“A small, residential Pitt campus in the Allegheny National Forest with a distinctive niche in petroleum and energy programs.”
The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (Pitt-Bradford) is a small, residential four-year regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh, located on a 470-acre site in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, on the edge of the half-million-acre Allegheny National Forest. Founded in 1963, the campus enrolls roughly 1,010 undergraduates and operates with a 15:1 student-to-faculty ratio, with about two-thirds of classes holding fewer than 20 students. Students earn fully accredited University of Pittsburgh degrees while living and learning in a tight-knit forested community where most students reside on campus. Academics are organized into five divisions — Behavioral and Social Sciences, Biological and Health Sciences, Communication and the Arts, Management and Education, and Physical and Computational Sciences — together offering 43 majors, 50 minors, 20 pre-professional tracks, and two graduate programs (M.S. in Nursing and M.S.W.). Pitt-Bradford's most distinctive academic identity sits at the intersection of energy and the environment: it is the only Pitt regional campus offering a freshman-entry petroleum-related bachelor's pathway, with B.S. degrees in Energy Science and Technology and Environmental Science, an A.S. in Petroleum Technology, and newer four-year B.S. programs in Energy Engineering Technology and Mechanical Engineering Technology that prepare graduates for the surrounding oil, gas, and renewables industries. Other strong draws include nursing (B.S.N.), criminal justice, forensic science, and biology — programs that lean on small labs, faculty mentorship, and applied fieldwork in the surrounding forests and watersheds. Life at Pitt-Bradford is shaped by its forested setting and Division III athletics. The Panthers compete in the NCAA Division III Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) — which Pitt-Bradford helped charter — across 14 varsity sports. Freshmen are required to live on campus for their first two years, choosing between traditional halls (Livingston Alexander) and suite-style residences (Fesenmyer). Traditions include Midnight Breakfast, an annual Cultural Festival, and Habitat for Humanity service trips. The town of Bradford itself is small and quiet; for international students drawn to a calm, close-supervised, low-cost-of-living entry point into a Pitt-system degree, the trade-off is fewer big-city distractions in exchange for direct faculty access and a strong residential community.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Regional Colleges North
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Varies by School — Testing policy varies by college or program within the university.
Official SourceRolling Admission (domestic)
Pitt-Bradford uses rolling admissions for U.S. applicants; no fixed Early Action or Regular Decision date.
International Fall Term
International deadline for August (fall) entry.
International Spring Term
International deadline for January (spring) entry.
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Domestic
$13,796 – $25,788
/yr
Out-of-State / Intl
$25,788
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
Houses Pitt-Bradford's signature energy and engineering technology programs alongside biology, chemistry, physics, computer information systems, and mathematics — taught largely out of Fisher Hall.
Health-professions and life-sciences home, including the campus's well-regarded B.S.N. nursing program plus exercise science, forensic science, and biology, with strong feeder pathways to graduate health programs.
Offers majors in psychology, criminal justice, sociology, history, political science, and human relations, with strong applied internships in regional courts, human-services agencies, and law enforcement.
Business, accounting, sport and recreation management, hospitality, and PreK-4 / 4-8 teacher-education programs with state certification pathways.
Writing, broadcast communications, interdisciplinary arts, and theater programs, with a strong campus public-radio and student-publications culture.
4 years
Distinctive four-year degree built around the Marcellus / Allegheny energy economy. After a two-year shared core, students concentrate in energy use in buildings, alternative-energy production, petroleum technology, nuclear energy, or energy and environment — backed by hands-on labs, a working oilfield region next door, and direct industry connections.
2 years
Two-year applied degree training students for upstream and midstream roles — wireline operator, environmental technician, geology technician, GIS technician — at a campus literally embedded in Pennsylvania's historic oil region. Pitt-Bradford is the only Pitt regional campus offering a freshman-entry petroleum bachelor's pathway when paired with the Energy Science B.S.
4 years
Newer four-year engineering-technology program preparing graduates for design, operations, and maintenance roles across traditional energy, renewables, and energy efficiency — a more applied, hands-on alternative to a traditional engineering degree.
4 years
Direct-admit nursing pathway to RN licensure with clinical rotations across rural Pennsylvania and southwestern New York health systems; the campus also offers a graduate M.S. in Nursing.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $26,644
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
