Santa Clara University Admission
Santa Clara University Undergraduate Program
Santa Clara University Application

The Facts

Santa Clara University is a rather moderately sized, private school affiliated with the Jesuit branch of the Catholic church located in the town of Santa Clara, California, and is home to over 4,160 undergraduate students and approximately 3,500 graduate and part-time professional students. The university is actually divided up into several smaller undergraduate colleges including schools of arts and sciences, business, as well as engineering. The core curriculum is unique in that it integrates many different styles of learning and focuses on creating a holistic atmosphere where students can really develop as people. The university offers its students a wide variety of majors in many different areas of study, mainly preprofessional, however, the most popular with students include majors in the areas of finance, marketing, communication, psychology, as well as accounting.

Admission to Santa Clara University is fairly competitive, although not nearly as competitive as other California colleges. Last year, over 6,400 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 4,220 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 900 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1090 to 1280, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 23 to 28. Additionally, over 65% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.53.

Santa Clara University has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of about 12:1, and in general, professors get high marks in terms of accessibility and willingness to help students out when they need it. Students also agree that there is a remarkable lack of unhealthy competition at the school, partly due to the administration’s unabashed focus on volunteerism and community service. The classes are quite demanding, but most students say they have no problem managing their time.

The Social Scene

The town of Santa Clara is perhaps better known as “Silicon Valley,” and is located just shy of the city of San Francisco. The town itself doesn’t really offer students much besides some extremely pricey and exclusive country clubs and malls, and most students say that the bulk of activity is limited to campus. Many students own cars, as there is literally no public transit system, and we hear that weekend road trips to nearby San Francisco are a popular option.

There are no fraternities and sororities at the school, but students don’t really seem to mind. The absence of Greek houses also hasn’t seemed to curb students’ partying habits much; the weekends are usually full of rowdy bashes where drinking is definitely the most popular mode of social interaction.

The dating scene can be a little hard to break into at first; we hear that people can come off standoffish at first, but keep pushing; there are some good catches!

What’s Good

“The research opportunities for undergraduates are unparalleled. You can actually get funding as early as freshmen year.”

“The campus is beautiful, and when you walk from class to class, you feel like you’re on vacation or something.”

“San Francisco is only a short drive away, which is awesome on the weekends.”

What’s Bad

“People are really cliquish here, and it can be hard as a new student to really find your niche.”

“I wish people were a bit more diverse and liberal; it’s northern California, so you would think they would be, but they’re really not.”

“Dorms can be a problem sometimes; you can never be sure if you will have housing from one year to the next.”

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