Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a private non-profit Jesuit university located in Santa Clara, California. It has 5,435 full-time undergraduate students, and 3,335 graduate students. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California, and has remained in its original location for 164 years. The University's campus surrounds the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asis, which traces its founding to 1776. The Campus mirrors the Mission's architectural style, and provides a fine early example of Mission Revival Architecture. The university offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through its six colleges, the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and Counseling Psychology, SCU Leavey School of Business, School of Engineering, Jesuit School of Theology, and the School of Law. Santa Clara's sports teams are called the Broncos. Their colors are red and white. The Broncos compete at the NCAA Division I levels as members of the West Coast Conference in 19 sports. The Broncos own a long history of success on the national stage in a number of sports.

The university is situated in Santa Clara, California, adjacent to the city of San Jose in Santa Clara County at the southern part of the Bay Area. It is commonly known by the abbreviation SCU; its students and 81,000 alumni, which live in all fifty states and around the world are called "Santa Clarans" or "Broncos" and its athletic teams are called the Broncos. The school is promoted as "the Jesuit university in Silicon Valley." Built around historic Mission Santa Clara, the present university is home to a population of approximately 5,435 undergraduate and 3,335 Master's, Juris Doctor, and PhD students. The institution employs 522 full-time faculty members, who are divided between four professional schools and the College of Arts and Sciences, all of which are located on the 106-acre (43 ha) mission campus. In July 2009 the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JST), formerly an independent institution, legally merged with the university, taking the name "Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University." Although a division of SCU, it retains its campus in Berkeley, California. JST is one of two Jesuit seminaries in the United States with ecclesiastical faculties approved by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education. The other, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, completed a similar affiliation with Boston College in June 2008, becoming Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

For the 2013–2014 academic year, the university's operating budget was $387 million, and its endowment was over $760 million. For the same period, undergraduate tuition and fees totaled $42,156 and the average cost of room and board was $12,546. Santa Clara University is civilly chartered and governed by a board of trustees, which appoints the president. By internal statute, the president must be a member of the Jesuit order, although the members of the board are primarily non-Jesuits. About 42 Jesuit priests and brothers are active teachers and administrators in various departments and centers located on the main campus in Santa Clara. An additional 15 Jesuits currently hold faculty positions at the university's Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. Jesuits comprise around 7% of the permanent faculty and hold teaching positions in biology, computer engineering, counseling psychology, economics, English, history, law, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religious studies, and theater arts in addition to theology. They also serve in campus and residence-hall ministry, and some act as faculty directors in residential learning communities (RLC's). SCU maintains its Catholic and Jesuit affiliation and supports numerous initiatives intended to further its religious mission. Students are invited, but not required, to attend the Sunday evening student Masses in the mission church and encouraged to participate in campus ministry programs and lectures. All bachelor's degrees require three religious studies courses as part of the academic core. An emphasis on social justice is furthered through the Pedro Arrupe Partnership and Kolvenbach Solidarity programs, which offer service opportunities in the community and immersion opportunities throughout the world.

Academics and Rankings:

As of Fall 2012, Santa Clara had an enrollment of 5,250 undergraduate and 3,269 graduate and professional students (total of 8,519 students). Men make up 52.3% of the total student population; women 47.7%. Santa Clara offers undergraduates the opportunity to pursue 45 majors in its three undergraduate schools and colleges: the College of Arts and Science, the School of Engineering, and the Leavey School of Business. Santa Clara University also has six graduate and professional schools, including the School of Law, School of Engineering, the Leavey School of Business, the School of Education and Counseling Psychology, and the Jesuit School of Theology (campus located in Berkeley, California). The student to faculty ratio is 12:1 with 71% of all classes being fewer than 30 students. The 2013 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes it as 'more selective'.For the Class of 2018 (enrolled fall 2014), Santa Clara received 14,985 applications and accepted 7,395 (49.3%). Of those accepted, 1,328 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 17.4%. SCU's freshman retention rate is 95%, with 86% going on to graduate within six years. The enrolled first-year class of 2018 had the following standardized test scores: the middle 50% range (25th percentile-75th percentile) of SAT scores was 590-680 for SAT Critical Reading and 620-700 for SAT Math, while the middle 50% range of ACT scores was 27-32.The average Grade Point Average (GPA) was 3.67 (unweighted 4 point scale).

For SCU's 2011–2012 school year, undergraduate tuition and fees were $37,368, room and board cost $11,742, and books estimated at $5,000, totaling $54,110. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies Santa Clara as a master's level university. In U.S. News & World Report's rankings of master's universities (West) for 2016, Santa Clara University ranks 2nd overall, and is tied for 3rd for best undergraduate teaching. In 2016 U.S. News & World Report ranked the Leavey School of Business' Part-Time MBA program tied for 37th best in the nation. The undergraduate business program was ranked 62nd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2015  and 43rd in the nation by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2014. The School of Engineering was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as 14th in 2015 for engineering schools with focus on undergraduate and Master's engineering programs.

Santa Clara's School of Law was ranked by U.S. News & World Report in 2016 as tied for 94th in the nation, with its Intellectual Property Law program recognized as tied for 4th nationally. In 2015 Forbes ranked Santa Clara University 85th out of the 650 best private and public colleges and universities in America. In 2008, the first year of the list, Santa Clara was ranked No. 318 out of 569. Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranked SCU 38th on the 2015 Best Values in Private Universities list, and 4th in California. The Princeton Review named Santa Clara University one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education in its 2012 annual guidebook, The Best 376 Colleges. In its 2012 ranking of alumni financial success, intellectual development, and career preparation, "The Alumni Factor" listed Santa Clara 43rd out of the top 177 colleges and universities.

PayScale in 2012 ranked Santa Clara 17th in the nation out of 606 schools in the category "Mid-Career Salary Rank for Private Schools", 28th out of 1,248 in "Overall College ROI Rank," and 23rd out of 458 in "ROI Rank for Private Universities." Santa Clara University was named to the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for community service programs and student involvement. Santa Clara University made About.com's list of the top 23 Catholic Colleges and universities in the country. Newsweek in 2012 ranked Santa Clara University as the second most beautiful college in America. SCU has the 3rd highest undergraduate graduation rate nationally (85 percent) among 626 national master's level universities.