University of Pittsburgh

In brief

The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) traces its roots to the Pittsburgh Academy, founded in 1787 when Pittsburgh was a frontier outpost, which makes it the oldest continuously chartered educational institution west of the Allegheny Mountains. It became the Western University of Pennsylvania in 1819 and took its present name in 1908. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #31 in the United States and #87 in the world. It admitted 58.1% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1370 and a median ACT score of 31.

It moved to its Oakland campus in 1909. Its signature building, the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, opened for classes in 1931 and is one of the tallest academic buildings in the world.

Where Pitt’s influence is strongest

Pitt’s influence is led by philosophy, where it ranks in the US top 15, and by medicine. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Philosophy: #14 in the US (#34 in the world)
• Medicine: #21
• Criminal justice: #28
• Biology: #29
• Anthropology and social work: #30 each

Within those fields, Pitt is a national leader in several specialties:

• #2 in the US: computational finance (only Carnegie Mellon ranks higher) and oncology nursing (only Thomas Jefferson University ranks higher)
• #3 in the US: normative ethics (behind Yale and Columbia)
• #5: anesthesiology and rheumatology

By comparison, Pitt sits further back in mathematics (#54), earth sciences (#75), and religious studies (#81).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

Pitt’s Nobel laureates include Paul Lauterbur, co-developer of magnetic resonance imaging, Philip Hench, who pioneered the medical use of cortisone, and Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement. In philosophy, Wilfrid Sellars and his colleagues John McDowell, John Haugeland, and Robert Brandom formed the “Pittsburgh School.” Other Pitt-connected figures include the television pioneer Vladimir Zworykin, the biotechnology pioneer Herbert Boyer, the novelists John Irving and Michael Chabon, the dancer Gene Kelly, and Fred Rogers. Our full lists of Pitt’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pitt hard to get into? Moderately. It admitted 58.1% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 640–720 on the SAT reading section and 640–740 on math.

What does Pitt cost after financial aid? Tuition is $22,736 for Pennsylvania residents and $43,432 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $19,080 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $15,485 for incomes of $30,000–$48,000 to $35,864 for incomes above $110,000.

How do Pitt graduates do? 85.8% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 92% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $73,113.

What is Pitt best known for academically? By our influence data: philosophy, medicine, and criminal justice, plus computational finance, where only Carnegie Mellon ranks higher in the US.