University of San Francisco

The University of San Francisco —a private Jesuit university— reflects the energy, diversity, and opportunities of the city that surrounds it. Founded in 1855 as the first college in San Francisco, USF has long been a part of the city’s colorful history. Today, USF is ranked #3 in student diversity among national universities by U.S. News & World Report (2019). The University enrolls 6,704 undergraduate and 4,010 graduate students, offers over 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and boasts a network of over 110,000 alumni who live in all 50 states, six US territories, and 139 countries. 

USF gives students from all backgrounds an education that’s intensely personal, intellectually demanding, and designed expressly to help them change the world for the better. True to its Jesuit values, USF encourages students to turn learning into positive action with a strong commitment to social justice and making a differencein communities near and far. The campus serves as a space for complex conversations and a meeting place for perspectives from all walks of life. Infact, Catholic students make up less than one-third of the student body, and the rest identify with other religious groups or no religion at all.

USF’s hilltop campus in the geographic center of the city puts students in the middle of everything San Francisco has to offer. Students enjoy the city’s natural beauty, 36 unique neighborhoods, cultural attractions, sporting events with seven professional teams, and unlimited access to research, internship, and employment opportunities at the Bay Area’s most successful companies. At USF, everything in San Francisco is only a walk or a bike, bus, or BART ride away.

Academics
Whatever your interests, you’ll find programs that will encourage you to step up, speak up, and challenge your assumptions.
• More than 100 undergraduate majors, minors, and interdisciplinary concentrations
• A core curriculum that will push you to explore new passions and communicate your beliefs on complex questions in the humanities, science, ethics, and the arts
• A tight-knit and supportive learning community with an average class size of 23 students
• The Honors College, which includes accelerated classes and special lectures from scholars and artists in different fields
• 100+ study abroad options across 45 countries
• Dual-degree and credential programs for Business, Nursing, Psychology, Economics, teaching, and more
• Starting in fall 2020, a new Engineering program that will develop more women and people of color to lead as humane, responsive, and ethical engineers

Living-Learning Communities
Our Living-Learning Communities offer an opportunity for deeper connected learning. Together with your peers, you’ll be enrolled in a common set of courses and live together in shared housing:
• Black Living-Learning Community: Explore the intellectual and political history of Black Americans and engage with the local Black community in the Bay Area.
• Erasmus Community: Analyze the 40-year culture of hip-hop to explore issues of diversity and inequality.
• Martín-Baró Scholars: Examine social justice issues in San Francisco through classroom assignments and a service learning project.
• St. Ignatius Institute: Experience a blend of rigorous academics and spiritual expression and growth, open to students of any (or no) religious affiliation.

Faculty
While our professors are accomplishedscholars and researchers—96% hold the highest degree in their academic disciplines—they’re at USF because they put teaching first. You’ll find them next to your desk, not behind a microphone. They’re mentors as well as teachers. They’ll look for opportunities to put you to work helping them with research, and they’ll point you toward internships.

Career services
Our Career Services Center will help you shoot for at least three internships before graduation. We take students on exclusive treks to local companies and bring top employers to campus to meet you. Best of all, our alumni working at those companies regularly come backto campus to tell you how to ace theinterview, what to wear, and how to write the perfect follow-up email.
Here’s a partial list of where our students intern and get hired: Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Cisco, Deloitte, DWA Media, Gap Inc., the Golden State Warriors, Google, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Federal Reserve Bank,Kiva, Marriott, Nike, the Peace Corps, Pixar, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office,San Francisco Unified School District, Silicon Valley Bank, Stanford Hospital, Square, Teach for America, Tesla, Uber, and the University of California, San Francisco.

Student life
At USF, you’ll always have things to do and communities to join.
• More than 100 clubs, including service, pre-professional, Greek, and culturally focused organizations
• 26 club and intramural sports and 16 Division I teams
• Muscat Scholars Program: An intensive academic program supporting incoming first-generation first-year students in their transition to college life
• Magis Emerging Leaders: A year-long fellowship for first-year students to become socially responsible leaders
• Black Achievement Success and Engagement (BASE) initiative: Supports and inspires Black-identifying students in three ways: the Black Living-Learning Community; the Black Scholars program, an honors program that comes with a four-year renewable scholarship; and the Black Resource Center, located in our main library on campus
• The University Ministry supports the spiritual, religious, and pastoral needs of students from all religious backgrounds with retreats, immersion trips, mass, meditation, and more.