During these chilly first weeks of spring, I am wishing I was back in sunny California, on the top of a hill, looking at the city of San Francisco go on and on towards the ocean. The sky is a vibrant blue, with a slight chill on the breeze. Surrounded by eager college students on the move, I could definitely picture myself here as an undergraduate student at the University of San Francisco. USF (not to be confused with UCSF) has a beautiful and manageable campus with epic views of the Bay Area...with restaurants, shops, museums, and not to mention the countless tech industry companies within walking distance. University of San Francisco seems like an ideal place to study, grow, and prepare for a successful career.

Here’s everything you need to know about University of San Francisco, plus my personal perspective below.

Key Figures:

The University of San Francisco opened in 1855, and was the first university in San Francisco. USF is one of the 28 Jesuit universities in the country, and has a big social justice component to its mission today.
USF has 6,750 undergraduate students, making it a nice medium sized school.
USF is an extremely diverse college; 20% of its students from other countries, and 1/3 of the school is first generation.
USF has a great, defined campus, but is also right in the middle of the city. So for students looking to be in a city, but still have the luxuries of a college campus, USF should be on your list.
USF prides itself on being a diverse and socially responsible learning community of students who are committed to academic enhancement and being involved in social justice.
USF has 15 Division 1 sports, and play in the WCC conference

Admissions/Academics:

This year they had 17,500 applications from all over the world
Overall, they had a 70% acceptance rate
Their middle 50% for SAT is 1120-1300 and ACT is 23-28
They are a Common Application school, and take a holistic approach in reading applications
USF offers over 45 majors, and all students take a liberal arts core. Some of their more impressive majors include Accounting, Advertising, Architecture & Community Design, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Finance, Hospitality Management, International Business, Marketing, Nursing, and Media Studies
For some majors, USF offers a 3 year accelerated graduation plan, where students take more classes during each semester, and enroll in two summer semesters
Hot off the press, USF will be offering a new engineering program beginning in the fall of 2018!!!

What’s special about University of San Francisco:

USF is situated on some incredibly prime real estate in one of the most sought-after locations in the country. San Francisco, much like New York City, is a hub for all different cultures and walks of life, and is an area where all different industries, especially the tech world is absolutely booming. USF knows this and takes full advantage of their surroundings.

They have a top notch Career Services Program with a ton of access to the top companies in the world. There aren't many colleges out there where you can have breakfast on campus, then within 10 minutes get to your internship at LinkedIn, and then come back to campus for your afternoon classes. With companies like Facebook, Google, SalesForce (fastest growing company in the country), Twitter, etc, all right there in the Bay Area, the internship and career opportunities are endless. As long as you put in some effort, you will be given the chance to be extremely successful, and USF will do everything to help you.

USF actually is part of a 22 University Internship Consortium, which is a private network that shares internships and job opportunities. This is a very exclusive consortium, with 14 of the 22 schools being ranked in US News World & Report top 25 colleges. USF also owns exclusive Bay Area membership rights to this group, so there is no competition with the other colleges in the area. In 2015-2016 alone, over 10,000 US and international internships were posted in this group.

At USF, you are going to be taught by incredible professors, and will have rigorous academic training in the classroom. I think the sheer access to a crazy amount of career opportunities right outside your door is what makes University of San Francisco very special.

Personal Perspective:

I am a big fan of Jesuit education and everything that it entails...commitment to academics and helping the community are a big part of the Jesuit world, and that is a core principle at USF. Walking around the campus, and talking to professors, you can easily see two things; the USF community deeply cares about its students, and will push them to improve themselves in all facets of life.

When it comes down to choosing a college, you want to make sure you are taken care of are given many different opportunities to grow as a person both academically and socially. Without a doubt, you will get this at USF.

Joseph D. Korfmacher