On my first day ever in the city of Pittsburgh, my friend and colleague Dianne Keilholtz and I left Carnegie Mellon, lunched at a sidewalk table in the sun (it was in the 80s on Oct. 22), and then walked downhill to learn what makes Pitt so appealing to students.

Cathy

The Cathedral of Learning rises from the campus like a 42-story lighthouse in the mountains. Word has it that the chancellor of Pitt in the 1920s asked a taxi to take him to the University of Pittsburgh and the cabbie had no idea where to go, so he wanted a landmark that could be seen from all over the city. Dianne and I used it to navigate to our destination.

The building, known as “Cathy” to students, resembles a religious cathedral, though the University of Pittsburgh is a public school with no religious ties. The lobby is dark and hushed, filled with tables and chairs for studying students under the three-story Gothic arches. Most of the building houses educational spaces and professors’ offices. About 30 Nationality Rooms are decorated according to the nation or ethnicity they represent; most can be used as classrooms. 

Colleges

We met with Barry Duerr from admissions before touring the campus with student ambassador Ali. He told us that Pitt has six colleges for freshman entry, and admission is to the college, not the university as a whole.

With 3,000 undergraduates, the Dietrich College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the six colleges. Here are the other five colleges and their populations:

School of Engineering: 625
College of Business Administration: 350
School of Nursing: 200
School of Computing and Information: 200
School of Public Health: 125

All six colleges will remain test optional through 2028.

All first-years get a general adviser, and when they choose a major in the second year, students get a major adviser. Those who plan on professional schools receive separate advising for medical, dental, pharmacy, or law school through the pre-health advising center. Five hospitals lie within walking distance of Pitt. Pitt’s occupational therapy and physical therapy programs consistently get high rankings.

The School of Nursing has an admit rate of 20-25% and is ranked #4 in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report 2025. Nursing is a direct-entry program, with students starting to earn their 945 hours of clinical practice early in sophomore year. (This number of clinical hours is twice the national average.)

Though you can’t major in pre-med, Pitt offers advising tracks in pre-medicine, pre-law, pre-dental medicine, and pre-pharmacy.

Housing

Pitt guarantees housing for four years, and 98% of freshmen live on campus. There are 14 residence halls, three of them built within the last 15 years. DI athletes have their own dorm.

Guaranteed Admission Programs

For exceptionally talented incoming students who know exactly what they want to be when they grow up, Pitt offers Guaranteed Admission Programs that give them direct entry to graduate programs. The 20+ programs include medicine, physician assistant, and dental program guarantees, as well as physical therapy and occupational therapy; psychology, pharmacy, and social work also have guaranteed admissions programs.

College town with three rivers

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Pittsburgh, but it’s clean and vibrant, though its system of roads leaves much to be desired. Rush-hour traffic was every bit as congested as in Washington, D.C., and the parking was just as expensive (we parked at the Museum of Art and Natural History). Thriving technical and medical industries attract young people, many of whom spent their undergraduate years at one of the many colleges in the city.

Multiple bridges cross the three rivers: the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Monongahela. You’re in the mountains, so walking just about anywhere will build up your leg muscles and improve your cardio health (they even named one walk Cardiac Hill).

Rolling admissions

I have students who already, in mid-October, knew they were admitted. That’s the beauty of rolling admissions: submit your application early, and you’ll get a decision early. Now those students will apply to the Frederick Honors College by completing an essay on one of these prompts by December 1:

1. What is something you would like to see change in the world? Explain why.
2. If you had 10 minutes and the attention of a million people, what would your TED Talk be about?
3. What does it mean to be “educated”?

Who would be a good fit for Pitt?

Students who succeed at Pitt have high academic motivation, are curious, and are true learners, said Duerr. If you like the combination of strong academics, school spirit, and a green campus in the midst of a very livable city, Pitt could be for you.