University of Pittsburgh: Rankings, Courses & Admissions

International first-year students will automatically be considered for merit-based scholarships if their applications are submitted by February 1. Merit scholarships are not available to international transfer students; however, PittFund$Me, our scholarship database, is available to all accepted Pitt students. Weekly decisions are made by the committee in a rolling fashion. It is thus in your best interest to apply as early as possible if you would like to enhance your chances of receiving scholarships. 

About the University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, which was founded in 1787 as the Pittsburgh Academy and was first established as nothing more than a log cabin, is currently a public research university with campuses spread throughout the state and around 25,000 undergraduate and 10,000 graduate students. The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the Swanson School of Engineering, and the School of Social Work are among the sixteen colleges and institutions that comprise it. The majority of the university's famous structures, including the Cathedral of Learning, are located on the 132-acre main Pittsburgh campus, which is located in the Oakland neighborhood of the city.

Highlights of the University of Pittsburgh

History of the University of Pittsburgh

One of the few American universities and colleges founded in the 18th century is the University of Pittsburgh, which was first founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 by Hugh Henry Brackenridge. West of the Allegheny Mountains, it is the oldest continually chartered educational institution in the United States. The institution started out as a frontier preparatory school in Western Pennsylvania, most likely in a log cabin. The academy may have sprung from a school that operated as early as 1770, probably even before the charter was awarded. 

As soon as more advanced training in the field became necessary, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania changed the school's 1787 charter to provide university status in 1819. The school was renamed the Western University of Pennsylvania, or WUP, with the goal of becoming the University of Pennsylvania's sister university in the West, located in Philadelphia. It became known as the University of Pittsburgh in 1908.