University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Top Questions

South and North Oakland is the part of Pittsburgh where the vast majority of off campus students live (The U of Pitt is in between S & N Oakland). North Oakland is home to many frat houses and south oakland is mostly houses/apartments. It is approximately a 5-10 minute walk from the majority of apartments to campus. Freshman and Sophomore year most students venture out to Frat and House parties. Junior year is when most students move off campus and start throwing parties and Senior year everyone is 21 and goes to bars. Bars: Oakland is home to around 10 bars some of which are more popular than others. The South Side, Shadyside, and Station Square are the other areas Pitt students frequent and they are all within 4-5 miles of Oakland ($10 cab ride). Those areas have more older post-college professionals while Oakland is almost exclusively college students.

Pitt's social life is however you want it to be - it can be easy to get lost in the crowd, but with all those people it's also easy to make tons of friends. Most people live in the dorms their first year or two. I met many of my current friends on my floor freshman year. The rest of my friends I've met at parties and through other people. The party scene isn't quite as bad as schools like Ohio State, but there isn't really much else to do on a Friday or Saturday night if you're not 21. You could get half-price food (a lot of the restaurants in Oakland serve a half-price menu late night) or maybe find a show or something, but I've always had the impression that most people are at parties on a Friday or Saturday night. Some popular groups on campus are WPTS (student radio), Habitat for Humanity, STAND (about taking action for Darfur), several literary magazines, sports teams, frats/sororities, and tons of volunteering opportunities. Use your student ID for free bus rides! You can get anywhere in the city and Pittsburgh has a lot to offer outside of Oakland.

Social life is good...plently of nondrinking activities...its what you want to make of it...

It's all what you make of it. Be friendly and you will have friends, simple enough.

I'm in Free the Planet, which is Pitt's environmental group. I really like it. We take on projects such as recycling at Pitt and creating bike lanes in the city. We've had a little success but it's hard to work around everything that's already set up at Pitt. Most people in dorms do not leave their doors open. Especially in Tower C, it's like completely devoid of a social scene (especially on the girl floors). Athletic Events are extremely popular. Guest Speakers can be popular depending on who it is. Spring term Jerry Springer came and that was a very popular guest speaker event. I think most theater productions at Pitt are not very popular but I really enjoy going to them. The dating scene is pretty cool. I met my boyfriend at a club and we've been together for a year and a half now. If you want to party everyday of the week, you can. If you hate partying, you're not going to be very happy at Pitt. There are plenty of things you can do if you don't drink. There are tons of places around Pittsburgh such as coffee shops, stores, and restaurants. Also, almost every weekend in the dorms the RAs will organize a non-alcoholic event. Those usually don't have a very high attendance though.

There are lots of popular groups on campus. Some of the most popular are Greek Life and the activities committees. I'm involved with WPTS which is Pitt's radio station. It is a small group, but everyone gets along really well. Joining the radio station was a great way for me to meet people when I started at Pitt. Some of the most popular events at Pitt are of course the sporting events, concerts, and the spring and fall fests. Guest speakers also get alot of student attention, especially political figures. Homecoming is always a blast too. There are a lot of parties at Pitt. On any given day there are tons of parties going on. All you have to do is walk through Oakland and look at which apartments have kids hanging around, and you can find yourself a great house party. I'm not big on hard-core partying, but I still have fun on the weekends. There are concerts and plays to see, shopping, museums, etc. And it is still fun to go to parties and not get trashed. There's something for everyone to enjoy as far as social life goes.

I don't drink. I dunno, the frat parties aren't really my idea of fun but sometimes I felt bored on the weekends when all my friends were out partying. There's no doubt partying is big at Pitt, but if you're like me and don't go looking for it it's not hard to avoid.

Oh geez, where to begin... friends are easy to make. You can stick to going to frats with the people on your floor or go see a cheap or free show every weekend. If you're looking for a good party, you can find it, but if you want more out of your nights, you can find it. Really, it's about asking and looking around. It's easy to find parties. It's also easy to find cheap or free adventures elsewhere on a Saturday night, like midnight ice skating, overnight backpacking trips, concerts, movies, speakers, games, and late night restaurant deals. There's also plenty going on during the week - 4-square, Hindu Student Council, Pitt Outdoors Club, speakers, game nights. And you can usually find free food at events and meetings at least once a week.

greek life is big but not required for a social life, pitt runs many events to keep you interested

There is not a lot of unity among the student body as a whole. This is not a type of school where everybody goes to the football games, in fact, not many people went at all last year. In addition there are not big events that everybody attends. Pitt is the type of school where you find your niche and the group of people you want to hang out with, and that is where you find your social activities.