Chatham University

Admission to Chatham University is comparatively selective among its peers, even as its position on national lists has declined. In the U.S. News rankings, Chatham placed at 236 in 2027, dropping from 185 in 2020. Despite this downward trajectory, Chatham accepts a smaller share of applicants than most comparable institutions. In 2025, the undergraduate admit rate was 62%, which was higher than 7% of peer schools in a comparison group of similarly ranked private comprehensive universities. At the same time, the university shows modest drawing power among admitted candidates. Its yield rate reached 12.7% that same year, higher than 40% of peer schools, showing that a small portion of accepted students ultimately enroll. For prospective applicants, these figures mean Chatham presents a more selective hurdle during the admissions review than many similar private universities, while admitted students frequently evaluate other college options.

Undergraduate applicants to Chatham University generally need solid high school grades to be competitive. In the 2023–2024 entering cohort, 37.7% of enrolled students earned a 4.0 high school GPA, and the vast majority achieved a 3.5 or higher, demonstrating that the admissions committee favors strong secondary school classroom performance. Standardized testing represents a secondary factor, as only a minority of applicants submit test scores. Among enrolling students in 2025 who submitted standardized scores, Chatham's median SAT score was 1180, which was higher than 40% of reporting schools in its comparison group of 30 private comprehensive universities with similar rankings. For the ACT, the middle 50% composite score range spanned from 21 to 30. Applicants targeting Chatham should focus primarily on maintaining a strong grade point average, as candidates with unweighted grades at or above the class median stand a solid chance of acceptance.

Chatham University's academic offerings are heavily anchored in health professions, life sciences, and psychology. In 2025, the top three undergraduate majors—Biology, Registered Nursing, and Psychology—accounted for 29.4% of all bachelor's degrees conferred, showing moderate concentration among its graduates. The university's strongest recognized program is at the graduate level, where its Occupational Therapy doctoral program ranked 59th nationally in US News in 2026. While undergraduate degrees in Biology and Psychology graduate large classes, they do not hold high national rankings, indicating that the school's strongest external recognition is concentrated in specialized clinical health fields rather than general undergraduate majors. Post-graduation compensation varies considerably across fields. According to 2023 earnings data, Registered Nursing graduates earned a median income of $75,229 one year after completion, the highest reported figure among bachelor's fields, whereas Business Administration graduates earned a median of $45,992. Students seeking health-related career tracks receive the strongest return and academic alignment at the university.

Chatham University maintains a student body that is predominantly domestic and female across both its undergraduate and graduate divisions. In total, White students form the clear majority of enrolled learners, while ethnic and national diversity remains modest throughout the institution. Among incoming undergraduate freshmen in 2025, there were 9 Asian students, accounting for 3.3% of the class, alongside 5 international students, who made up 1.8% of the entering cohort. Upperclass undergraduates and graduate cohorts reflect comparable distributions, with international and Asian students representing minor shares in each division. Furthermore, female students comprise more than two-thirds of undergraduates and exceed four-fifths of the graduate population. For prospective applicants evaluating campus climate, Chatham offers an intimate, predominantly regional learning environment with relatively few international peers or broad cultural affinity groups.

Undergraduate life at Chatham University centers firmly on students of traditional college age. In 2025, students aged 18 to 19 made up 64.1% of the undergraduate population, with those aged 20 to 21 forming the next largest segment, while older adult undergraduates represented only small fractions. In contrast, graduate programs serve early-career adults. Among graduate students that same year, 48.2% were between 22 and 24 years old, followed by those in their late twenties. This clear age division shapes campus routines, separating undergraduate activities and residential living from the specialized schedules of graduate professional students.

International enrollment at Chatham University has contracted significantly across both undergraduate and graduate divisions over the past decade. Among undergraduates, international students made up 2.5% of enrollment in 2025, falling from 10.3% in 2016. A parallel decline occurred at the graduate level, where the international proportion decreased to 2.9% in 2025. Where international degree recipients do appear, they are concentrated heavily in specific fields rather than distributed across disciplines. At the bachelor's level, international representation remains sparse across top majors like biology and nursing. At the master's level, international graduates concentrate in Business Administration and Management, General, where they made up 25% of graduates in 2025, while major health programs like physician assistant studies had none. At the doctoral level, international recipients remain limited to small numbers in fields like registered nursing and occupational therapy. For foreign applicants, Chatham provides focused cohorts in business, but broader international community networks on campus are minimal.

Students considering Chatham University will find several other higher education options within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Just 0.9 kilometers away is Carnegie Mellon University, a national university ranked 14th in the 2027 US News rankings. Located 1.5 kilometers from campus is University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus, another major national university ranked 59th. Closer to downtown Pittsburgh, Duquesne University sits 3.6 kilometers away and is ranked 156th among national universities. Slightly farther out in suburban Moon Township, Robert Morris University is located 15.7 kilometers from Chatham and holds a rank of 219th. These neighboring institutions provide families with varied alternatives in the immediate region, from large research hubs to private mid-sized campuses.

Campus safety at Chatham University is primarily characterized by internal disciplinary enforcement for substance policies rather than high volumes of violent crime. In 2025, the university recorded a crime rate of 6.9 per 1,000 students. Over the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, disciplinary referrals for alcohol and narcotics formed the largest share of recorded incidents, totaling 62 referrals for liquor law violations and 30 referrals for drug law violations. More serious offenses occurred at much lower levels across those same years, with security logs documenting sexual harassment, rape, stalking, and residence hall fires in single-digit counts. These figures indicate that day-to-day security activity on campus focuses largely on residential policy compliance and student behavioral standards. For families and prospective students evaluating the campus environment, Chatham presents an environment where severe criminal activity is infrequent, while administrative monitoring of alcohol and drug rules accounts for most reported incidents.