Under the Arm, Pitt

The University of Pittsburgh. Nestled in a valley, in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, outside the booming steel and iron-forged city of Pittsburgh. I decided to visit because my uncle, my mom's brother did his grad school there. Additionally, Pitt is excellent for premed, as it is next to a whopping 7 major hospitals. the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is ranked 9th in the country, behind such as UPenn (Pedleman), and Harvard (Barnes Jewish).

It took us forever to navigate our way across the bustling city of Pittsburgh, past Heinz field, where the Steelers (and Pitt football) play, through the metropolitan area, which looks both modern and reminiscent of the industrial revolution, which brought prosperity to the city. Pitt has an upper and lower campus, and, unlike some other universities, these titles mean exactly what they mean. The lower campus, home to most undergrad programs and dormitories, is located at the base of the hill, in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, while the upper campus, which has varsity athletic facilities, and some med school buildings, is located on the top of the hill. Right down the street is Carnegie Mellon University, and the two schools collaborate on any number of projects. Our tour guide mentioned that some Pitt professors hold adjunct professorships at Carnegie Mellon and vice versa. Some notable collaborations include the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse at the Phipps Conservatory. Both schools also have access to the Carnegie Library, Carnegie Museum of Art & History, and the Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, which  dominates the lower part of the Oakland neighborhood, close to the Allegheny River.

Pitt is home to two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, but the most famous, and perhaps the most well-known landmark on the UPitt campus is the Cathedral of Learning (Common Room pictured above).The 42-story, Late Gothic Revival style building was constructed in the early 1930's (first class was held in it during 1931), after being commissioned in 1921 by Chancellor John Bowman. The Cathedral has over 2,000 rooms for study, making it the largest educational building in the Western Hemisphere, although most of these rooms are used for offices. The basement through 40th floors are used for educational purposes, while the remaining floors house mechanical and electrical equipment and additional offices. After big football wins and others such events, golden lights shine upon the upper portion of the Cathedral, known as "victory lights." Inside, I was stunned by the Common room, which reaches two stories up in the center and is used for quiet studying. No supports are used on the concrete arches. The room itself was entirely paid for by Andrew Mellon.

To the left is a view of Pitt's campus from the top of the Cathedral. Pittsburgh's campus was pretty walkable, from what I could tell. Something that I've learned to look for on a quality campus is new construction, which signifies life and industry. There was plenty of it on the Pitt campus.

The dorms, too, impressed me. We went to the ones called Litchfield Towers (seen at right), which were supposedly some of the smaller ones on campus. Not only were the rooms gigantic, but they had singles! For those of you juniors that have no idea how incredible that is, I hope you have some wisdom imparted on you before this time of year next year. Additionally, the dorm had just undergone a fresh paint job, which supposedly happens every year. The dorms had 3 eateries underneath, plus two smallish exercise rooms on the ground floor. The only thing I disliked about them were the communal bathrooms. But hey, that's college for you.

Overall, I marveled at Pitt's urban feel, proximity to great medical facilities, and central location in the East, close to New York City, and not too far to drive to Boston, etc. Additionally, I was impressed by the dorms, unique frat life (all of which are located in high rise apartments), and welcoming atmosphere. For people looking for good money at a midsized, respected research university, I'd definitely recommend UPitt.