What Point Park University is like

What it's like

Point Park is an urban, performance-focused university embedded in Pittsburgh's downtown business district. With a 2,337-student undergraduate body and strong alumni presence in entertainment and media, the school emphasizes practical career preparation alongside creative pursuits. The campus is intentionally vertical and scattered throughout the city center—the university's motto "Pittsburgh is our campus" reflects this integration with the urban environment rather than a traditional enclosed campus.

Academic feel

Point Park originated in 1933 as a business school and retains that vocational DNA while expanding into multiple disciplines. Programs span business, journalism, performing arts, education, and engineering technology. Research output spans business, history, politics, physics, and biology. The university awards bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees across professional and research-focused tracks. Class sizes tend toward the intimate—137 sections have 2-9 students, and 433 have 10-19. The student-to-faculty ratio is 12:1. Graduation rates show significant variation by need: first-time, full-time students from the Fall 2018 cohort graduated at a six-year rate of 59% overall, but only 47% for Pell Grant recipients versus 70% for students without demonstrated need.

Social life

Housing is mixed: 85% of first-year students live on campus, but only 38% of all undergraduates do, indicating substantial commuting and off-campus populations. The school operates student media (U View Television, WPPJ-AM radio, and a student newspaper), hosts dance, drama, and student government, and supports 16 intercollegiate varsity sports as a member of NCAA Division II. Housing options include coed dorms and apartments for single students. The campus was cited in 2017 as having the highest crime rate per student among Pittsburgh universities, though the Department of Public Safety has pioneered innovations like body-worn cameras for officers.

What you should consider

Students drawn to performance and media excel here: notable alumni include Tony Award winners, Broadway performers, television actresses, and sports journalists. The university's history of arts programming—it acquired The Pittsburgh Playhouse in the 1960s and opened a $16 million dance complex in 2007 with Gold LEED certification—attracts dance and theater majors. Business and journalism students benefit from the school's roots and ongoing emphasis on those fields. Students comfortable with an urban, vertical campus and a blend of commuter and residential populations find community here. First-year students are 45% out-of-state; the 2024-25 cohort included 24 international students. Students seeking a traditional, contiguous residential campus experience may find Point Park's scattered downtown footprint unsettling. Commuters predominate among upper-class students (62% live off-campus). The elevated crime rate relative to peer institutions in Pittsburgh is a material concern. Retention and graduation rates are notably lower for Pell Grant-eligible students—47% six-year graduation versus 70% for non-need students—suggesting economic barriers to completion. Students preferring a quieter, suburban setting will find the downtown business-district location bustling and urban rather than tranquil.

Strengths

• Strong performance-arts pipeline with a $16 million dance complex opened in 2007, featuring five rehearsal and performance studios and a 188-seat convertible performance space with Gold LEED certification.[1]
• Landmark journalism program dating to 1981 when the school introduced its first postgraduate degree—a master's in journalism and mass communication—and further strengthened by a dedicated journalism center opened in 2016.[1]
• Exceptional alumni network in entertainment and media, including Tony Award winners, Broadway performers, and Emmy-nominated television actresses.[2]
• Open admission policy and broad accessibility: 96.8% of first-time applicants were admitted in Fall 2024, with rolling admissions starting October 1.[3]

Weaknesses

• Six-year graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients (47%) is significantly lower than for students without demonstrated need (70%), indicating substantial economic barriers to completion.[3]
• Point Park was cited in 2017 as having the highest campus crime rate per student in Pittsburgh, a public safety concern relative to peer institutions.[1]

Traditions

• The Pioneers mascot and bison logo date to 1967, when the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity and Varsity Club acquired a live bison named Black Diamond II in reference to the buffalo on the U.S. nickel.[1]
• Downtown real-estate development and civic engagement: since 2008, Point Park has become one of the largest investors in Downtown Pittsburgh revitalization, purchasing and developing properties along the Fifth and Forbes corridor and the Boulevard of the Allies.[1]