The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the university’s central administration and around 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
The 132-acre Pittsburgh campus includes various historic buildings that are part of the Schenley Farms Historic District, most notably its 42-story Gothic revival centerpiece, the Cathedral of Learning. Pitt is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. It is the second-largest non-government employer in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
Pitt traces its roots to the Pittsburgh Academy founded by Hugh Henry Brackenridge in 1787. While the city was still on the edge of the American frontier at the time, Pittsburgh’s rapid growth meant that a proper university was soon needed, and Pitt’s charter was altered in 1819 to confer university status on it as the Western University of Pennsylvania. After surviving two devastating fires and several relocations, the university moved to its current location in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, and by act of the state legislature was renamed the University of Pittsburgh in 1908. Pitt was a private institution until 1966, when it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education.
The campus is situated adjacent to the flagship medical facilities of its closely affiliated University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and its flagship hospital, UPMC Presbyterian, as well as the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Schenley Park, and Carnegie Mellon University. The university also operates four undergraduate branch campuses in Western Pennsylvania, located in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville.
Alumni, faculty, and staff include 8 Rhodes Scholars, 10 Marshall Scholars, and 297 Fulbright Scholars. Past and present faculty and alumni at Pitt include six Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, three Academy Award winners, members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, seven United States senators, three United States cabinet officials, and five U.S. state governors.
In athletics, Pitt competes in Division I of the NCAA as the Pittsburgh Panthers, primarily as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Pitt athletes have received a total of five Olympic medals.
TUITION FEES
| Residency | Part-Time Per Credit | Full-Time Per Academic Year |
|---|---|---|
| PA Resident | $823 | $19,760 |
| Non-PA Resident | $1,500 | $36,000 |
ACCEPTANCE RATE
University of Pittsburgh is ranked #62 out of 443 National Universities. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
in National Universities (tie)
in Best Colleges for Veterans (tie)
in Top Performers on Social Mobility (tie)
University of Pittsburgh Academic Programs & Offerings
Degrees offered
Certificate, Associate, Bachelor’s, Post-bachelor’s certificate, Master’s, Post-master’s certificate, Doctorate – professional practice, Doctorate – research/scholarship
Combined-degree programs
- BA from Arts and Sciences and JD from Law
- BA in Legal Studies from the College of General Studies and Masters of Law from Law
- BA or BS from College of Business Administration and JD from Law
- BA or BS (unspecified major, but prerequisites required) from Pitt and MS or MPH in Environmental and Occupational Health, MS or MPH in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, MS in Human Genetics, MS or MPH in Biostatistics, or BCHS or MHPE in Health services Administration from Graduate School of Public Health
- BS in Applied Development Psychology with Teacher Preparation Track to a MEd in Combined Studies in Early Childhood and Special Education
- BS in School of Health and Rehabilitation to MS in Athletic Training
- BS in Statistics and MA or MS in Statistics, both from Arts and Sciences
- BS to MS in Information Sciences from School of Computing and Information
