We stayed at the Hampton close to campus. They had a shuttle we used. It was convenient, we took the shuttle, spent the day walking all around campus, then shuttled back to the hotel. The Hampton is not close enough for walking to and from the campus, though.
We also recently stayed at the Hampton Inn near campus and would recommend it. Shuttle was very convenient and it included a nice breakfast. Friendly staff. Ask for the Pitt discount, which saves a few dollars. Campus is about a mile away and we definitely would have walked if it was not a record-breaking cold day. Fuel and Fuddles was very good for dinner, about a mile away.
@Leyland
Loads of people have given great suggestions, here’s a summary of my recommendations:
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Wyndham Pittsburgh University Center which is right on campus
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Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh University Place which is on Forbes at the edge of campus
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Hampton Inn Pittsburgh-University Center on the Boulevard just off of campus. My parents have stayed here and enjoyed it.
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Quality Inn University Center on the Boulevard just off campus (you could walk to campus from this location, it would take 15 or so minutes).
Thank you, Everyone. It’s getting tough finding accommodations. Wyndham was sold out for Friday night, and we don’t want to have to pack up and switch hotels over the weekend. We got into Hilton Garden, although didn’t get the room we wanted. But, at least we won’t be stressing anymore. Looking forward to exploring the campus and city!
@Leyland,
When you take your campus tour, be sure to ask the Pitt Pathfinder (student tour guide) about some good places to explore while you are here. Enjoy your trip to Pittsburgh!
-A Pitt Admissions Staffer
Thank you everyone for the helpful replies. Another, less important, question - why do we say hail to Pitt? Pitt’s the only school I know of with a catchphrase like this.
Hail to Pitt!
-leglariat
For anyone else looking for Hotels–we try to always use the Marriott chain for the points…and we often stay at Residence Inn University/Medical Center on Bigelow-- just “over the hill” from upper campus. or Springhill Suites Bakery Squaure-- a ways away but not far. Love the area and just down the street from Target. Both hotels really fluctuate in price depending on the weekend.
@lelariat-- here’s your answer! 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_to_Pitt
We visited twice and both times stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn which is within walking distance to the Campus. We will be staying there again in April when we visit for accepted students day. The hotel provides a shuttle service but we walk. We were there this week in the bitter cold and walked- it was fine.
Okay, just got back from our admitted students day at Pitt. What a fun trip! Amazing coordination and planning on Pitt’s part. Really fun. First, understand that we have never, ever been to Pittsburgh (other than maybe the airport?) or even that part of PA (we are from DC metro), so everything was new for us. In fact, we couldn’t get into the Wyndham (soooo convenient) so we went to a Mariott property and ended up on the southside works. Although it was no where near the campus, it was a lively place and we had a great dinner and saw the Steelers facilities right next door to us. It was freeeeeezing at night; they said some of the coldest weather they’ve had. But, during the day with the sun out and us moving around all over the place, it was fine. Bottom line, my husband and I were impressed, and my son was happy.
I’m glad it all worked out! It has been pretty cold into March for the last 2-3 years (before that it used to be a bit warm by now). Generally the warm weather starts happening around late-March to early April.
Nifty! What parts? I grew up in Burke.
AwesomeOpossum, thanks so much for your replies to these posts, they are always helpful. Could you comment about where students jog/run on campus or comfortably near as well as gym/health center facility. We visited but somehow did not get a good reading on this.
Schenley Park is a huge city park, adjacent to campus with paths and trails. Friend of my dds was an avid runner and found clubs, serious and non that ran through the park. Also most dorms have some sort of small exercise facility but if you took an upper campus tour, you would see the large facility within Peterson Center, as well as the older gym at Trees. http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/intramurals-recreation http://www.pittsburghparks.org/userdocs/schenley-letter.pdf
Thank you amandakayak, your posts are helpful too 
We walked into the peterson events center, and didn’t realize this was available in that building. Didn’t know at the time to take an upper campus tour. We did drive through the park and it is beautiful. Thanks for the info.
A lot of students just run along the sidewalks around campus, or go into Schenley Park as @amandakayak stated. I live a little farther off campus in Squirrel Hill and have access to another park (Frick Park) which has AMAZING running/cardio circuit trails that I’ve been training on for almost 2 years now.
And The Pete (Petersen Events Center) has the Bairel Rec Center which is a huge gym with loads of cardio and weight equipment that students can use during the school year (except over thanksgiving, winter, and spring break) and in the summer while summer term is in session (about mid-May to early August). There’s also a smaller gym for students in Trees Hall (past The Pete on upper campus) and Bellefield Hall (down on lower campus on the far side of the Cathedral). Both Trees and Bellefield also have a pool, which The Pete does not.
There is also the Fitzgerald Field House (across from Trees behind the Pete) which has an indoor track and a basketball court/volleyball court as well as badminton courts. I used to play rec volleyball up there. There are soccer fields up past Trees (both indoor and outdoor) and a baseball field in the Coste Center.
A housing question, sorry if it’s been asked before: how common/feasible is it to get a single room as a freshman? Unheard of or not even?
Pretty unheard of. The main Freshman dorms are: Towers A and B (doubles), Sutherland (Honors, suite-style), Forbes (Engineering), Holland (single through 4-to-a-room, female-only), Nordy (doubles and triples), and parts of Tower C (singles).
So really your only chance of getting a single is either snagging one of the singles in Holland (which would go to the RAs first) or a room in Tower C (Unlikely now that Nordy can house freshman). I will say that I know people don’t like the idea of having a roommate but it’s really nice to have someone else around sometimes, or even be in a dorm that isn’t singles because you do get a bit more forced interaction.
Lothrop Hall is mostly singles. A freshman can get in there. That said, I’d probably recommend a new student having a roommate the first year.
The Panther Central website doesn’t have Lothrop Hall listed as a freshman dorm option anymore. I think it’ because Nordy has become available to freshman now.
Hi Awesome, thx in advance for taking your time to offer thoughtful insight. My son was accepted to CBA in Sept and now at crunch time, considering a few other schools for business as well as undeclared at PSU and UMD. We are visiting Pitt later this month to learn more to try to get our heads on straight, but I have 3 separate questions.
- The CBA curriculum for freshmen doesn’t seem extremely structured on the website (probably room for some electives?). He wants to consider an option to also taste some engineering prerequisites freshmen year (Physics and/or Chem) so that if his interests change an internal transfer to Swanson might still be an option (even if it might take an extra semester or two). Any thoughts or knowledge of others who might have started out at CBA or Arts & Science but landed at Swanson? What classes should he think about most?
- Any knowledge of the Business LLCs at Bruce Hall? Is this group of students well integrated socially in the overall campus population?
- Do you feel that Marching Band is an overwhelming commitment for Freshmen (we get that impression at PSU) or would it be simply important but not all encompassing extracurricular with room for school and other pursuits?