Pittsburgh or Vanderbilt

[Hawkdoc11]

I am a long time reader and first time poster. I am a senior at Iowa.

I was accepted off of the wait list at Pitt last week and at Vanderbilt some time ago. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the Vanderbilt second look, but I plan to attend Pittsburgh's second look in a couple of weeks. I feel fortunate to have two good options.

I am looking for feedback of any sort to help me make a decision.

Both schools did very well with their most recent match results. Vanderbilt seems to have better part I scores but based on the match that didn't seem to matter. Research opportunities are available at both schools. Better weather in Nashville, but more of a real city in Pittsburgh.

Any help would be welcome.

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[Frazier]

Do you like construction and convoluted road/highway designs?

If the answer is "yes", Pittsburgh is great.

 

[H3rpD3rp]

Vandy

 

[DoctwoB]

Do you like construction and convoluted road/highway designs?

If the answer is "yes", Pittsburgh is great.

Ahh yes, the four seasons of Pittsburgh. Almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction.

That being said, I'm a Pitt student and think it is absolutely awesome and would highly recommend it. I didn't interview at Vanderbilt, and the only time I've been to Nashville was when the city was flooding, so I can't give a great comparison. I can tell you that Pitt is amazing and you definitely wouldn't regret coming here.

First off, I don't know where you heard step 1 info from Pitt, considering I don't think they ever release it even to their own students (I definitely haven't heard it), so be very skeptical of any number you hear, high or low.

Biggest draw for Pitt I think is the clinical experience. UPMC is massive. Like huge. as in 23 hospitals for 1 medical school. That means that for rotations, you can go to quaternary referral center hospital, inner city war zone ER (though Pittsburgh itself is a pretty safe city, especially by the campus), super fancy private hospital, rural hospitals in middle of nowhere, PA, etc, whatever you want. I've also heard that the residents/faculty do an amazing job in getting students hands on experience, partially because of such a massive resident/attending to student ratio. Vandy is also probably pretty well setup like this I believe (being the only academic center in Nashville).

Pitt also gets you in the clinic early and often. I'm still a first year, and I already feel like doing an H&P on hospitalized patients and presenting them to an attending is almost second nature. We also have the Wiser center, which is a very small part of first year but is much bigger in second year and wards, and there's a fair number of optional session there about airway management, etc.

If you want to do research, Pitt is also awesome for that. #5 in NIH funding I think, and they hand out summer research grants very easily (just got mine in fact). Tons of research going on, and every attending seems to want/need more students to work on his projects.

Pittsburgh (despite the winter and construction) is also a pretty awesome city. Everything is cheap, there's a surprisingly active restaurant and bar scene, tons of arts/cultural stuff that was endowed by the robber barons back when Pittsburgh was the capital of industry, etc. And my classmates are awesome and have a great time.

Pitt also has very good residency programs across the board and definitely give Pitt students preference. You will not find a UPMC program that isn't very highly regarded within your chosen field.

That being said, I know Vandy is a great school, that also has very good exposure, research opportunities, and residencies, so you really can't go wrong.

 

[Hawkdoc11]

Ahh yes, the four seasons of Pittsburgh. Almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction.

That being said, I'm a Pitt student and think it is absolutely awesome and would highly recommend it. I didn't interview at Vanderbilt, and the only time I've been to Nashville was when the city was flooding, so I can't give a great comparison. I can tell you that Pitt is amazing and you definitely wouldn't regret coming here.

First off, I don't know where you heard step 1 info from Pitt, considering I don't think they ever release it even to their own students (I definitely haven't heard it), so be very skeptical of any number you hear, high or low.

Biggest draw for Pitt I think is the clinical experience. UPMC is massive. Like huge. as in 23 hospitals for 1 medical school. That means that for rotations, you can go to quaternary referral center hospital, inner city war zone ER (though Pittsburgh itself is a pretty safe city, especially by the campus), super fancy private hospital, rural hospitals in middle of nowhere, PA, etc, whatever you want. I've also heard that the residents/faculty do an amazing job in getting students hands on experience, partially because of such a massive resident/attending to student ratio. Vandy is also probably pretty well setup like this I believe (being the only academic center in Nashville).

Pitt also gets you in the clinic early and often. I'm still a first year, and I already feel like doing an H&P on hospitalized patients and presenting them to an attending is almost second nature. We also have the Wiser center, which is a very small part of first year but is much bigger in second year and wards, and there's a fair number of optional session there about airway management, etc.

If you want to do research, Pitt is also awesome for that. #5 in NIH funding I think, and they hand out summer research grants very easily (just got mine in fact). Tons of research going on, and every attending seems to want/need more students to work on his projects.

Pittsburgh (despite the winter and construction) is also a pretty awesome city. Everything is cheap, there's a surprisingly active restaurant and bar scene, tons of arts/cultural stuff that was endowed by the robber barons back when Pittsburgh was the capital of industry, etc. And my classmates are awesome and have a great time.

Pitt also has very good residency programs across the board and definitely give Pitt students preference. You will not find a UPMC program that isn't very highly regarded within your chosen field.

That being said, I know Vandy is a great school, that also has very good exposure, research opportunities, and residencies, so you really can't go wrong.

Thank you for the feedback. Both schools offer incredible opportunities and I need to find something to push me in one direction or another.

 

[guitaritory]

Hawkdoc11,

I'm in the same boat as you - I just got off the waitlist at Pitt and have been accepted at Vanderbilt for a while. I attended the Second Visit Weekend at Vanderbilt, which was an absolute blast. To say the least, Pitt would really have to sway me to change my mind (and I had a great time at Pittsburgh interview). If you have any questions about it, feel free to PM me.

The link below seems pretty accurate from first glance. (It is also pretty worthless, seeing how similar the two schools look on paper!)

Comparison of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt

Let me know if you come up with anything compelling.

 

[aka2020]

I've never been to Pitt but Vandy med is awesome (not that I'm biased or anything). Personally the best thing about vandy (other than the obvious) is that the students are very happy here, and there is SO much support both from within the class and outside the class. The faculty are always very receptive to your comments, and necessary changes are usually made right away. Also, if you haven't been bombarded with it already, vandy is big on student wellness, and honestly it really does make a difference. The people here, both the students as well as the faculty/staff are what makes vandy so great. Also, don't ignore your gut feeling! Good luck with your decision!

 

[NYBills987]

I applied to Pitt (and really liked it) but my biggest regret is that I didn't apply to Vandy.. It seems so awesome, has the university supporting it, an AMAZING city, and awesome weather.. If I could add any school in my app cycle it would have been Vandy (too late now).. I also realize none of this helps you at all at this point, but good luck! Also, check out the Mount Sinai vs. Vanderbilt post from about a week ago... it has a lot of great stuff about Vandy if you are interested at all.

 

[Docbeme]

Hawkdoc11,

I'm in the same boat as you - I just got off the waitlist at Pitt and have been accepted at Vanderbilt for a while. I attended the Second Visit Weekend at Vanderbilt, which was an absolute blast. To say the least, Pitt would really have to sway me to change my mind (and I had a great time at Pittsburgh interview). If you have any questions about it, feel free to PM me.

The link below seems pretty accurate from first glance. (It is also pretty worthless, seeing how similar the two schools look on paper!)

Comparison of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt

Let me know if you come up with anything compelling.

x

 

[Hawkdoc11]

Thank you to those who have responded.

Another question that I have is how many students typically attend class and how many hours are typically spent in class/labs. How soon after a lecture is presented is it available online?

Again, my thanks to those who have taken the time to answer.

 

[Latetotheparty]

Thank you to those who have responded.

Another question that I have is how many students typically attend class and how many hours are typically spent in class/labs. How soon after a lecture is presented is it available online?

Again, my thanks to those who have taken the time to answer.

I'm a first year here at Pitt, so I can give you info on Pitt.

I'd say on any given day there's ~60% of students at lecture. This number can fluctuate pretty substantially depending on course, lecturer, time of day, day of the week, etc. etc. I would say there's about 25% of the class that always attends lectures, 25% that never attends lectures, and 50% that is somewhere in between.

The course structure at Pitt is to have one, intense sciencey course at a time which eats up a large part of the week, which are flanked by longer running less sciencey courses that meet once a week. The clinical course's are small group course's where you meet once a week and have the other two afternoons off. The general layout for first year goes something like this (with some variation)

Monday:
9-12am: Sciencey course lecture/lab/pbl
1-4pm: Clinical course (patient interviewing, physical exam, etc.) or free

Tuesday (sucks):
9-12am: Sciencey course lecture/lab/pbl
1-4pm: Sciencey course lecture/lab/pbl

Wednesday (sucks a bit less):
8-12am: 2 of those non-sciencey longitudinal courses
1-4pm: Sciencey course lecture/lab/pbl

Thursday:
9-12am: Sciencey course lecture/lab/pbl
1-4pm: Clinical course (patient interviewing, physical exam, etc.) or free

Friday:
9-12am: Sciencey course lecture/lab/pbl
1-4pm: Clinical course (patient interviewing, physical exam, etc.) or free

The schedule is actually pretty intense, which is why it's nice that the majority of it is not mandatory. Additionally, the times I have listed here aren't hard and fast. Neuroscience (our current sciencey course) seems to end at 3:30 every day as opposed to 4. Some days, courses run as late as 5.

All lectures, with the exception of the ones that contain personal information about patients (for example, a maxillofacial surgery lecture with pictures of patients in it) are recorded and posted immediately after the lecture is finished.

 

[HakeeMD]

Making the same decision soon and waiting for financial info from Pitt but right now I would probably pick Vandy over Pitt. Students seem happier at Vanderbilt probably due to wellness. But Pitt students also seemed happy and nice. One of them even took me on an impromptu tour of the hospital and laboratories at UPMC, which was awesome. It's a tough decision but it's also a good spot to be in.

 

[sirRad]

My friend whose a MS3 got waitlisted at Pitt and Vandy. He liked them both, but would have chosen Vandy over Pitt, but Pitt ultimately accepted him where Vandy didn't.