What is the reputation generally of this school in California? We live in Atlanta and my daughter visited the school and really likes it but we don’t know much about it. Any input would be appreciated
it is school with a very long tradition of Catholic education. It doesn’t have a particularly good or bad rep. I think Santa Clara has a stronger reputation for strong academics, especially in STEM majors. .
My wife went to USF and liked it. It has a decent reputation, but all the Bay Area schools get overshadowed by Cal and Stanford.
This is a school where a students major will factor strongly into if it’s a “good school” for your student or not.
Strongest majors here are Nursing (direct entry possible), Business, Marketing/Advertising, Psychology, Education/Teaching, the Data Sciences, and pre-Health studies.
It’s reputation is fine, but as mentioned above, can get lost in the Cal/Stanford shuffle
and is often confused with San Francisco State U, part of the Cal State Uni system.
The 7,000 or so undergrads here tend to be pretty darn happy with the academics, and with the school in general.
It’s a lovely, diverse city school and close to Golden Gate Park, so there’s always lots to do. The downside, however,
can be that students living off-campus can tend to lose the community feel of a more cohesive, traditional campus.
Remember that apartments in SF (for off-campus living) are very expensive - when you can find them.
Be sure to check out their specialty programs, such as the accelerated 3-year BA degree.
Thanks @hop. She loves everything about the school - the location, the diversity, the class sizes, the social justice focus et. One concern is that it doesn’t have much of a photography program which is one of her passions. Trying to figure out if there are options to take classes at nearby SFAI or the like. She won’t major in photo (she is humanities type but undecided on major).
Two great places in SF to take photography classes are:
RayCo Photo Center - www.raykophotocenter.com
Isla Studios - www.islastudio.com
They often have classes at the Harvey Milk Photo Center - www.harveymilkphotocenter.org
In case you’re not familiar Harvey Milk, he owned a photography/camera store in the Castro district, was politically active in San Francisco politics and was the first openly gay man to hold office on the SF Board of Supervisors. He was killed, along with Mayor George Moscone, by another former supervisor, who prison sentence was minimized by the infamous 'Twinkie ’ defense.
Sounds like the school would be a great fit.
Thanks for the info. I do know who Harvey Milk was :). Not sure D18 would.
There are endless people, studios and schools in and around SF offering photography classes. City College of San Francisco seems to have a well-developed program. I suppose you could see if some of those credits would transfer to USF.
People are always mixing up USF, SF State and UCSF. The last one is a medical school.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about USF, and my friends who go there really like it. It’s pricey, but I hear financial aid is good. If your daughter likes it she should definitely apply, reputation be darned (though it is a positive one, if people have heard of it)
It has a solid reputation in the Bay Area, particularly for some of the majors someone noted above (nursing, business). SF can be a great place for college for someone who wants to be in a great city. If you can afford USF, it could be a great place to go to college; however, I would not go into major debt for it. They do knock off $10K or $20K off the price (through scholarships) for students with strong academic records.