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SCU Scores High Marks on National Survey

Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010

SANTA CLARA, Calif.— Aug. 18, 2010. In its annual ranking, “America’s Best Colleges 2011,” U.S.News & World Report ranked Santa Clara University second overall among 115 master’s universities in the West. SCU’s average undergraduate graduation rate, 85 percent, was the third highest in the country among 572 national master’s level universities.

Additional highlights from the U.S. News rankings include:

  • SCU’s school of engineering was ranked #17 among U.S. engineering schools, where the highest degree awarded is a bachelors or masters.  Last year, the School of engineering was ranked #19. Other engineering schools in the top 20 are Harvey Mudd College (CA), The United States Air Force Academy (CO), and Franklin Olin Col of Engineering (MA).
  • Santa Clara University had the highest average freshman retention rate—93 percent—of master’s universities in the West. (The freshman retention rate reflects the percentage of freshmen who enroll in their sophomore year.)

The survey compared SCU with other similar comprehensive universities that offer a full range of undergraduate programs and master’s degrees, but few doctoral programs. The Western region includes master’s level colleges and universities from Colorado to the West Coast, including Texas. Other schools in the top 10 master’s universities in the West are Gonzaga University, Seattle University, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The magazine’s rankings were based on academic reputation, graduation rates, class size, percent of full-time faculty, student/faculty ratios, retention of students, student test scores and grades, student selectivity, financial resource, and alumni giving.

The “Best Colleges” rankings can be found on the U.S. News website, www.usnews.com.


About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,600 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus masters and law degrees, and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. masters universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
 

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