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Santa Clara University Data & Information Overview

430 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
51% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on Santa Clara University? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors SCU offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

How Well Is Santa Clara University Ranked?

#70 Best Colleges in Nation
#12 Best Colleges in CA
Computer Hardware Engineering Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2023 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Santa Clara University was awarded 430 badges in the 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is computer hardware engineering.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2023 analysis, SCU is ranked #70 out of 2,241 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country.

SCU also holds the #12 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.

See all of the rankings for Santa Clara University.

Is It Hard to Get Into SCU?

51% Acceptance Rate
53% Of Accepted Are Women
68% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

If you're applying to Santa Clara University you'll face some tough competition, since the school's acceptance rate is only 51%. Definitely don't wait until the last minute to submit your application, since applying early may be in your favor.

Average Test Scores

About 68% of students accepted to SCU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 630 and 700. Math scores were between 640 and 750.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Santa Clara University  ( 630 to 700 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Santa Clara University  ( 640 to 750 )
200
800
SCU received ACT scores from 39% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 28 and 32.

ACT Composite Scores for Santa Clara University  ( 28 to 32 )
1
36

Learn more about Santa Clara University admissions.

Santa Clara University Faculty

11 to 1 Student to Faculty
68% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at SCU is an impressive 11 to 1. That's quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Santa Clara University is 68%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  68 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Santa Clara University

93% Freshmen Retention
84% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 93% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Santa Clara University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  93 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at SCU for first-time, full-time students is 84%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  84 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Santa Clara University.

Santa Clara University Undergraduate Student Diversity

5,478 Full-Time Undergraduates
48.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
48.4% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 5,608 undergraduates at SCU with 5,478 being full-time and 130 being part-time.

How Much Does Santa Clara University Cost?

$42,614 Net Price
28% Take Out Loans
$30,780 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of SCU is $42,614. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for SCU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$26,428 $23,508 $29,618 $34,770 $53,699

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of SCU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At SCU, approximately 28% of students took out student loans averaging $7,695 a year. That adds up to $30,780 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SCU is 0.7%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Santa Clara University.

How Much Money Do SCU Graduates Make?

$93,291 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from SCU with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $93,291 in their early years. That's great news for SCU students since it is 120% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Santa Clara University make the most money.

Location of Santa Clara University

California State
5,478 Full-Time Undergraduates
Midsize City Campus Setting
Located in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara University is a private not-for-profit institution. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

Get more details about the location of Santa Clara University.

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Contact details for SCU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053
Phone: 408-554-4000
Website: www.scu.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SantaClaraUniversity
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SantaClaraUniv

Santa Clara University Majors

58 Majors With Completions
1,656 Undergraduate Degrees
1,132 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 58 majors graduated from Santa Clara University. Of these students, 1,656 received undergraduate degrees and 1,132 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Finance & Financial Management 161 $68,821
Communication & Media Studies 142 $53,040
General Psychology 104 $50,081
Economics 103 $62,432
Political Science & Government 102 $52,109
Accounting 101 $67,828
Marketing 90 $60,745
Computer Engineering 77 $83,523
General Biology 67 $36,629
Mathematics & Computer Science 66 $87,146

Learn more about the majors offered at Santa Clara University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at SCU

3% Take At Least One Class Online
3% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2019-2020, 299 students took at least one online class at Santa Clara University. This is an increase from the 206 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2019-2020 299 299
2018-2019 206 206
2017-2018 84 84
2016-2017 8 8
2015-2016 1 1

Learn more about online learning at Santa Clara University.

If you’re considering Santa Clara University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against SCU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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