2025 College Rankings

The University of Pittsburgh, like many schools, has embraced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology. The school maintains a DEI bureaucracy with nearly two employees per 1,000 undergraduates. More than half of all faculty job postings require a diversity statement. The school is a recipient of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award, a distinction of which it is proud but one that we consider embarrassing.

The school shows only a lackluster commitment to free speech. About 30 percent of students tell the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) that it is “extremely” or “very” clear that the administration protects free speech on campus. The school has implemented a bias-response system, designed to police the airing of opinions that some may consider offensive. FIRE gives the school a “yellow” speech code rating, meaning that its policies could easily be abused to suppress speech.

The faculty leans more moderate than those at many peer institutions. Students, when asked to place their professors on an ideological continuum, where 1 is “very liberal” and 7 is “very conservative,” put them at 3.2, on average. Faculty campaign giving is still lopsided, however: almost 95 percent of donations went to liberal or Democratic causes in the 2023–24 election cycle. An insignificant number of faculty members belong to organizations that promote free inquiry on campus.

Pitt students are neither ideologically diverse nor especially tolerant of views that differ from their own. Most lean to the left: there are nearly four liberal students for every conservative. They are particularly intolerant when it comes to campus speakers, telling FIRE that they have less patience for controversial right-wing speakers than for left-wing ones: 54 percent of students say that it is “sometimes” or “always” permissible to shout down a controversial speaker; 34 percent say the same of blocking student access to such events; and 22 percent believe that, in these situations, violence is “sometimes” or “always” justified. One notable example: thousands of students protested a campus speech by conservative commentator Michael Knowles, disrupting the event with chants and smoke bombs. The administration responded with a statement that largely sided with the protesters.

The curriculum at Pitt leaves much to be desired. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the school a D in its What Will They Learn? ratings, which assign letter grades based on how many of seven core subjects are required in the core curriculum or general education program. The school requires its students to take DEI-focused courses to graduate but neglects to require classes in more academically fulfilling subjects, such as history and government.

Pitt is not generally a good financial investment. On average, it takes 4.1 years to recoup the cost of attendance—well above our 2.3-year benchmark. Graduates tend to struggle early in their careers: median annual earnings ten years after enrollment fall almost $7,000 short of expectations, based on SAT scores and Pell Grant data. That said, the school has a 93 percent retention rate, which is above the predicted value.