Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, California | Admissions Phone: 408-554-4700
E-mail: admission@scu.edu | Website: www.scu.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 50%
Admission Rate - Men: 47%
Admission Rate - Women: 52%
EA Admission Rate: 63%
ED Admission Rate: 73%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): 0%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): +18%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 17%
Transfer Admission Rate: 46%
# Offered Wait List: 2,620
# Accepted Wait List: 1,776
# Admitted Wait List: 149
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 630-700
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 640-740
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 28-32
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: Yes
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 49%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 82%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 97%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 5,520
% Part-Time: 1%
% Male: 51%
% Female: 49%
% Out-of-State: 28%
% Fraternity: Not Offered
% Sorority: Not Offered
% On-Campus (Freshman): 96%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 56%
% African-American: 3%
% Asian: 16%
% Hispanic: 18%
% White: 48%
% Other: 7%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 2%
% International: 4%
% Low-Income: 12%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 10:1
% of Classes Under 20: 46%
% of Classes Under 40: 98%
% Full-Time Faculty: 62%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 94%
Top Programs
Accounting
Bioengineering
Communication
Computer Science and Engineering
Finance
Public Health
Psychology
Retention Rate: 95%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 84%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 91%
Curricular Flexibility: Less Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $52,998
Out-of-State Tuition: $52,998
Room & Board: $15,507
Required Fees: $636
Books & Supplies: $1,971
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $33,180
Avg. % of Need Met: 79%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $15,875
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 41%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $25,640
% of Students Borrowing: 36%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Stryker Corporation
2. Gap Inc.
3. Tesla
4. Teach for America
5. Kiva
Notable Internships
1. McAfee
2. Yelp
3. Vera Wang
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Engineering
3. Education
4. Operations
5. Sales
Top Employers
1. Cisco
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Oracle
5. Facebook
Where Alumni Work
1. San Francisco
2. Los Angeles
3. Seattle
4. Sacramento
5. Portland, OR
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $72,600
EOP (Early Career): $72,500
PayScale (Mid-Career): $134,700
RANKINGS
Forbes: 51
Money: 144
U.S. News: 54 (T), National Universities
Wall Street Journal/THE: 87 (T)
Washington Monthly: 137, National Universities
Inside the Classroom
If you were asked to name a premier university in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, chances are your immediate answer would be Stanford. Yet, those who aren’t likely to be among the 4.3 percent of accepted applicants at Stanford might want to turn their attention to the Valley’s second most prestigious school, one that has over ten times the acceptance rate. Santa Clara University is a Jesuit school with a growing national reputation; right now, 73 percent of undergraduates still hail from California, and major tech firms love to recruit at this excellent institution located in their own backyard.
Students can pursue fifty degrees offered by three undergraduate colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the Leavey School of Business. Santa Clara’s core curriculum is designed to provide “a humanistic education that leads toward an informed, ethical engagement with the world.” To accomplish that students must take (1) foundations courses in critical thinking and critical writing, cultures and ideas, a second language, mathematics, and religion, theology, and culture; (2) explorations courses in ethics, civic engagement, diversity, additional religion/theology courses, and all of the traditional prerequisites in the natural sciences, social sciences, and the arts; and (3) integrations courses in advanced writing, experiential learning for social justice, and a pathways class that requires students to make connections across disciplines. It’s a tall order, involves a certain amount of religious study, and doesn’t leave a ton of room for electives.
Santa Clara caters to 5,500 undergraduate students as well as another 3,100 graduate students but, thanks to a 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio, it keeps classes reasonably sized. While you won’t find many single-digit enrollment seminars, 46 percent of course sections do contain fewer than twenty students. Undergraduate research opportunities are built into many academic programs, particularly in the sciences, and students can partner with willing professors for credited research study. In addition, study abroad opportunities are available on all six continents fit for human habitation, and more than 500 students take advantage each year.
The most commonly conferred degrees are in business (25 percent), engineering (17 percent) and the social sciences (14 percent). The Leavey School of Business offers highly ranked management information systems, accounting, and entrepreneurship degree programs. The engineering program is respected by employers, and computer science students fare extraordinarily well in the Silicon Valley job market, which happens to be one of the most competitive in the world. Graduates of SCU do not seek prestigious fellowships in droves, but many of those who do are successful. In 2018, seven grads/alumni procured Fulbright Scholarships, and one took home a Udall Scholarship; an alum even won a Rhodes Scholarship in 2017.
Outside the Classroom
The 106-acre campus houses only 56 percent of the undergraduate student body; however, 96 percent of first-years do reside in university-owned dorms. There are ten fraternities and six sororities at Santa Clara, and although none of them are affiliated with the university (they were dropped in 2001), Greek life still plays a significant social role. For a school of its size, athletics are surprisingly serious at SCU as the Broncos compete at the NCAA Division I level and field nineteen intercollegiate teams. Intramural sports draw an astonishing 3,800 participants every year on 500 teams in sports ranging from soccer to ping-pong. Almost every student is involved in at least one (if not two or three) of the 125 organizations presently operating. The Ruff Riders, a booster organization, is one of the largest groups of its kind with over 1,000 members. Into the Wild is another popular club that plans outdoor excursions to locations such as Big Sur, the beaches of Santa Cruz, and Lake Tahoe. World-class recreational facilities exist on campus for fitness enthusiasts such as the 45,000-square-foot Malley Fitness Center and the Sullivan Aquatic Center. The University’s Silicon Valley location means that plenty of high-end cultural, dining, and entertainment options are at your fingertips, and San Francisco is only an hour away by car.
Career Services
Santa Clara’s Career Center has seven full-time professional staff members working as career development specialists, employer relations specialists, and coordinators of experiential learning. The 786:1 student-to-advisor ratio is below average when compared with the other institutions featured in this guide. However, the center has many strengths, particularly its deep connections to major Silicon Valley companies. Each year, the Fall Career Fair draws many top employers (including tech companies) as well as over 1,000 undergraduates. Another STEM-specific fair in October brings in another 650 students in search of jobs. Across the school’s six annual career fairs, 470 employers manned booths and spoke with SCU students.
More than 6,000 employers recruit Santa Clara undergraduates through a mix of Career Center programs and the online job board available through the Handshake platform, and 65 percent of students utilize their account. Over 900 on-campus interviews take place each academic year. Recruiting companies include Disney, Tesla, Apple, Oracle, Cisco, Kaiser Permanente, and NBC Universal. Almost four-fifths of those completing an SCU degree completed at least one internship position during their time at the university. This school boasts an alumni network 100,000 strong, and many are willing to assist current students with finding their first job. Thanks to the strength of its employer recruiting efforts and internship program, SCU’s Career Center gets high marks from our staff.
Professional Outcomes
Within six months of receiving their degrees, 83 percent of Santa Clara graduates have landed jobs, started graduate school, or committed to a full-time service program. Of those employed, the five most commonly entered industries are business development, engineering, education, entrepreneurship, and sales. The companies presently employing the greatest number of Bronco alumni are all tech giants including Cisco, Apple, Google, Oracle, Facebook, and Adobe. The median starting salary for all grads is $53,000 with engineering ($70k) and business majors ($60k) enjoying the highest compensation, and math/natural sciences grads on the low end ($38k). Roughly two-thirds of alumni remain in the Bay Area. Other West Coast destinations such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, and San Diego also attract a fairly large number of grads.
Many graduates who continue their education at the master’s or doctoral level do so at one of Santa Clara’s own excellent grad programs; the same goes for law school. Over the last fifteen years, 90 percent of SCU medical school applicants with a minimum of MCAT score of 505 and a GPA of 3.5 or higher have been accepted by at least one institution. However, many fail to meet those criteria as only 40 percent of overall applicants in that period have been accepted, slightly lower than the national average. The three most frequently attended medical schools are fellow Jesuit institutions Creighton, Georgetown, and Loyola (Chicago). A look at where Class of 2017 and 2018 grads were pursuing additional education includes a wide range of schools that includes UCLA, Berkeley, USC, the University of Washington, and Duke University.
Admission
Growing in popularity, Santa Clara crossed the 16,000 application mark with the Class of 2022; that represented a 47 percent increase since 2009. A seemingly soft 49 percent of applicants were granted admission, but a glance at the profile of the average accepted applicant is more informative as to the school’s level of selectivity. Successful applicants averaged an unweighted GPA of 3.8 and scores of 1407 on the SAT and 31 on the ACT. Notably, only 17 percent of admitted students went on to enroll in the freshman Class of 2018-19. Of those who actually enrolled in the university, the middle-50 percent SAT range was still a solid 1270-1440. Just a shade under 50 percent placed in the top decile of their high school class, and 82 percent finished in the top quartile.
The admissions committee ranks three categories as most important: rigor of secondary school record, GPA, and essays. The list of factors ranked as “important” is far longer and includes class rank, recommendations, standardized test scores, volunteer work, racial/ethnic status, first generation status, legacy status, and extracurricular activities. While the process can be viewed as holistic, the university does not offer an evaluative interview. Due to the aforementioned low yield rate of only 17 percent, Santa Clara is always happy to have strong applicants who are willing to commit to the school. As a result, a whopping 73 percent of early decision applicants gain admission. Santa Clara University is a school that is attracting more applicants every year as its national reputation climbs to new heights. A deceptively high acceptance rate does not do full justice to the caliber of undergraduate it currently attracts. Borderline candidates who have a strong desire to attend should definitely consider applying early decision.
Worth Your Money?
At almost $74,000 in total annual cost of attendance, Santa Clara is an expensive proposition any way you slice it. The university does dangle an average merit aid award of almost $16k to two-fifths of students to bring the price down a bit, but only 37 percent of all undergrads qualify for need-based grants that average close to $33,000. A Santa Clara degree won’t come cheap, but that’s okay for business and engineering students who will be heading to high-paying careers in Silicon Valley. Those intending to pursue majors in less immediately lucrative disciplines need to calculate whether the finances make sense for them to attend this school.