Making the lists

Best 371

In the 2010 edition of The Best 371 Colleges, the Princeton Review’s annual rankings tome, you’ll find Santa Clara University listed as a top school for undergraduate education. In addition, as in the 2009 survey, SCU scores 96 out of 100 for sustainability efforts. And the Best 371’s narrative section observes that SCU’s Jesuit ethos “develops better-rounded students who are more aware of the world around them” and that there is a “large emphasis on immersion trips and getting students to volunteer and to go out into the community.” There’s a bit of whimsy in the “Survey says …” column, where SCU students report: “Athletic facilities are great. Career services are great. School is well run. Students are happy.” (It also reports student fondness for beer and other beverages.)

The “Inside Word” listing gives kudos to SCU’s enrollment efforts: “Each year, the Santa Clara admissions office works hard to assemble a diverse incoming class. The result is a student body with large Asian and Hispanic populations; this isn’t your typical lily-white private school.”

The report from U.S. News

The 2010 edition of the granddaddy of rankings, America’s Best Colleges, published by U.S. News & World Report, singles out SCU as among “Top Up-and-Coming Schools.” This category was the result of a survey of college presidents, provosts, and admissions deans asked to list 10 schools making “improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity, and facilities.” In addition, U.S. News hints that this category is meant to help make up for some of the shortcomings of the methodology used in the general survey.

But SCU doesn’t fare badly in overall rankings, either. Santa Clara is again ranked No. 2 among 115 master’s universities in the West, and the University is singled out in a number of other ways:

• SCU’s undergraduate engineering program is ranked No. 19 in the country.
• SCU is included in a list of 80 colleges and universities distinguished for undergraduate teaching.
• A section titled “Programs to Look For” highlights both SCU’s residential learning communities and its service learning programs. U.S. News also notes that SCU was named to the 2008 U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for community service programs and student involvement.
• SCU has the highest average freshman retention rate—93 percent—of master’s universities in the West.
• SCU’s average undergraduate graduation rate—85 percent—is the second highest in the country among all national master’s level universities.