I am a current high school junior who is highly interested in pursuing medicine as a career.
I have heard that the UPitt Guaranteed Admissions program is one of the best in the country, and as such is highly coveted and therefore extremely hard to get into.
I was wondering if alumni or current applicants who have gained admission to the program would be able to give me advice in regards to what is critical for getting into it.
Given my current credentials, do I even have a shot of getting an interview?
Also, are there any recommendations/advice in regards to improving my current resume, as this program is something I would really like to be a part of?
Thanks in advance!
My information:
GPA : 4.09 (end of sophomore year, going to go up by the end of junior year, probably around 4.2)
Extracurriculars:
-Current training as an EMT at my local fire department (actually medical hours will amount to 180+ by the end of the training course, along with various administrative hours as well as ambulance riding hours)
-Research Internship at a reputed university (8 weeks, 40 hours a week during this summer)
-Hospital shadowing (during the summer, with a neurologist and hopefully an anesthesiologist)
-Participant in high school UNICEF
-Part of the school’s international genetic engineering machines (iGEMS) competition team
-High school with high level of rigor (top 10 according to US News World Report)
-SAT/ACT will be taking in June/September (aiming for hopefully a 2300 on SAT, 34 or 35 on ACT)
-Part of school’s student mentoring program
-Part of STEM outreach, volunteering at an elementary school every other week that assists students with science experiments
-Will be taking Chemistry, Math, and Biology (M) subject tests in May (aiming for hopefully 750+, but shaky in chem so will have to see)
Basically you have to take all the hardest classes at your high school and maintain straight A’s for all of those classes (before you add weighting in for things like AP). You also have to get either a 1450 SAT or a 33 ACT.
After you meet the numbers requirements you may be invited in for an on-person interview. Only after this interview will Pitt pick it’s medicine GAP recipients. The numbers vary year to year from 8 winners up to 12. Once you get GAP if you decide to attend Pitt it can still be difficult to maintain. Why? You have to maintain a 3.75 GPA every semester.
Anyways I would not bank on GAP, especially for medicine at Pitt, ever. It’s nice to be considered for it but no individual person should ever assume they would receive it.
I have checked out the requirements on the UPitt page, and also looked through some old college confidential threads regarding this - apparently the 3.75 GPA is hard to maintain?
Also, regarding the winners, do you know what the estimated applicant number is that eventually boils down to 8-12?
Also, do you know anything about if this program is on the same playing field with the VCU Guaranteed Med program, or is it much more competitive in regards to its selection?
In addition, I believe UPitt recognizes my high school to turn out students who perform well in college, as the acceptance rate for people applying to it from my school is extremely high, around 80-85%.
Do you know if this less tangible factor could potentially help my situation as well?
Incredibly so. My year there were 10 medical GAP students. To my knowledge by the end of sophomore year at least 2 - 3 of them had lost their GAP status due to a low GPA.
It’s in the chart on the page. About 350-450 students are invited to apply for GAP (of the x-thousand students that apply to Pitt, it’s a very small percent). From there, only about 200-250 students actually fill out the application and turn it in. Out of those students, no more than 50 are invited for an interview (i.e. about 20-25% of the applicants). Then only 8 - 12 are invited into the GAP program (so 16 - 25% of the interviewees, or about 5% of the people who turned in applications). That’s why no one should count on GAP. Being invited to apply to it already requires a super competitive application and from there it just gets harder.
I don’t know too much about the VCU med program so I can’t answer although I imagine Pitt’s might be a bit harder due to it’s higher ranking.
Unless your school is also constantly producing GAP students it won’t really make a difference.
Maybe look into some of these programs. Howard and Temple and maybe some of the other schools might give you significant merit scholarships which would make your undergraduate education less costly and enable you to save money for med school.
Thanks mommdc! I actually found the exact website last night and was going through it. I noticed those schools I might have a shot at, but I’ve heard that the UPitt medical program is extremely prestigious, along with a few other med programs such as the RPI/Albany School of Medicine, which I’m currently looking at as well. My aim is to hopefully get into a well-reputed medical school, not to discredit Howard and Temple per se.