Talk about prime real estate: USF is next door to the legendary Haight-Ashbury district, down the street from Golden Gate Park, and within five miles of the Pacific Ocean. Though USF is a Jesuit institution, just a quarter of its students are Roman Catholic. Asia Pacific studies is a standout, along with preprofessional offerings. About a third of the students are from outside California.

In the heart of one of the nation’s most liberal cities is a thriving university, founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1855, that has become an integral part of its community. Instead of shunning the city’s reputation, the University of San Francisco embraces it with a strong social conscience. With an incredibly diverse student body and an emphasis on programs such as nursing, biology, and business, students encounter a broad set of cultures, academic challenges in a liberal arts setting, and the chance to put all that experience to good use.

USF’s 55 well-kept acres, spotted with beautiful basilica-type buildings and modern facilities, are, as one student puts it, “wedged into the heart of San Francisco.” The campus stands atop one of San Francisco’s seven hills, adjacent to Golden Gate Park, overlooking San Francisco Bay and the city skyline. The Lo Schiavo Center for Science and Innovation features cutting-edge classrooms, laboratories, and community gathering places.

The 44-unit core curriculum requires students to take courses in six major categories: foundation of communication; math and sciences; humanities; philosophy, theology, and ethics; social sciences; and visual and performing arts. Optional first-year seminars give students insights into unique topics and a taste of the city through excursions and other enrichment activities; recent topics include the ethics of artificial intelligence and the immigrant experience in the Bay Area.

USF places a strong emphasis on its preprofessional programs in nursing, science, communications, and business. By enrollment, nursing, psychology, biology, and computer science are the most popular majors. Finance, data science, entrepreneurship and innovation, and hospitality management are also strengths. In the School of Nursing’s Simulation Lab, nursing students interact with state-of-the-art mannequins, including adult, pediatrics, and obstetrics, that simulate symptoms and conditions specific to real-life patients and scenarios. The Center for Asia Pacific Studies enhances interdisciplinary majors with an Asian focus, as does the Asian studies program. The visual arts program provides courses in art education, graphic and fine art, drawing, painting, art history, and museum studies. A new major in engineering launched in fall 2020. Accelerated, three-year bachelor’s degree options are available in 21 majors.

Some of the preprofessional majors are demanding, and “competition for internships and leadership opportunities can get intense,” says an advertising major. But students agree that the climate in the classroom is generally more relaxed and collaborative. Extensive and mandatory academic advising ensures that students’ courseloads are manageable. Forty-two percent of undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students, and according to a junior, “All USF professors are active in their field” and able to bring real-world experience into the classroom.

“Internships and service learning are definitely big parts of the education here at USF,” says one senior. Community-minded students take advantage of service-learning courses and volunteer programs, often through University Ministries, and the student body as a whole contributes 280,000 hours of community service each year. USF is also the official host of the Human Rights Watch Festival, which is integrated into the curriculum. The St. Ignatius Institute, housed in the university’s Honors College, offers an integrated four-year, honors-based curriculum centered on the great books of Western civilization presented in an unusual seminar/lecture combination. The program is not restricted to top students, and participants can spend their junior year studying in Oxford, Rome, or Budapest. Overall, the university offers more than 100 study abroad programs in 45 countries. “USF also has a partnership with UC San Francisco, so a lot of people are able to do research at the various UCSF campuses,” notes a junior.

“USF is like a mini San Francisco, with kooky and business-minded students,” comments an education and English major. Sixty-seven percent of undergraduates are from California, and 13 percent hail from abroad. Twenty-six percent identify as Catholic. Asian Americans account for 24 percent of the population, African Americans 5 percent, Hispanics 22 percent, and multiracial students 9 percent. A sociology major points to “socioeconomic advancement for marginalized communities, environmental and social justice, and LGBTQ+ positivity and acceptance” as popular causes on campus. Admission is need-blind, and USF offers merit scholarships averaging $18,500, as well as athletic scholarships.

Just 34 percent of undergrads live in on-campus housing, which is guaranteed for the first year. After that, most students brave San Francisco’s budget-busting rental market, which “can be a struggle,” says a senior, especially if you don’t have a parent or guardian who can cosign a lease. On-campus students say the dining facilities offer a range of vegan, vegetarian, and other choices. “Campus safety officers are constantly roaming the campus making sure that the students are safe,” reports a student. And while students say sexual assault has not been a big problem on campus, “USF encourages a lot of dialogue” on the issue.

Notable campus activities include the Hawaiian Club’s annual luau, the Barrio Festival held by the Filipino American Club, and the springtime Donaroo music festival. The College Players is the oldest continuously performing college theater group in the West. Fraternities attract 5 percent of the men and sororities draw 10 percent of the women, although they don’t have houses. The school’s zero-tolerance policy on underage drinking is strictly enforced. USF’s greatest social asset is undoubtedly its location, and most social life takes place off campus. San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city where students can take advantage of reliable public transportation, including the famous cable cars, to get to a variety of cultural attractions, ranging from Chinatown to the symphony. “Living in a city like San Francisco, there is no reason to constrict oneself to the confines of a campus, with so many concerts, bars, nightclubs, and other happenings going on literally every single night of the year,” says a senior.

Varsity athletics provide a popular diversion as well, and the Division I USF Dons compete in the West Coast Conference. Men’s soccer and women’s cross-country are perennial powerhouses. The university sponsors two dozen club and intramural sports; the club volleyball, boxing, and judo teams are nationally competitive. Students make ample use of the Koret Health and Recreation Center, which touts an Olympic-size swimming pool, exercise and weight rooms, and a variety of playing courts.

The core mission of USF is to use the Jesuit tradition, which views “faith and reason as complementary resources in the search for truth and authentic human development,” as the backdrop for a solid liberal arts and preprofessional education. Students complain about the “notoriously expensive” cost of living in San Francisco and rising tuition rates, but those who can swing it take advantage of the cosmopolitan setting to get involved and make the most of their time here. “Students at USF truly care about learning and we desire to achieve great things in life,” says a kinesiology major. “I haven’t met a student who doesn’t want to change the world.”

-Fiske Guide