University of Pittsburgh Acceptance Rate: 59.4% and How Pitt Rolling Admission Works

What Is the University of Pittsburgh Acceptance Rate?

The University of Pittsburgh acceptance rate for the fall 2025 entering class is 59.4 percent. Pitt reports 64,724 first-year applicants to its Pittsburgh campus, 38,477 admitted students, and 5,876 enrolled first-years in section C1 of its Common Data Set 2025-2026, published by the Office of Institutional Research in February 2026. Women were 57.2 percent of applicants and were admitted at 61.7 percent (22,831 of 36,992); men were admitted at 56.4 percent (15,646 of 27,732). The enrolled class was 60.3 percent women. Pitt’s regional campuses at Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville file separate Common Data Sets, so every figure on this page is for the Pittsburgh campus only.

The year before, Pitt admitted 35,372 of 60,898 applicants, 58.1 percent, and enrolled 4,596 (Common Data Set 2024-2025). Applications rose 6.3 percent in a year, admits rose 8.8 percent, and the enrolled class jumped 27.9 percent, from 4,596 to 5,876. The yield, enrolled divided by admitted, moved from 13.0 percent to 15.3 percent. A class that grows by 1,280 students in one cycle is unusual, and it shows up elsewhere in the data: Pitt admitted 3,754 students from its waitlist for fall 2024 but only 84 for fall 2025, because the fall 2025 class filled without it.

A 59.4 percent rate places Pitt among the more accessible major research universities, closer to Penn State and Michigan State than to Michigan or UNC, and the number is honest in a way that some public flagships are not: Pitt does not publish separate in-state and out-of-state rates in its Common Data Set, and its class profile page reports admitted-student ranges by school rather than one blended figure. The number that matters for a given applicant is therefore the school-level profile in the section below, not the headline.

What GPA and Test Scores Do Admitted Pitt Students Have?

Pitt publishes its admitted-student profile by school, and the spread is wide enough that the university-wide rate hides more than it shows. For fall 2025, admitted students to the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the largest school, had an SAT middle 50 percent of 1280 to 1440, an ACT of 29 to 33, and a weighted GPA of 3.74 to 4.34, and 60.5 percent applied test-optional. Swanson School of Engineering admits ran 1320 to 1470 on the SAT, 30 to 34 on the ACT, and 3.97 to 4.46 in GPA, with only 36.8 percent test-optional. The School of Computing and Information was similar at 1310 to 1450 and 35.5 percent test-optional; the School of Business 1290 to 1390 with 60.3 percent test-optional; the School of Nursing 1310 to 1420 with a GPA of 4.10 to 4.44 and 64.9 percent test-optional; and the School of Public Health 1200 to 1410 with 65.7 percent test-optional (Pitt first-year class profile, fall 2025).

The enrolled-class figures in the Common Data Set tell the same story from the other side. For the fall 2024 class, the most recent year with a full academic section, 40 percent of enrolled students submitted an SAT score and 10 percent an ACT score; the SAT middle 50 percent was 640 to 720 in reading and writing and 640 to 740 in math, a composite of about 1280 to 1460 with a median near 1360, and the ACT middle 50 percent was 29 to 33. The average high school GPA was 4.08, which reflects weighted scales, and among the 31 percent of students whose schools reported rank, 41 percent were in the top tenth and 75 percent in the top quarter (Common Data Set 2024-2025, C9 to C12). Pitt lists academic rigor, GPA, the essay, talent, character, volunteer work, work experience, and level of interest as very important in its review, and the last of those, demonstrated interest, is one that many peers ignore.

Read the ranges by school. A 1400 SAT is at the 75th percentile for public health admits, near the median for Dietrich, and at the 25th percentile for engineering. A student applying to engineering or computing should plan to submit a score in most cases, since fewer than four in ten admits in those schools went test-optional; a student applying to Dietrich, business, nursing, or public health is in the majority if they apply without one.

How Does Pitt Rolling Admission Work and When Should You Apply?

Pitt is one of the few major research universities that uses rolling admission for its entire first-year class. There is no Early Decision and no Early Action (Common Data Set 2025-2026, C21 and C22), and there is no fixed deadline. Pitt accepts applications from the time the Common Application opens in August, reviews files as they become complete, and, in its own words, provides decisions as soon as the review of an application is complete. Pitt states that all applicants are automatically considered for academic scholarships if they apply by December 1, and that a later applicant may still be admitted but will find fewer of what Pitt calls its specials, the Honors College and guaranteed-admission programs, still available, because those are typically handed out on a first-come, first-served basis (Pitt admissions, rolling admission).

The strategic consequence is simple: at Pitt, early means August or September, not November. Because there is no binding plan, there is no Early Decision advantage to weigh, and the equivalent of an early application is a complete file before the pool deepens, when seats in the Honors College and in guaranteed-admission programs are still open. A student who applies in late November or December is still comfortably inside the scholarship window but is competing for a class that is already partly filled, and one who applies in February is applying to a school that may already have more deposits than it planned for, as the fall 2025 waitlist figures show. Our guide to Early Action acceptance rates explains why a non-binding early file matters even at schools without a formal early plan.

How Does the Pitt Waitlist Work?

The two most recent cycles show how differently a waitlist can behave. For fall 2024, Pitt offered waitlist places to 9,657 applicants, 4,338 accepted, and 3,754 were admitted, 86.5 percent of those who stayed on the list, an extraordinary rate that reflects a class Pitt needed to fill. For fall 2025, Pitt offered 6,245 places, 3,198 accepted, and only 84 were admitted, 2.6 percent (Common Data Set 2025-2026, C2). The waitlist is not ranked in either year.

The lesson for a waitlisted student is that Pitt’s list depends almost entirely on how the deposit season goes, and the fall 2025 class of 5,876 suggests that Pitt over-enrolled rather than under-enrolled. A student waitlisted for fall 2026 should accept the spot, confirm interest in writing, and send final grades, but should plan around the school where the deposit sits, because a repeat of the fall 2024 clearing is not something to count on.

What Does Pitt Cost In State and Out of State?

For 2025-2026, Pitt listed tuition of $20,966 for Pennsylvania residents and $41,662 for out-of-state students, plus $1,770 in required fees for both, and $14,720 for room and board (Common Data Set 2024-2025, G1). That puts the in-state cost of attendance before books and travel near $37,500 and the out-of-state cost near $58,200, which is well below the $80,000 and higher totals at private universities with similar acceptance rates. The application fee is $55. Pitt is a state-related university rather than a fully public one, which is why its in-state tuition is higher than at most flagships, and it awards academic scholarships at admission without a separate application for students who apply by December 1.

First-year retention was 92.5 percent for the fall 2024 cohort (4,233 of 4,574 full-time students returned) and 92.0 percent the year before, figures that sit above the national average for public research universities and close to those of far more selective private schools. For an out-of-state family, the cost comparison is the one to run: at $58,200 before aid, Pitt is priced near an in-state flagship for many students and far below the private peers on the same list.

How Should Families Approach the Pitt Application?

Choose the school before writing anything, because Pitt admits into schools with different profiles and the application asks for a first and second choice. A student with a 1300 SAT and a 3.9 weighted GPA is a solid Dietrich or business applicant and a reach for engineering; the same student should not name Swanson as a first choice unless the math record supports it. The essay should speak to Pitt specifically, since level of interest is a stated factor, and it should be ready by early fall rather than for a November deadline that does not exist.

• Apply in August or September with a complete file: rolling review rewards the earliest complete applications, and honors and guaranteed-admission programs fill as they go.
• Submit scores for engineering and computing if the SAT is 1350 or higher; for Dietrich, business, nursing, and public health, most admits applied test-optional.
• Meet the December 1 scholarship date even if the file is not perfect; scholarship consideration is automatic and there is no separate form.
• Show interest in ways Pitt can see: a campus visit or virtual session, a specific essay, and prompt responses to the admissions office.
• Out-of-state families should compare the roughly $58,200 sticker price with private peers before assuming the private school will be cheaper after merit aid.

Pitt is a school where timing is the strategy: the University of Pittsburgh acceptance rate is close to 60 percent, there is no binding plan to game, and the advantage goes to the student who applies early in a rolling cycle to the right school with a complete file. Our guides on whether you need an admissions consultant and when to bring one in explain how we help families plan a list around schools like this one, and our college acceptance rates guide puts Pitt next to its peers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: University of Pittsburgh Common Data Set 2025-2026, Pittsburgh campus (February 2026), University of Pittsburgh Common Data Set 2024-2025, Pittsburgh campus, Pitt Office of Admissions, first-year class profile, Pitt Office of Admissions, how rolling admission works

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