmation reply when you sent update letters attached to email?
 
parameter said:
hello,

a quick questions directed at fellow waitlisters, did you guys recieve any confirmation reply when you sent update letters attached to email?
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I dont remember. but, you could always just send a quick email asking if they received it. :luck:
 
They don't send confirmation emails. Just email or give them a call (that's what I did).
 
Decided to attend here in the fall!:love:

Time to look for furniture for Darragh St. , lol...:(
 
Can we all take a moment to celebrate the Penguins loss to the Canadiens in the NHL Playoffs! I went to Pitt undergrad, but am from Philly and am a diehard Flyers fan. Anyways, great night for hockey...those of you who attend Pitt Med, have a great time dealing with those whiners.
 
simpliphi said:
congrats! did you get an email asking if you were interested before, or accepted right away?
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I received the level of interest/good fit email this morning. Replied 5 minutes later and then 10 minutes later was accepted.

Also, I'm very close to 100% sure that I'll be attending.
 
ntrad said:
I received the level of interest/good fit email this morning. Replied 5 minutes later and then 10 minutes later was accepted.

Also, I'm very close to 100% sure that I'll be attending.
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I also received the interest/good fit email this morning, and replied about a half an hour ago. Haven't received a response yet but am hoping for the best. Has anyone who got that email and indicated interest not got in?
 
DoctwoB said:
I also received the interest/good fit email this morning, and replied about a half an hour ago. Haven't received a response yet but am hoping for the best. Has anyone who got that email and indicated interest not got in?
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that would be beyond messed up

congrats!
 
bobsmith said:
that would be beyond messed up

congrats!
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I got in!!

You were right, I just didn't want to get too confident before hearing anything.

One thing they didn't say though was how long we had to respond/give up any other acceptances. Does the may15th deadline apply or is there some more leeway to hear about financial aid?
 
DoctwoB said:
I got in!!

You were right, I just didn't want to get too confident before hearing anything.

One thing they didn't say though was how long we had to respond/give up any other acceptances. Does the may15th deadline apply or is there some more leeway to hear about financial aid?
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Congrats!!! The e-mail bobsmith linked above indicates that May 15th is the deadline to decide to hold your spot...
 
Does anyone know if its still possible to get an apartment at the Darragh street complex? They have this up on their website for university owned housing.

"Due to an overwhelming response, we are no longer accepting applications for Fall 2010-2011."

Not sure if this applies to the med school housing or just general undergrad/grad housing.
 
DoctwoB said:
Does anyone know if its still possible to get an apartment at the Darragh street complex? They have this up on their website for university owned housing.

"Due to an overwhelming response, we are no longer accepting applications for Fall 2010-2011."

Not sure if this applies to the med school housing or just general undergrad/grad housing.
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I recently got a two bedroom apartment there. Looking for a roommate now amongst the class. There are a couple that recently opened up from what I heard from the management. But I know that there is a waiting list and a good amount applied for the housing there. It would be best to fill out the application and then call the office early on monday to see the situation now. I sent in my app about 3 weeks ago and got called about a place either 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom late last week.
 
this is probably a stupid question, but for the $100 deposit, who do we make the check out to? i would assume "university of pittsburgh school of medicine" but i want to make sure it's not supposed to be the finance or admissions office or something. i couldn't find an answer in the acceptance packet. again, probably a stupid question, but i don't want to mess it up since there's only a 10 day window where they accept deposits.
 
does darragh allow pets? also, does anyone know how parking situation works?
 
wolfiemd said:
does darragh allow pets? also, does anyone know how parking situation works?
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To keep the questions going, do you guys know if most Pitt students have or need a car? How is getting around in Pittsburgh without one?
 
cardinal2010 said:
To keep the questions going, do you guys know if most Pitt students have or need a car? How is getting around in Pittsburgh without one?
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My host for second look did not have a car, but lived walking distance from the school. The bus system in Pittsburgh, particularly around the school, is quite good, but most people seem to suggest having a car.
 
captain classy said:
this is probably a stupid question, but for the $100 deposit, who do we make the check out to? i would assume "university of pittsburgh school of medicine" but i want to make sure it's not supposed to be the finance or admissions office or something. i couldn't find an answer in the acceptance packet. again, probably a stupid question, but i don't want to mess it up since there's only a 10 day window where they accept deposits.
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I called them to ask about this on friday and they said...make it out to "University of Pittsburgh".
 
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