There are seven mid-size Catholic universities on the west coast that are all somewhat similar in size, endowments, and ratings. From north to south:
Gonzaga
Seattle University
University of Portland
University of San Francisco
Santa Clara University
Loyola Marymount
University of San Diego
My daughter D21 is looking at both smaller liberal arts colleges on the west coast and the big public flagships here in WA. The Catholic schools are sort of the middle ground. Our summer plans to visit CA schools are probably in the tank. So I’m curious how others would compare and rate these schools. D21 is very undecided. She is interested in biological sciences but it also a talented writer and is interested in digital arts. She probably needs a school where she will have some freedom to discover herself and not dive straight into a major. We have Catholic roots but aren’t practicing Catholic and neither is she. So it wouldn’t hurt for her to pick up a bit of that. But she’s also liberal and LGBT and seeks a friendly environment so she would chafe at a strict conservative Catholic education. She is 3.96 unweighted and 1400 SAT her first try last fall without studying before they shut it down and expects she can bring it up more if given another chance. So she is probably a likely admit to all or most of them.
My impression is that Santa Clara is perhaps starting to distance itself from the others due perhaps to the Silicon Valley location and spillover from Sanford. But that’s just an impression as we haven’t visited.
Anyone care to rate these schools for a liberal LGBT kid who doesn’t really have a focus but maybe is thinking some sort of double major in molecular biology and digital arts (at least this week).