University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Top Questions

One think I would change is lack of unity. Sure, we have the cathedral but other than that if you were to meet someone who goes to Pitt you would have no shared experiences besides being in the same few square miles. The school's size is perfect; class sizes range from 10-200. The worst part about Pitt is the assumptions people make about you as soon as you tell them what school you go to. I've found that we're viewed over all as average or slightly below average. There is no "college town" for Pitt; if you walk down the streets of our campus 80-90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the people you see do NOT go to your school. This, again, results in a lack of unity. There's not much school spirit except among the few people that go to basketball and football games. A portion is actually anti-school spirit which is a downer for the rest of us. The administration is actually above par. I don't think I've heard of any controversy or great tension between students and administration. The school is very well run and they certainly keep us happy.

i was a non-traditional student at pitt, so i didn't live on campus, didn't attend the whole four years. started at penn state and then finished at pitt. from starting at psu, i had the impression that pitt's academics were not so hot. i soon found out that my impression was entirely wrong. the professors that i had for my english classes were amazing, and the professors i had for my gen ed classes were also just as amazing. perhaps it is because i am older now and had a more focused mindset, but i felt that i learned more from my classes at pitt than i did when i first started my undergraduate career. campus is nice, city campus, so one has to be comfortable with traffic, homeless people, and general mayhem during busy times (which is nearly all of the time in oakland). my only complaint is that hillman library becomes a bit of a night club after 6pm, and if you're looking for a quite place to study, the library is not the place to go in the evenings.

In all honesty, Pitt is large enough to have a very diverse student body. You can be involved in sports, politics, music or anything else you can think of, and find a group of people with similar interests. So we are big enough to have the resources yet the many classes are small enough so you can "get to know your professors" like all of you small college goes love to do.

Pitt is a great school. It's in the city, but it's not too much in the city.

Pitt is very diverse, but people to tend to segregate themselves based on race. But you will be exposed to people from all over and learn how to get along- so that is very important in this world. You also learn a lot from how other people live in other places & you can be more open of a person if you let yourself- but you have to do that. There are a lot of clubs to be involved with & many activities to do so you don't have to just party. There are parties of all types if that is what you do. You learn lots of political things & keep up to date on environmental & social injustice issues.

Well I go to a branch campus of Pitt which I feel is really helpful to the type of student that I am. I know at our campus there is a lot more hands on with teachers and almost all of the time your teachers are always there to help you. I think that when I tell people I go to Pitt they look at me with high standards, meaning like it's a very good school to attend so the person I am speaking to is impressed by what they hear. I don't really hear many student complaints which I think is tremendous. As far as school pride goes that is one thing I am very proud of. Even being on a branch campus I still feel so involved with all the major Pitt activities.

Pitt is great, because it is in a fun part of town. There are things to do at all hours of the night for the most part (food, parties, etc.) It is a big school, but once you get involved in things and make friends the campus doesn't seem that big anymore. I see people I know all the time! While Pitt is a great school and a safe campus, it is still a city, and living off campus isn't exactly safe. But the off campus living is generally highly populated with students and is pretty safe during the daytime. I've only known one person that came to pitt and didn't like it - so people are pretty satisfied with it. And the food is actually really good! Most of my college friends complain that the food on their campus is poisoned or something it's so bad, but the main food place on campus is better than the food I get at home. Pitt is all around a great school and I love it so much. I would recommend it to everyone.

In so far as the atmosphere of Pitt, the 'big picture', the feeling one gets from walking around campus, it is full of pride. I love the campus, because I like the urban setting, and I LOVE the fact that I am not in a 'college town' that there is a whole city, plenty of things other than just school going on everywhere around me. READ: Oakland is NOT New York City. It is a decently sized city, with lots of things to do, but it is not New York City. I've actually heard complaints that Pittsburgh is too small, or there's nothing to do. They usually come from people from New York or Philadelphia, meaning, they haven't taken the time to look around. There is a thriving arts scene. Whatever your tastes in music, art, food, name it, you can find it. But it won't be thrown in your face. Yes, you will have to explore. Exploring is easy too. Until I tried to get around other cities without a car, I never realized what a truly wonderful public transit system Pittsburgh has. And it's FREE. A student ID from Pitt= FREE buses. They really pushed that when I came on a tour when I was looking at schools. It didn't seem important at the time. IT IS HUGE. You cannot afford to park a car here. I don't care how rich you are, a car is a waste of money here. With the public transit system here, you do not need a car. The city life is wonderful, the whole urban ambiance, makes the Pitt experience so much more rich.

The best thing about Pitt is that it is in the city. You are not confined to just those in your school but yet it is easy to be around them. There are different areas of the city to go to if dirty Oakland isn't your vibe for the night. Also, although South Oakland is dirty and maybe alittle scary, there are amazing little stores and restaurants that people do not find out about until they move into South Oakland. Some good places to check out are the Indian place on S. Bouquet and the little Italian market on Bates Semple.

City of Pittsburgh: The city of Pittsburgh is certainly one of the more underrated cities which gets a bad rap as an old dirty steel city. That has changed drastically in the last 20 years and Pittsburgh is now a medical, financial and business center with the 5th most Fortune 500 companies in the USA. Pitt is wonderful because it is located in the city and you can acquire connections to extremely top-class corporations that all recruit here (PNC Bank, PPG, US Steel, Bayer, Dicks Sporting Goods, ect.) It is a wonderful school if you are a business/finance major. School Size: About 16,000 but the business undergrad school is probably around 1,500 so you get to meet many people of your own major within the larger school. Reputation: Pitt for the last decade has been drastically climbing in the school rankings and is now a Top 25 public university and Top 60 overall University. It is closely approaching schools like Michigan and Indiana, and by international rankings Pitt is Top 50 in the world and getting better every year. Admission has therefore been getting more selective on a yearly basis. Athletics: A big attraction is that Pitt Basketball and Football are good year in and out. The school is more of a Basketball school and the Oakland Zoo (student section) is full almost every game since Pitt is a perennial Top 25 team. The Football team has seen some tough times lately even though we have had some great talent and the students are much more fair-weather-fans. Tailgating is always fun though!