Santa Clara University

In the 2027 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, Santa Clara University placed 55th, rebounding from 63rd in 2025 back toward its 2020 position. Admission is relatively accessible compared to similar private institutions. In 2025, the university admitted 48% of applicants, an acceptance rate higher than 73% of peer schools in its comparison group of similarly ranked private comprehensive universities. However, Santa Clara experiences modest drawing power once offers are extended. Its yield rate stood at 17.7% in 2025, which is higher than 27% of peer schools in that same group. With fewer than one in five admitted students choosing to enroll, Santa Clara contends with substantial competition from other institutions for admitted candidates. For applicants, this combination suggests reasonable odds of admission for a well-prepared candidate, alongside the likelihood that many peers admitted to Santa Clara are actively weighing multiple competing collegiate options before making their final choice.

Santa Clara University's admission test policy is optional, considered if submitted. For the 2025 entering class, published score ranges indicate that submitting students demonstrated strong preparation, with the ACT composite score range spanning from 31 to 33. The university's median SAT score of 1420 is higher than 28% of peer schools among similarly ranked private comprehensive universities. Only a minority of enrolled students submitted standardized test scores in 2025, placing substantial emphasis on classroom achievement. Looking at academic records from the 2022–2023 cycle, the largest share of admitted freshmen earned a high school GPA between 3.75 and 3.99, with most others performing similarly close to the top of their classes. For prospective applicants, gaining admission requires consistently high marks across challenging coursework, while test scores near these published ranges can help substantiate academic readiness.

Undergraduate degrees at Santa Clara University are moderately distributed, with the top three majors accounting for 28% of all bachelor's degrees awarded in 2025. The university's largest undergraduate programs align closely with its highest-ranked disciplines, particularly in business. Finance, General is the most popular major on campus, producing 226 bachelor's graduates in 2025. In the 2027 U.S. News rankings, undergraduate finance was ranked 18th nationally, while entrepreneurship ranked 10th. Graduate strengths are similarly prominent in law and management, led by intellectual property law at 4th in 2026. Academic programs in technical and commercial areas also translate into strong early-career compensation. According to 2023 earnings data, graduates in computer engineering achieved median first-year earnings of $93,450, closely followed by finance graduates. For prospective students, this alignment demonstrates that Santa Clara's heaviest academic concentrations correspond with its strongest national reputations and lucrative regional career outcomes.

Santa Clara University enrolled 9,728 students in 2025, maintaining a student body divided between undergraduates and graduate scholars. Diversity varies noticeably across academic levels. Among incoming first-year students, Asian students represented the second-largest racial group at 22.1%, alongside substantial White and Hispanic cohorts, while international students formed a single-digit share. In contrast, the graduate division reflects a much more international character. In 2025, international students constituted the single largest demographic group among the graduate student body, numbering 823 individuals and accounting for 26.1% of all graduate students. Domestic Asian students formed the next largest minority group in graduate study. This demographic distribution means that while undergraduate campus life is anchored predominantly by domestic students, graduate degree programs offer a substantially higher proportion of international classmates.

The age profile at Santa Clara University reveals a traditional undergraduate experience paired with an early-career graduate student body. In 2025, undergraduates aged 20 to 21 made up 45.6% of the undergraduate population, while students aged 18 to 19 accounted for 42.3%. With nearly nine in ten undergraduates under the age of 22, the undergraduate environment is centered around young adults transitioning directly from high school into residential college routines. In contrast, graduate programs attract working professionals and advanced degree seekers. In 2025, the largest graduate cohort was aged 25 to 29, representing 33.5% of graduate enrollment, followed closely by students in their early twenties. This dynamic produces a collegiate atmosphere for undergraduates, distinct from the professional focus of graduate students.

International student trends at Santa Clara University diverge significantly between undergraduate and graduate programs. At the undergraduate level, the international share has expanded over the past decade, reaching 7.6% in 2025. That proportion is higher than 47% of peer schools in its comparison group of similarly ranked private comprehensive universities. Conversely, international graduate enrollment has softened from its earlier levels down to 26.1% in 2025. International degree recipients show pronounced concentration in quantitative disciplines. Among 2025 bachelor's degree recipients, international students were most heavily represented in Mathematics and Computer Science, making up about one-fifth of graduates. Concentration is far more pronounced at the master's level, where international students earned 86.6% of degrees in Computer Engineering. For international applicants, these patterns indicate an undergraduate student body that remains predominantly domestic, contrasted with graduate STEM programs that rely heavily on a global cohort.

Students considering Santa Clara University have several other higher education options within the surrounding region. Located 13.8 kilometers away, Stanford University is a National University ranked 5th in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. To the south, University of California-Santa Cruz is another National University, situated 25.3 kilometers from campus and ranked 109th. Heading north into the San Francisco Bay Area, University of California-Berkeley is a National University positioned 40.3 kilometers away and ranked 20th. Also in San Francisco, University of San Francisco is a National University located 40.8 kilometers from Santa Clara, holding a 2027 ranking of 116th. These institutions offer diverse collegiate environments across various distance brackets in Northern California.

Campus safety data at Santa Clara University indicates an overall drop in incident rates, with the vast majority of recorded matters involving campus substance policy infractions rather than violent crime. The university's crime rate per 1,000 students declined from 24.4 in 2016 to 19.1 in 2025. From 2023 to 2025, disciplinary actions dominated official incident counts, with the university logging 1,828 liquor law disciplinary referrals and 346 drug law disciplinary referrals. Criminal offenses took place far less frequently across that same period, including 30 stalking incidents and 19 motor vehicle thefts. These patterns demonstrate that student disciplinary enforcement for alcohol and drug conduct constitutes the main safety activity on campus, while serious crimes against people and property remain relatively rare.