<p>I'm curious about Santa Clara University's reputation among other schools in the area, and in the country. I know Forbes rated it highly, as well as US News and World, but I want to hear from real people. What do any alumni have to say?</p>
<p>I’m curious about this too, what is the reputation in other parts of CA like Los Angeles. Is it heard of or known on the East coast?</p>
<p>Even before matriculation, I met a number of folks in Seattle/Portland who hold SCU in high regard; the repute is even greater in the Bay Area, particularly in the South Bay, in LA, in Denver, and so forth. There seems to be a pretty solid contingent of folks in the western half of the country who ‘trade’ students to other western states, and that’s how the name gets out. I wouldn’t worry about the reputation; the question is whether you’re just going to be a student or whether you’re going to do something worthwhile with your time here. If the former, maybe consider schools with wider appeal. If the latter, then geographically speaking, the opportunities are boundless.</p>
<p>Allemanau, what is SCU’s rep relative to USF, Fordham, LMU, and Boston College? All are obviously Jesuits and my son’s been accepted at all 5. SCU’s offered exceptional aid, but packages are not final from others yet.</p>
<p>Santa Clara’s (SCU) reputation is definitely stronger than LMU, USF, and above Fordham, its more on par with Boston College out of those 5. I have heard Santa Clara often referred to as the Georgetown of the West.</p>
<p>@theory5 did you go to school at Santa Clara or are you just from the Cal area?</p>
<p>All those schools are well-known regionally (use the Mississippi as a dividing line if you please!). Boston College used to be the exception to that rule until their football team went downhill, and I can safely say now their reputation on the West Coast is no better than SCU. BC is the most selective at just below 30% (or something like that), but SCU is slowly catching up to that level of selectivity. In the decade of functional majors, too, SCU has an excellent business school and a pretty darn good engineering school, which churn out successful alumni. But all of the schools possess regional prestige to the best of my knowledge.</p>
<p>Santa Clara is higher regarded in general (note that I’m not saying it is a better school, as they are all great schools) than USF and LMU. It is definitely a bigger name out West than Fordham and as well known out here as Boston College. I would say that we’re more of the Boston College of the West Coast than a Georgetown, though I think it’s probably most accurate to compare us to Villanova (more similar in size and structure) though it is a different order of preists. In any event, Santa Clara has a fine name West of the Rockies and increasing recognition on the East Coast and elsewhere. You will not be limited with in any way with a Santa Clara degree in any part of the country.</p>
<p>Our daughter attends Georgetown and we were thrilled that our son was accepted to SCU school of engineering a couple of days ago. I’m not focused so much on prestige as on fit for both my children and I hope that he will be as happy at SCU as she is at Georgetown. If he wanted to study business, I would have been equally happy if he had chosen to study at either school, however for engineering, SCU was the right choice as Georgetown does not have an engineering school. He visited her in DC and he loved both campuses and he wanted to stay in California. She has a passion for government and journalism studies and Georgetown has exceeded her expectations for both and she is having the most incredible experience there. I really think prestige is overrated - try to make the most of the opportunities available to you at your college and pick a college based on fit so that you can be happy along the way. </p>