University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Top Questions

I love Pitt. The school offers me so much to do, whether educational or for fun. The best thing about this school is the community. When people ask you where you go to school, you're proud to say that you go to Pitt. it's not so big that you get lost, but not too small that it just feels like a different high school. There's nothing else like it.

My favorite thing about the University of Pittsburgh is its urban campus. Oakland, where most of the campus is located, is its own little city with large buildings and small businesses on every street. But, if one wanted to get into a larger city environment, they could take a short public bus ride into Downtown Pittsburgh with their student ID since bus fare is included in our tuition. Also, if there comes a time when you get tired of the city, you can walk to Schenley Park which is covered in lush green grass and you can not even tell that it is right outside of a city. If I could change one thing about Pitt, it would be the weather. It rains quite often and winters can be pretty harsh, but the bus system helps a lot when you need to get around campus and do not want to be exposed to the elements. There is a lot of school pride and spirit here and I really enjoy it because it gives our school a big sense of community. I feel like I could go up to any random person I come across and start a conversation with them just because everyone seems so relatable and has qualities in common with myself. My favorite experience I have had at Pitt so far would have to be the school-sponsored free Kesha concert that was held last year. Looking around at the crowd, it seemed like the majority of the school was there and I was happy to be able to share that experience with so many of my peers. Cobra Starship is performing this year and I am sure that concert will be just as powerful and fun.

Pitt is awesome and I've loved my time here! Everyone has a lot of Pitt pride and largely for that reason we have an incredible alumni network that are very involved. I'm in the college of business administration, which creates a small school feel while still providing all the benefits of a larger university. My advisor has been so helpful, and worked my schedule so that I will complete 2 majors, 2 minors, and 2 certificates in 4 years, including a semester abroad. Admittedly there are some classes that I would have rather avoided, but overall the majority of my professors have been great and are still good resources. Pitt isn't generally ranked nearly as high as I think it should be, but I know that administration is doing their best to improve rankings, since they sometimes do make a difference.

Pitt is awesome and I've loved my time here! Everyone has a lot of Pitt pride and largely for that reason we have an incredible alumni network that are very involved. I'm in the college of business administration, which creates a small school feel while still providing all the benefits of a larger university. My advisor has been so helpful, and worked my schedule so that I will complete 2 majors, 2 minors, and 2 certificates in 4 years, including a semester abroad. Admittedly there are some classes that I would have rather avoided, but overall the majority of my professors have been great and are still good resources. Pitt isn't generally ranked nearly as high as I think it should be, but I know that administration is doing their best to improve rankings, since they sometimes do make a difference.

My overall opinion is that it's a pretty standard school. Regarding the food, it's probably a little above average. Your meal plan allows you to use "swipes" at all-you-can-eat dining halls, and "dining dollars" at fast food-like places. The two dining halls are alright. At their best, they're actually pretty good. Sometimes you'll get lucky and there'll be a pretty good specialty meal (they have a different one every day), all the stations will be open, and there won't be any lines. However, more often you'll encounter either long lines and stations being shut down, which usually leads to an unsatisfying experience. You can also you dining dollars at different places (see this http://www.pc.pitt.edu/dining/menus.php). This food is a little bit higher quality than the dining halls. Another thing to note about the on campus food is that it seems to close pretty early. Most things start closing around 7:00, and by 9:00, your only option is to go to one of the dining halls, and most of the stations are shut down there, so you're limited to like cereal, hamburgers and pizza. This can be frustrating as a college student with a late sleep schedule. While the on campus food is average, the off campus food is pretty good. It's about a 10 minute walk to places like Chipotle, Qdoba, Five Guys, McDonalds, Subway, Quiznos, Noodles and Co., Panera, and some other local places (chinese, pizza, frozen yogurt...). Regarding the dorms, they're also pretty standard. The freshman dorms tend to be kinda small with average at best quality. However, they're very social and a lot of fun (some can get pretty wild and loud). The biggest and most popular of these are Towers (A, B, and maybe C). One thing that adds to this is the fact that the towers are circular, and thus have circular hall ways. This may seem trivial, but it makes it so everyone is pretty close together, and you see more people in a circular hallway than you would in a standard long hallway. Most sophomore and juniors live in dorms that are quite different. These dorms tend to be less rowdy, bigger and nicer. Although you can still make friends and be social, it's much less so than freshman dorms. This is probably because freshman are all coming to school "alone" and looking to make friends, whereas sophomores and juniors are more "settled in" and might have a "friend group". This isn't to say that sophomores and juniors are antisocial. I myself, and many people I know, have made many new friends past their freshman years, it's just to a lesser extent than it was during freshman year. The campus is often categorized as upper campus, and lower campus. Lower campus consists of two main roads (forbes and fifth) that run parallel to each other and have most of the main buildings and things you'll need. It's somewhat of an urban environment, but nothing like a major city (or even downtown Pittsburgh). Upper campus is more suburban, and has some athletic facilities/gyms and nicer dorms. The size of the campus is nice because there aren't many places that are longer then a 10-15 minute walk away. Also, busses run pretty frequently (every 5-15 minutes) along fifth avenue that you can ride for free with your panther card. Regarding the weather, it's fine, but the winter can be pretty touch sometimes. I guess it depends what you're expecting and what you're used to.

As a first semester freshman, I thought Pitt was way too big- I even seriously considered transferring. I came from a small high school where you knew everyone and his or her life story. Once I was at Pitt, I didn't recognize a single face, and that was terrifying to me. But once I came back after winter break, I was thrilled to be back. I almost felt more at home at Pitt than I did at my own home. The friends I had made first semester were popping up in my second semester classes, and as I saw more and more faces I recognized, I felt much more comfortable. I love the size of Pitt because I'm always meeting new people, but through my major and extracurricular activities, I always run into people I know. I never cared much about sports- until I came to Pitt. Going to a Division I school is always an adventure. The football games are a blast and there is no where else quite like the Oakland Zoo (basketball). But if you're like most of the normal kids on campus, Pitt offers a variety of club and intramural sports, ranging from baseball and soccer to quidditch. Every day the Pitt News prints thousands of copies of the daily campus newspaper which is distributed throughout campus. I try to get a copy every day- reading about events and campus news helps me stay knowledgable of the happenings on campus. Pitt also offers a great variety of clubs and activities for every interest so that every student has the opportunity to get involved. Finding your niche helps create a family-esque feel, and as cliche as it sounds, finding an activity definitely enhances the college experience!

The school is pretty large, but since it's in an urban campus, it doesn't seem large. You can get anywhere on campus in about 5-8 minutes to walk. The best thing about Pitt is all the restaurants. We have Primanti Brothers, 5 Guys, The O, and much more. (If you don't know what any of those are, then you'll be in for quite a treat!)

I absolutely LOVE the University of Pittsburgh. At our school, we like to say that the "City is our campus". We can go anywhere in Allegheny County using public transportation for free with our Pitt ID, and that opens up a lot of opportunities for fun, internships, and experiences. Although our football team is not the greatest, the football games are still fun. We play at Heinz Field where the Steelers play, which is something that is very unique to our school - co-owning a stadium with a professional sports team! Our basketball team is consistently ranked as one of the best teams in the nation, and our school has an enormous amount of school pride when it comes to basketball. For big games, its nearly impossible to get tickets, because demand is so high (which is one thing I would change... we need a larger student seating section in the Petersen Events Center - also called "The Pete" around campus). The administration is very responsive to students needs, and they are constantly holding office hours and meetings trying to figure out what the students want. After change is implemented, the administration follows up on the changes to be sure its what the students wanted to see. I have been a tour guide at Pitt since my freshman year, and now I am in charge of recruiting, hiring and training new tour guides for our school. I am in LOVE with Pitt and am so happy to call myself a PITT PANTHER!

Overall, I love Pitt. It's not gigantic like Penn State, but it's large enough that there's always something going on and unlike in high school, you couldn't even know everyone if you tried. One optimum thing about Pitt is it's location - it's in the city of Pittsburgh, in a neighborhood called Oakland which is so bustling that it's often labelled as a "second downtown" - but the school is located 3 or 4 miles from actual downtown, so it's in a much safter / less-sketchy area. Pitt's campus is essentially integrated into the surrounding city. I hear horror stories of friends at tiny colleges in the middle of nowhere who get sick of their dining hall food within a week - but there are so many restaurants within just a five-minute walk from the main academic buildings that I never have that problem! There's also so much to do, and the rest of the city of Pittsburgh is easily accessible because students get free bus transportation. There is a lot of Pitt pride among students, and this tends to be greater in those students who like sports more. In fact, one experience that I'll always remember has to do with Pitt pride - at our football games, there's a tradition of putting our arms around each other and singing our own special version of "Sweet Caroline" - that song has come to embody everything I love about the school. Something unusual about Pitt is that we have a 40-floor building called the Cathedral of Learning. Inside, it looks like scenery from Harry Potter. It houses a bunch of academic departments and classrooms. Some of the classrooms, "nationality rooms," are actually decorated and themed for different countries. It makes sitting in class a lot more interesting! One negative thing about our school's administration is that they're not very accessible. They're helpful enough and easy enough to find if you have general questions about things, like how to pay a bill or register for classes, but if you want to be more engaged as a student and actually propose major changes on campus or policy changes, it is hard to access any administration. It is essentially impossible to communicate with or access upper-level administration. One thing I'd change about Pitt is to have it be one of those schools where the President (or in our case, Chancellor) is known to interact with students on a daily basis.

Pitt has an awesome sense of community pride. The academics are solid in most departments, the size is great if you want a big school that's not TOO enormous, and the campus is beautiful. It's not a traditional campus, but it's made up of modern and Neo-Gothic architecture surrounded by parks, green space, statues and hills. If you're into the city life, you'll love Pitt. Oakland has a lot of character (you'll meet some weird people here and there), but to be honest it's a pretty normal urban environment with plenty of places to eat and explore. Free bus passes, museum access and student discounts make for great excursions. People are very involved on campus and serious about the many, many clubs here. Basketball games are awesome, people love the sports teams pride is all over Oakland. Some people complain about the weather, but honestly, it's not much rainier than the rest of the east coast.