Photo: J. James (CC BY-SA 3.0)
School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Point Park University is a private university in downtown Pittsburgh with no traditional quad — the city itself functions as campus. It is best known for its Conservatory of Performing Arts, which draws students nationally for dance, theatre, and cinema production.
Academics
The Conservatory of Performing Arts is the university's signature strength, with dance, theatre, and film production programs built on conservatory-style training and audition-based entry rather than pure academic review. Journalism and sports, arts, and entertainment management are other established programs that lean on the university's downtown location for internships.
Campus & student life
Being downtown means student life is threaded through the rest of the city rather than contained on a self-sufficient campus. The university operates the Pittsburgh Playhouse, a public-facing professional-caliber performance venue on campus, giving performing arts students a real stage and real audiences rather than only classroom performances.
Getting in
Conservatory programs require an audition or portfolio in addition to standard application materials, and admission to those programs is judged substantially on artistic ability rather than academic credentials alone. Other majors follow a more conventional holistic review.
Worth knowing
The Pittsburgh Playhouse is a genuine working theater, not a student-only black box — it stages a public season and gives conservatory students professional-level performance experience while still enrolled.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
pointpark.edu ↗High school coursework
Recommended4 years of English · 3 years of math (Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry) · 3 years of history or social science · 3 years of science (including 1 year of laboratory science)
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