This discussion was created from comments split from: Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why?.
To those of you who know the area well…how do you think U of San Diego’s graduates do? Are they getting good jobs after graduation? My son is seriously considering USD (he’s a junior so we have time, I expect him to get in based on his stats). We absolutely loved it (and my husband is an alum). My hunch is my son would stay in the area after graduation because it’s too nice to leave…just wondering if anyone has any idea if the grads are getting good jobs that would enable them to be able to afford to stay out there?
My niece graduated from USD about 4 years ago. I don’t think any of her close friends stayed in SD. A handful, including my niece, ended up in Washington DC for jobs or grad school.
I am a recent accounting major graduate in May 2019. USD is the best decision I’ve ever made. Academically, the business school (especially for accounting) is very rigorous. It prepares you well for the workforce and 99.9% of accounting graduates have jobs in their field (or gap year etc.). I am starting at a top level accounting firm in October, and USD truly prepared me well in going through the recruiting process as well as with classes. I can say that I did not have one bad accounting professor at USD. All are extremely helpful, qualified, and provide an amazing rigorous atmosphere. All the top accounting firms recruit heavily on campus, with the top 7 firms (Big 4 and Mid-Tier) having a huge presence through campus recruiting. Basically what I am saying is, if you have an accounting degree coming out of USD with even semi-decent grades (3.3+), you will be able to land a good job. I am staying in San Diego after graduation, and so are many of my friends (I am from the midwest originally.
As for the atmosphere of the campus, it is very welcoming. The location of the school is incredible with Downtown, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Hillcrest, UTC/La Jolla (where many jobs are located) being 5-10 minutes away. Students often live in Mission and Pacific beaches their junior and senior years. It is hard to be bored at USD with so much to do. The dorms are great for college dorms and the food is actually incredible (but expensive). I had done a summer program at Boston U and the food was terrible there so I was expecting similar from USD (I was very wrong). There are many activities and ways for students to get involved on campus through a 2 time per year “Alcala Bazaar” event, where organizations table and new students learn more about student organizations on campus, whether it be for sports, the arts, fraternities, or sororities. As for safety, the campus is very safe, and San Diego as a whole may be the safest big city in the US. At least for me, once I got to San Diego I didn’t want to leave.
Some bad things: The parking at USD is atrocious for students. Parking tickets are expensive and frequent if students park in incorrect places/are late for class due to not arriving to campus early enough (If you don’t live on campus, add 15 minutes on top of the time it takes to reach campus in order to find parking or walk up to classes from the west lot). For guys, joining a fraternity is a must for a solid social life, but for girls, Sororities don’t matter as much. Also, if you haven’t taken AP Calculus in high school, the math department at USD is terrible. I would take it at nearby (5 minutes away) Mesa Community College and transfer it in which is very easy to do. This of course, is if Calculus is required for your major path. Otherwise, I can’t think of many other cons. Good luck on your college search and I hope this helps!