<p>Can anybody comment on the combined BA/MD program? Do you just have to list "Pre-Med" as your major for consideration, or are there some other steps that need to be taken?</p>
<p>I don't think there is a combined BA/MD program, but there is a possibility for what Pitt calls "guaranteed medical school admission". It seems to be by invitation only and here is my understanding of how it works.</p>
<p>My daughter was invited to interview for this. She did not get it, but is going to Pitt anyway. The visit and the interview is what sold her on Pitt. She's majoring in bioengineering and is interested in going to medical school. I'm not sure what she put on her Pitt application and never saw the form myself, but she filled it out with the bioengineering major and if there was a place for "future plans" then maybe she put med school on the app too.</p>
<p>I know that when you take the ACT and maybe also the SAT or PSAT they ask you a lot of questions in addtion to the actual test. I think the colleges can pay the College Board or ACT people to get names and addresses of students who fit a certain profile from the questionnaire info, so maybe Pitt found potential future med school people that way too. Don't know.</p>
<p>Anyhow, after being accepted and offered a scholarship (don't know if there's any connection), D received a letter from the medical school admissions office in January (I think) saying that her name had been referred to them by undergraduate admissions as a possible candidate for the guaranteed medical school admissions. If she was interested, D had to either email, call or fill out another form to schedule an interview at the med school. She did that and went up for the interview in February (I think). There was either an essay or a resume requirement too, can't remember.</p>
<p>You go on a four hour tour of the medical school with other students, most of whom are college seniors, and then do a personal interview with a med school admissions officer. You probably also send them your transcript. There is a committee who reviews everything and out of about 75 people who accept the invitation to interview, they offer the guarantee to about 5 people (or less). They invite about 100 entering freshmen to interview; about 75 accept.</p>
<p>My understanding is that this "guarantee" means that if you keep a certain GPA at Pitt (like a 3.7) you will automatically get a place in the med school when you graduate w/o having to take the MCAT, assuming you've taken all the right prerequisites. However, I don't think you are obligated to go to Pitt med school should you change your mind later on about either med school or Pitt Med.</p>
<p>This is not an 8 year program like Rice/Baylor or a 5 year program like Lehigh used to have (do they still?) where you are locked in to a track or course of study that culminates in the MD degree when you finish. A friend of ours son did something at Lehigh where he was "fast tracked" into med school after two years, kind of like the way Pharmacy School operates.</p>
<p>They should explain this on the Pitt med school website. We did not know this opportunity existed until we got the letter, but the other high school senior on D's tour did know and that was why she applied to Pitt. It was the 6th or 7th early admit program interview that girl had been on and she seemed to have put her college app list together on that basis.</p>
<p>oops - I meant to say a 6 year program like Lehigh. You go to undergrad 2 years then 4 years to med school. Doing both in 5 years would be a little extreme. My friends son was about 3 years ahead in math and had loads of APs so I guess that helps shorten undergrad to 2 years.</p>
<p>I also am an entering bioengineer to Pitt next year, and I had no idea about the guaranteed med school until I received the letter. Then, when I decided to try to find some information about it on Pitt's website, it said that the student must specifically apply as a "pre-med major" to be considered for this. I was confused as to why I was offered this opportunity because I never even inkled to Pitt that I wanted to pursue med school (even though I am considering). Maybe just bioengineers were offered this in addition to pre-med students?</p>
<p>You don't have to be a premed major to be in the program. If you call the director about it, they let people from different majors to go in. The only important thing is that you have to complete a core set of courses. English, Calc, Chem, Phys, Bio, OChem and labs complementing all the science courses. It's actually easier to get the 3.7 if you didn't go into bioengineering at least from what I hear.</p>
<p>All students that put Bioengineering on their application are reviewed for the Pre-med guarantee. Other then that a student applying to the Arts and Sciences has to put Pre-Med on their application. </p>
<p>A student can graduate earlier than 4 years at Pitt. They just need to complete 120 credits and have all their major and gen eds completed. This allows students to enter Med school early. </p>
<p>77% of Pitt students that go through Pitt's Pre-Med committee their Junior or Senior year at Pitt GO TO MED SCHOOL: 77%.</p>
<p>so, you dont have to write an essay specifically about a medical profession to be considered for this program?</p>
<p>do they accept canidates mainly by stats or other qualities? was the med school interview intimidating? what types of questions did they ask?</p>
<p>Thanks a ton!</p>
<p>gacloud13, "77% of Pitt students that go through Pitt's Pre-Med committee their Junior or Senior year at Pitt GO TO MED SCHOOL: 77%"</p>
<p>77% is much higher than the national average pre-med acceptance rate. Where did you find the 77% information?</p>