The Key Elements
Essential Undergraduate Learning Skills
How the Story Unfolds
Adding Engagement and Impact
Chapter by Chapter
Progress Through the Years
Write Your Own Story
Ready for What's Next
All of our students graduate from Santa Clara with a set of lifelong habits of mind and heart and high-impact experiences that enrich their learning in their majors and across the curriculum. SCU is committed to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to participate in the breadth and depth of learning experiences that will set them up for success--personally and professionally.
Regardless of major, all of our undergraduates benefit from an education that encompasses the skills, abilities, and learning dispositions required for success in 21st century society and workplaces, distinguishing SCU as the Jesuit University in Silicon Valley.
Critical, Creative, & Reflective Thinking
Generating, analyzing, reflecting upon, evaluating, integrating, and applying different types of information and knowledge to form independent judgments
Quantitative Reasoning
Analytical and logical thinking and the habit of making accurate and reasoned interpretations of quantitative information
Oral Communication
Delivering an effective, purposeful presentation designed to increase knowledge, to foster understanding, or promote change
Written Communication
Developing and expressing ideas in writing with attention to a wide range of conventions, including purpose, content, medium, format, and style
Information Literacy
Identifying, locating, evaluating, and effectively and responsibly using and sharing information generated from a variety of sources
Cultivation of Ethics and a Life of Meaning and Purpose
Engaging in ethical reflection and self examination of life's meaning and purpose in ways that inform values and actions
Social Justice
Developing knowledge, values, commitments, and action related to social justice issues locally, nationally, and globally
Engagement with Diverse Communities, Locally and Globally
Developing dispositions and abilities to participate respectfully and meaningfully within diverse communities, both as engaged citizens and globally-minded professionals
Students’ educational experiences unfold through participation in multiple high-impact, active educational opportunities that promote deep learning and student engagement, allowing students to more fully integrate their learning in and out of the classroom. Santa Clara students complete more of these high-impact experiences than their peers at other colleges and universities nationally. By the time of graduation, 88% of SCU seniors will have completed 2 or more high-impact experiences and 51% of seniors will have completed 4 or more (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2018).
SCU is proud of its exceptionally high retention and graduation rates for all undergraduates. Students come to SCU, they stay and do amazing things, and, in four years, most leave with a degree in hand--ready to write their own stories.
94%
OF SCU STUDENTS IN THEIR FIRST YEAR RETURNED FOR THEIR SECOND YEAR (2020-21 Entering cohort year)
86%
OF FIRST TIME UNDERGRADUATES GRADUATED WITHIN 4 YEARS (2016-17 Entering cohort year and the three previous years cohorts)
91%
OF FIRST TIME UNDERGRADUATES GRADUATED WITHIN 6 YEARS (2014-15 Entering cohort, including the three previous years cohorts)
Write Your Own Story
Students are ready to take their SCU experience and write their own stories soon after graduation, whether in a career, in pursuit of a graduate degree, or taking a year or so to share the benefits of their education with organizations like Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
86%
OF SCU EMPLOYERS BELIEVE SCU GRADUATES DEMONSTRATE AN EXCELLENT WORK ETHIC
79%
OF OUR RECENT GRADUATES SAY THAT THEIR SCU EDUCATION PROVIDED THEM WITH GOOD TO EXCELLENT PREPARATION FOR THEIR CAREERS
87%
OF SCU EMPLOYERS BELIEVE THAT SANTA CLARA GRADUATES ARE READY TO ENTER THE WORKFORCE