UPitt questions

Tonem (or anyone else who would know) -
what's the breakdown of lecture vs PBL for yrs 1 & 2 ? The old format website used to be clearer on the curriculum, but the new format seems to have alot of the content still under construction
How are those longitudinal certificate programs thought of at the school? The concept is very interesting to me - but I'm wondering how much it increases the load on the student and if it is well tolerated by the student. Do you think completion of the program has much clout [akin to research experience] in residency applications?
Lisa
Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I’m going into my second year at Pitt Med. Being right in the middle of the curriculum right now, I can tell you a lot about years one and two…
Lecture vs. PBL: it varies from block to block; as great as 60% PBL (I’m including stuff like labs and “conferences” where we work problems) to a much lower percentage. However, in terms of what about the curriculum you have to take seriously as a student, lecture ranks the highest. Usually the exams have one or two questions based on our PBL cases and the rest are on what you memorized from the lecture syllabus. People vary in how seriously they take PBL, but in terms of outside work, it can be very quick, whereas studying lecture material takes hours and hours.
On “Areas of Concentration”: they range from minimal effort to lots. I’m thinking that I’m going to do the one on disability, which just requires a project, which was something I already did in the course of my summer activities. The Medical Humanities Concentration, which I was interested in, requires two graduate-level humanties courses (nearly impossible to fit into your schedule) and a humanities elective senior year.
If you do come here, be aware that the big push these days here is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. The new dean here is into biotech and the Human Genome Project. Beware!
Feel free to get in touch with any questions.
Julie

I wasn’t sure this topic would get much attention in the “interview feedback” forum Lisa, so I’m moving it over to “Specific Schools” where I hope you’ll find the answers, and other people interested in the response will see it. Hope that doesn’t ruffle any feathers!
Best wishes
:)
Alex