Undergraduate Admission

At a Glance

History

Santa Clara University, founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus as “Santa Clara College,” is California’s oldest institution of higher learning. It was established on the site of the Mission Santa Clara de Asis, the eighth of the original 21 California missions.

Location

The City of Santa Clara sits right next to San Jose, the third-largest city in California and the center of Silicon Valley. Because of its Northern California location, the University is close to some of the most exciting and beautiful areas in the world, including:

Mission gardens, with Nobili Hall in the background

45 minutes from Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean
60 minutes from San Francisco
90 minutes from the Monterey Bay
3 hours from Yosemite National Park
4 hours from Lake Tahoe

Majors

Santa Clara offers 44 majors spread through three separate schools: The College of Arts and Sciences, The Leavey School of Business and The School of Engineering.

Tuition

Tuition for the 2009-10 academic year is $36,000, room and board $11,400 (varies with housing and dining plan). A reasonable budget for books, transportation, entertainment, and personal items is $5,000.

Students

Santa Clara has 5,261 undergraduate students (Fall 2007). 54% are female and 46% are male. SCU’s has an undergraduates students of color population of 47%.

Faculty

The student/faculty ratio at Santa Clara is 12 to 1. And classes are never taught by teaching assistants.

Class Size

The average class size at SCU is 25 students. Ninety-seven percent of SCU’s classes have fewer than 50 students.

Academic Year Calendar

Santa Clara is on the quarter system. (See current academic calendars.)

Athletics

Santa Clara’s athletics and recreation program includes 19 NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams, club and intramural sports, and recreation and fitness. SCU has won national championships in men’s and women’s soccer and is one of the West Coast Conference’s top broad-based sports programs.