U. Pitt c/o 2009!!!!

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CalGirl said:
ummmm SeekandDestroy what do you mean?? You don't agree with those reasons? Help....I'm gonna end up choosing b/w Pitt and some other schools and i'm sorta lost rite now! :eek:
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Could Seek and Destroy please edit his post to make it clear that I didn't write those things? He added his own comments...

I just wrote a long reply only to have my computer eat it, but basically, I am wondering if you are a current student or not. I was under the impression that training in WISER started in the second year and was a required course... is that untrue? Also, don't EM and gas electives in the fourth year use WISER? How hard could it be to get an EM or gas elective? Those are both huge departments. If the students really don't use WISER at all as you claim, then I am wondering why they take us on that long tour of the facility and show us videos of med students learning in there. Is it all a big lie? :laugh: Bummer...
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Sorry about that, let me clear myself. Don't get me wrong, UPITT is a great school, and I have no regrets coming here (well except for a couple). I am a current student at PITT. I'll give you a no BS lowdown on how it is here at PITT, I just wish someone would have done the same for me when I was deciding between medical schools.
GRADES AT PITT:
Honors, Pass, Fail
Hard as **** to honors, easy to pass. You have to be a f**king idiot to fail. You have to get 2 standard deviations below the avergae to fail. Which is usually in the mid to upper fifities.
CLASS/PBL:
PBL is a waste of time, usually disorganized and noone really gets anything out of it. PBL is mandatory. Class is usually 8 to 12, with labs in the afternoons, or BS classes like ethics and Medical Decion Making. Trust me, these BS classes get old after a while. However, there are some science courses (BIOCHEM, CELL BIOLOGY) in which one day a week you will have class vrom 8 to 5pm. Good news is, YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO TO CLASS. Class notes are excellent, and all the powerpoint slides are online. I have not gone to one class since september, and I have comfortably passed every single exam, and even honored a few. Classes are NOT taped.
CLASS ATTITUDE:
I don't go to class, so I can't give an honest answer to that question.
CITY LIFE:
SUCKS MORE THAN PARIS HILTON. Enough said. Everyone leaves town after exams. I kid you not, after everysingle exam there are mass emails sent, with people begging fro rides out of town. Plus it is F**KING cold here, and the public transportation sucks. Honestly, if it were not for UPMC the Pittsburgh would become a ghost town. By the way, average age in Pittsburgh is 63.
BOARD SCORE AVERAGE/MATCHING
Our Matching is F**king awesome. If you want a spot in any field, you will get it. Look at the match list if you don't believe me.
CURRICULUM:
This is the worst and best aspect about this school. Rotations start in March of your second year. This is a new change that will affect current first years, and new incoming classes. Therefore, you have to basically cram everything in in one and 4/7 years. WHat this means is that you will do Biochem in two weeks, and the entire antomy course in about 5 to 6 weeks. It is fast paced here. If you can't handle memorizing **** really fast, don't come here.
WISER:
HAHAHAHA... you will find out about that when you come here :)

Seekanddestroy
 
Hey guys, I'm a first year at Pitt and wanted to just clarify for you how much we use WISER. First, there are plenty of optional times you can use it, like the intubation workshop last month. Also, I just used the center as part of our advanced physical exam class. We had an "exam" (which actually didn't count) where we performed a physical and history on a standardized patient there while being videotaped. We then got to take the video home to go over how things went. It's a great tool, and we do use it. I love it here, Pitt is a great place. Congrats on your acceptances.
 
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I'm in the same class as Seekanddestroy, he's the smelliest kid in the class. He wants to come to lectures but was banned from coming because of his awful odor.

What he says is true though - Pitt name is great, people study a lot and it is difficult to honor, and the city sucks balls.
 
Future NObel is angry because he hasn't sex in a year. Shark fan obviously has not idea what he is talking about. The test he is talking about was interviewing a standardized patient, not using any simulationss. You could have just as well done the interview in Sharkfan's nasty ass bathroom.
FutureNobel said:
I'm in the same class as Seekanddestroy, he's the smelliest kid in the class. He wants to come to lectures but was banned from coming because of his awful odor.

What he says is true though - Pitt name is great, people study a lot and it is difficult to honor, and the city sucks balls.
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Hey thanks guys for giving the incoming class the scoop :) Here is one q I have... if rotations start in March, when are people preparing for step 1? Do you feel like there is enough scheduled time to do this? Thanks!
 
seekanddestroy said:
Future NObel is angry because he hasn't sex in a year. Shark fan obviously has not idea what he is talking about. The test he is talking about was interviewing a standardized patient, not using any simulationss. You could have just as well done the interview in Sharkfan's nasty ass bathroom.
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You have too much time on your hands, man. Get back to studying for the summative so that you can get into a non-patient care specialty (or did i guess wrong as to your identity?). :D Ha! Anyway, peace.
 
Ummm thanx everyone for your input on Pitt, especially the Pitt students...I really appreciate that. I guess my problem is I really am not keen on the location, especially coming from California...I'm trying to figure out how much to take that into consideration. Thanx for ur help! :)
 
I have a couple friends who came to CMU from cali. They all got used to it; as long as you don't mind being so far from your family you will too I think.
 
I have to totally disagree with what people have been saying about Pittsburgh. I'm originally from the Denver area in Colorado and went to CMU for undergrad. I totally fell in love with Pittsburgh and ended up staying there for the summers and recently moved back here after finishing my post-bacc program elsewhere. I think this city is rich with culture and has tons of things to do. There's bars and clubs in the South Side, excellent restaurants all over the place that serve abnormally fattening foods (yes, some places still put french fries on top of the salads), half priced food after 11 (and early bird specials) at restaurants on Atwood which is right next to Pitt, theaters downtown that the major touring shows come to, good symphony with cheap tickets, plays and musicals at CMU (which are often better than professional productions), art museum and natural history museum within walking distance of Pitt, farmers market in the Strip district, yuppy shopping in Shadyside, baseball, football, and (hopefully next year) hockey games and their accompanying fans, a zoo, crazy Christmas decorations downtown, Kennywood amusement park, Carnegie Science Center w/ IMAX...I guess I'm not sure what else people would want/need in a city. What do other cities have that Pittbsurgh doesn't? Okay...I admit half the population still wears the same clothes as they did in the 80's, but that's okay with me because it makes me look cooler.

I also disagree about the public transportation...I have a car, but I usually ride the bus to work in Oakland (near Pitt) because it's just more convenient. I rarely wait longer than 5-7 minutes to catch a bus into Oakland from Squirrel Hill. On the weekend, I admit the bus service is not as quick so you may end up waiting 25 minutes. Also, it can be difficult to get to certain areas of Pittsburgh by public transportation, but even before I had a car I didn't find it much of a problem because I could mooch a ride.

I don't want to start an argument...I just wanted to reassure some of you that at least used to think Pittsburgh was a nice place until reading some of the previous posts that it actually is. Everyone has personal taste so not everyone will love it, but I do, and I imagine some of you might too. If Pittsburgh is good enough for Fred Rogers, it's good enough for me :)
 
Kateroni -- thanks for your input. i've had my apprehensions about the city . . . everyone i know hates it, but i doubt half of em have ever even been there before. every city in the world has its sketchy parts, but nice to know theres the good parts too.
 
I currently live in Boston, which I love... the reason that I also liked Pittsburgh when I visited is because it struck me as a smaller, cleaner, quieter city that still had plenty to do. I am originally from a small town, and I like quiet, safe places... as long as there are some nice restaurants, bars, etc, I am happy :) I can't wait for second look, to explore the city some more and get an idea of where is a good place to live!
 
I don't know why there's so much hate for Pittsburgh. Yeah, the population is on the old side, but there's still plenty to do, like Kate's post described in more detail. There's also the Waterfront which popped up out of nowhere a couple years ago, Station Square, and of course skiing not too far away. Sure, if you're from NYC or LA Pittsburgh won't be anything like those cities, but it's a nice city just the same. Anyone who isn't sold can take a drive up Mt. Washington at night and look down on the city. The Pittsburgh skyline was voted the #2 sightseeing...sight in the US either last year or the year before, I forget.

I only really dislike two things about Pittsburgh: the road system design (stupid, stupid, stupid!) and the weather. It's very love-hate for me and northeast weather.
 
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how would pittsburgh be with no car and limited ability to walk up steep hills?
 
beep said:
how would pittsburgh be with no car and limited ability to walk up steep hills?
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unless you live in ruskin, it would be a nightmare.
 
I really loved Pitt. The only thing stopping me from making a decision is the city itself. I didn't have a great experience with it, and I am wondering if it was the exception or the norm.

-safety... I heard some bad stories. I like being able to walk around without looking over my shoulder all the time. I walked from downtown Pittsburgh to Oakland and felt totally freaked out the whole way because the buildings were rundown and there was nobody around except for the random guys standing at the corner apparently doing nothing. In one area, people were actually standing behind their screen doors as if waiting for something... of course, I felt they were staring at me.

-I'm used to cold weather, but I need sunshine. When I visited in January, it was just really dreary. Is is like that more often than it is sunny? Do people run or bike in the city? By the river?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
Uh, you probably walked through the Hill district. Just don't go anywhere near the Hill district and you'll be fine. With the exception of the Hill district, Pittsburgh is generally a pretty safe city.

I remember one of my friends once got really drunk at a...gentlemen's club, met up with one of the strippers in a restaurant against our collective advice (not that I was there...yeah...), accepted a ride home from a pimp (his words) who instead dropped him off at the Hill district, walked by himself past midnight until he ran into a crack dealer who took pity on him and escorted him (paying off some thugs along the way with crack to keep them from robbing my friend) back to Oakland. My relieved and still rather intoxicated friend gave the guy the entire contents of his wallet (about $100) out of gratitude and a realization of how stupid he was and how lucky he was to get home in one piece.
 
And yes it really is that dreary all the time. Sunny days are truly a cause for celebration :laugh:.

Biking and running are both really popular. There's lots of hills so you'll get a great workout.
 
Ditto to everything Kazema said...just wanted to add that Shenley Park is a really nice place to jog and bike and it's very close to Pitt. It was probably pointed out to you during your Pitt tour from the BST.
 
noodley said:
I really loved Pitt. The only thing stopping me from making a decision is the city itself. I didn't have a great experience with it, and I am wondering if it was the exception or the norm.

-safety... I heard some bad stories. I like being able to walk around without looking over my shoulder all the time. I walked from downtown Pittsburgh to Oakland and felt totally freaked out the whole way because the buildings were rundown and there was nobody around except for the random guys standing at the corner apparently doing nothing. In one area, people were actually standing behind their screen doors as if waiting for something... of course, I felt they were staring at me.

-I'm used to cold weather, but I need sunshine. When I visited in January, it was just really dreary. Is is like that more often than it is sunny? Do people run or bike in the city? By the river?

Thanks in advance for your help!
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i need a study break. so here is my take...

i really think that the city is relatively safe. the area which you walked through (along 5th from downtown) has some rough places, but there is really never any reason for students to be there. the "most dangerous area" you need to be in is probably oakland (where the med school & hospitals are), however that is probably because it is where all the undergrads are rather than because you are going to get jumped there. i am living in shadyside, and i know quite a few people that live in squirrel hill....these areas are pretty calm and are very family/med student friendly. over our holiday break, our front door accidentally was left wide open for several days. when we returned everything was where it was before. that either says something about the area or our luck.

as far as running and biking, i actually do both. shadyside and squirrel hill both have nice streets/parks to run and bike on. there are also several trails and roads that run right along the rivers that are very nice. as with any city, biking or running in the more congested areas can be a pain in the ass, but it is feasible. when the weather is nice enough i ride from shadyside to scaife (takes about 10 minutes), and i have never had any problems.

the weather is pretty hit or miss. it is either really nice (no clouds and warm) or sh*tty (clouds and cold), in my opinion. in the summer when classes were first beginning, we would go weeks without clouds in the sky it seemed. this winter has had it's warm spells and it's cold ones, but overall has been tolerable (i am from central PA, so you can make your own inferences about that). either way, i don't think you are going to lose it due to lack of sunshine.

overall i think the city is pretty accomodating when you consider the life of a medical student. there is enough to do on the weekends that you shouldn't get bored, and the hospitals/school are pretty amazing.

hope this helps. see ya'll second look.
 
I just found out I am waitlisted at Pitt today. Current Pitt students, do any of you have any insight into how big the waitlist is? I would love to go to the school, but I am weighing other acceptances against waiting around for Pitt which may not happen.

Thanks......

Congrats to all of the people accepted, but please go elsewhere :)
 
Thanx for everyone's input on Pitt and Pittsburgh...helps a bunch! Baldguy, I will most likely end up going elsewhere so it'll open up one seat hehe. Gluck! :luck:
 
baldguy said:
Congrats to all of the people accepted, but please go elsewhere :)
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:laugh: Sorry buddy, I am not giving up my seat, but I do hope that you join us in the fall :) Looks like there will be some movement for sure!
 
I've actually looked into the statistics on this a lot because its the main reason my family is interested in leaving our current city. We have a great house and neighborhood, my husband works three blocks form my in-state school and my daughter's pre-school is one block away-and it is scary dangerous, more so of late.

Pitt has been named safest large city by Century 21, FBI and CIA stats back this up. I've looked up the murder rate/acts of violent crime per 100,000 and Pitt consistently comes up within the top 5 lowest of major cities assessed. in each of the different sources I've checked. Don't live there myself, but that's what I've dug up.
 
jrmgarbage said:
unless you live in ruskin, it would be a nightmare.
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is ruskin a dorm or a neighborhood? and are you serious that it would be a nightmare?
 
if you look at Forbes list, it lists Pittsburgh at #40, best places for singles.

Upitt is a great medical school but Pittsburgh is the worst city in the US
 
Without Wax said:
Upitt is a great medical school but Pittsburgh is the worst city in the US
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Two words: Gary, Indiana.
 
beep said:
is ruskin a dorm or a neighborhood? and are you serious that it would be a nightmare?
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Out of curiosity, about how many med students live in Ruskin? Is it something a lot of first-years do? I don't think our tour guide even mentioned Ruskin on interview day... she only talked about housing in the neighborhoods.
 
beep said:
is ruskin a dorm or a neighborhood? and are you serious that it would be a nightmare?
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ruskin is a pitt-run graduate student apartment building a few blocks away from the hospitals & medical school. the only reason that i said that it would be a nightmare otherwise is because when walking from ruskin to scaife you would only have to walk up half a hill. i suppose ruskin isn't the only place where that can happen, but your options are limited if you don't want to walk up hills. one other way of getting around it is by living near a pitt shuttle stop (not the same thing as a port authority bus)...these stop right in front of scaife. i guess you could also take a series of elevators through the hospitals (start in childrens-->presby-->scaife). you can make it work...it is just that pittsburgh isn't going to be the most friendly city for you if you don't like hills.

as for how many people live in ruskin and the demographics there....i have no idea. a decent number of my classmates live there, but i can't give you any exact numbers. maybe try searching for last year's thread and see if they have anything about it there.
 
Thank you, everybody for your input about Pittsburgh! It has definitely given me a more positive feeling about it. I will definitely have to go see it again myself.

One more question... about transportation, how many students own cars? Could you get by without one? I am used to taking public transportation everywhere and am not particularly excited about driving in medical school. I don't mind walking up hills. Could I get to most places (in med school and outside for fun during weekends) by bus/train plus a 20-minute walk?

Btw, it is SO great to get these questions answered from med students!! SDN is awesome!
 
I have an obnoxious question for all those accepted or waitlisted... has anything changed on your status page? Have you gotten any emails from the school?
According to the admissions office, a decision was made on my file and was sent with the rest of the decisions, but it appears to be lost in the mail somewhere and they refuse to tell me anything over the phone... This waiting is driving me insane.
Is there any other way to know where I stand?
Thanks, guys, and congrats!!!
 
boardchic said:
I have an obnoxious question for all those accepted or waitlisted... has anything changed on your status page? Have you gotten any emails from the school?
According to the admissions office, a decision was made on my file and was sent with the rest of the decisions, but it appears to be lost in the mail somewhere and they refuse to tell me anything over the phone... This waiting is driving me insane.
Is there any other way to know where I stand?
Thanks, guys, and congrats!!!
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Hey there, nothing changed on my status page, but I got an email and phone call from my student interviewer. If you have his/her contact info, emailing and asking if they have any info would be your best bet, since they CAN tell you about acceptances over the phone. Also, I talked to the admissions people yesterday and they said that if the package is lost in the mail, they will send another... so if it doesn't come within the next week, they will send another. I know it's a long time to wait though. :( Good luck, I really hope you get in :)
 
noodley said:
Thank you, everybody for your input about Pittsburgh! It has definitely given me a more positive feeling about it. I will definitely have to go see it again myself.

One more question... about transportation, how many students own cars? Could you get by without one? I am used to taking public transportation everywhere and am not particularly excited about driving in medical school. I don't mind walking up hills. Could I get to most places (in med school and outside for fun during weekends) by bus/train plus a 20-minute walk?

Btw, it is SO great to get these questions answered from med students!! SDN is awesome!
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a good number of people have cars, but they are definitely not necessary. the port authority buses are kind of annoying if you are used to using a subway, but they will get you where you need to go nonetheless. you could easily get everywhere you need to go in a bus with less than a 5 minute walk from there.
 
boardchic said:
I have an obnoxious question for all those accepted or waitlisted... has anything changed on your status page? Have you gotten any emails from the school?
According to the admissions office, a decision was made on my file and was sent with the rest of the decisions, but it appears to be lost in the mail somewhere and they refuse to tell me anything over the phone... This waiting is driving me insane.
Is there any other way to know where I stand?
Thanks, guys, and congrats!!!
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That's frustrating...There have been no changes to my status page and I have an acceptance. Hope that's helpful.

Good luck!
 
for those who applied, they received well over 200 apps for the 15 dean's merit scholarship.. good luck!
 
stanford05 said:
for those who applied, they received well over 200 apps for the 15 dean's merit scholarship.. good luck!
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Any idea when the merit awards will be announced -- will it be included in the financial aid package? Has anyone received financial aid information from Pitt since their initial packet w/acceptance?
 
Could someone post the status page address?
 
stanford05 said:
for those who applied, they received well over 200 apps for the 15 dean's merit scholarship.. good luck!
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Oh boy, just when I thought I could go back to being normal again...

Are those total applications among people interviewed or 200 applications among people who were accepted? BTW- What's your source of info?

Thanks!
 
For current Pitt med students, do you guys know about the schedule for 2nd look on April 8 and 9. When should we arrive-morning of April 8? and leave? And are we going to be allowed to stay with current students? or should we make other arrangements? Just wondering cuz I wanted to book airline tickets soon since I saw some for $105. Thanks!
 
baldguy said:
I just found out I am waitlisted at Pitt today. Current Pitt students, do any of you have any insight into how big the waitlist is? I would love to go to the school, but I am weighing other acceptances against waiting around for Pitt which may not happen.

Thanks......

Congrats to all of the people accepted, but please go elsewhere :)
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I'm with you baldguy... I got my wait list letter and i'm now quite torn. I'm contemplating acceptances elsewhere, but i love pitt. What is the movement like? Any guess on how likely the chances are or when I would hear anything??? Man I want this to be done.....

Please help!!

Congrats to everyone who got in the first time around.
 
docinthemaking said:
For current Pitt med students, do you guys know about the schedule for 2nd look on April 8 and 9. When should we arrive-morning of April 8? and leave? And are we going to be allowed to stay with current students? or should we make other arrangements? Just wondering cuz I wanted to book airline tickets soon since I saw some for $105. Thanks!
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last year, they accomodated everyone with a student host. i think it should be the same this year. the schedules not final yet, but i'm pretty sure activities continue through saturday night. i'd figure on leaving sunday. plans are at least in the works.
 
i'm going to join the party! yay!
 
Well, two weeks after the letter was sent (and lost in the mail), they finally told me on the phone that I've been accepted!! Yay!!
 
Just wondering...
a) On a scale of 1 to 10 how certain are you that you'll be attending Pitt in the fall - comments welcome
b) Are you attending second look weekend? What do you expect out of it or what have you heard from others?

My responses
a) 8 - Comparison of financial aid packages will make the final decision
b) Yes - I'm hoping that upon further scrutiny Pitt will live up the great impression I got on interview day and that I'll get to meet more of the students and get a feel for them.
 
pinkice said:
a) On a scale of 1 to 10 how certain are you that you'll be attending Pitt in the fall - comments welcome
b) Are you attending second look weekend? What do you expect out of it or what have you heard from others?
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a) 3. I would love to, but the price is probably out of my range, and it's far from home. If the scholarship were to come through, we're talking 10.
b) Nope.
 
i got in to pitt's md/phd program actually quite a while ago but my friend just told me about this site. i'm pretty-sure, almost-certain, pretty-certainly going to be going to pitt. congrats to all the rest of you who got in.

just some thoughts on pittsburgh:
i'm originally from pittsburgh (squirrel hill, not the suburbs), went to college in new haven and i've been living in new york city for the last 3 years. and i must admit that i'm VERY excited to be going back to pittsburgh. there are good places to work your first job and be a 20-something, good places to raise a family and good places to go to med school. Pittsburgh is a good place to go to med school. it's a real city (not like new york, admittedly) but with lots to do - and who really has time in med school to be taking advantage of all that a big city like NY or LA has to offer? and, the different neighborhoods offer interesting restaurants and bars and there are affordable areas to live and decent culture downtown. the standard of living is much better for the amount of money. and doesn't it make sense to live in an 'easy' city while you're doing something as difficult as going to med school?

i've thought long and hard about this because one day in new york i love it and the next i can't wait to move. but, in the end i'm totally looking forward to moving back to pittsburgh.

and as for the weather - no it's not california, but it's better than new york for sure. and i like the snow, so getting a good snowfall during the winter provides just the right excuse to go sledding in schenley or frick park and then curl up with some hot chocolate and your anatomy book...what could be better?

there's my two cents. hope it's helpful for someone.
 
liverotcod said:
a) 3. I would love to, but the price is probably out of my range, and it's far from home. If the scholarship were to come through, we're talking 10.
b) Nope.
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a. Probability that I'll go to Pitt: 7 (I looooove Pitt, but I have to make sure that Case and UMass aren't better fits/$-deals. If I get the research scholarship, that would bump it up to a 9. If I get into Cornell off the waitlist, I would go to Cornell for shizzy, though.)

b. Yes, I will be going to second look weekend. Can't wait!
 
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