Santa Clara University
Reviews

House Parties and a Few Bars

Students who live in dorms tend to pregame there, but that's only the beginning of the night. Students the meander on over to an off campus house for a larger party. Usually its the same crowd of people and always very fun. Around midnight kids walk to the bars. There are only a few bars around campus but all of them are fun. Get an i.d. or find out the nights where the bars have an open door.

California Girls

Before I arrived, I had heard folklore about the kind of chicks that inhabit this part of the country - and they were all true. The girls at Santa Clara University are drop dead gorgeous. During warm spring days, the campus is filled with beauties in flowing summer dresses. Not to mention, they are all concerned about staying fit and healthy so the gym is always crowded with cuties in skimpy clothing. Lots of the girls and guys on campus get into serious relationships during their freshman and sophomore year and I have heard the conversion rate is very high. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a honey hole of beautiful and intelligent girls, Santa Clara is the place to be.

Underrated Atmosphere

Given, there are some dilapidated parts of San Jose. Heading towards the El Camino Real, you will find one of the uglier parts of California, clustered with run-down-strip-mall after run-down-strip-mall. Nevertheless, San Jose and the surrounding Bay Area has so much more to offer. Santana Row and Valley Fair shopping centers are just around the corner from the school and offer students access to upscale shopping and excellent dining experiences. Down town San Jose also has delicious eateries, fun bars and the HP Pavilion - home to the San Jose Sharks. Not to mention, the San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) play on campus, and that San Francisco 49ers are soon to be the Santa Clara 49ers. During the weekends, students lacking transportation can rent the zip cars on campus, or take a short ride on the Caltrain to San Francisco, where they will find a plethora of activities to do. In the warmer part of the year those adventurous enough can take 17-S to Santa Cruz and try to catch some waves. In short, Santa Clara University is located in the Bay Area, one of the most diverse and interesting places on the planet - if there is anything that you are looking to do, I am sure you can find it here.

This Place Is Amazing!

I absolutely love Santa Clara. When I went down to visit it, it felt like home.

State of the Art Computers and Lightning Fast Connections

Once you're enrolled, you are given about $50 worth of printer ink on your Access card, which is more than enough for each quarter. There are plenty of places to print out what you need, especially the library. We have labs equipped with state of the art Macs, which is great because it's so new. Wireless internet is pretty fast too, considering how many students are logged onto the network. Just don't download anything illegal and you'll be good to go!

Campus Safety

There are little posts distributed around campus that allow you to contact an officer immediately in case you feel unsafe. Not only that, but there is patrol around every so often, and a security alert system that will notify you if there is an intruder or otherwise threatening person/group around. Police department is right around the corner too, so there is nothing to fear.

WI-FI/ Technology/ Media Services

Yeah, we are loaded with technology. Wi-Fi is spread throughout the campus. The library is the hub of all things technological. There are Macs and PC's for students to use. Media Services is located in the library which provides adapters, cameras, laptops, etc. for students to check out.

Biochemistry Student at SCU

The science facilities are the most neglected at Santa Clara. However, the faculty are amazing and really help to get you numerous research opportunities outside of the classroom before you graduate. The workload is not too bad, seeing as it is primarily tests that determine your grade.

Lots of Computers

There are many computers to use, especially in the huge library.

Good Stuff

SCU campus police is chill. You have nothing to worry about

Freshman Can't Bring a Car

Not that many freshman need a car, but it sucks for those occasions when you want to go shopping and have to pay for the bus or a cab. You can apply for a permit if you have special needs (like a medical condition or an off-campus job). If you don't get a permit, just befriend an upper-classman.

Vibrant Student Body

Santa Clara is a great place to be because not only are students very passionate and motivated to do well, they are also well-dressed and outgoing. Though many of the students are aesthetically pleasing, in my experience at SCU, good looks do not correlate to shallowness. Dating at Santa Clara is a more common occurrence than at many of my friends' schools. There is a wide variety of people in serious relationships, casually dating, and hooking-up.

Life at SCU: Campus Strictness

SCU is more laid back than you might think for a Jesuit university. If you do get caught drinking or smoking in your room, campus safety takes away all of your drug/alcohol paraphernalia. Like, shot glasses, the actual alcohol or drug in question, and you get fined and have to do community service. Don't drink or smoke in the dorms, be smart and you won't get in trouble.

Life at SCU: Dorms

I LOVE living in the dorms at SCU. I live in Swig and it is an 11-story building full of freshmen and sophomores. It is such a great place to meet people, my floor is very close, we all leave the doors open and socialize constantly. While it is expensive, it is worth the cost, the dining hall, Benson, is one minute walking from Swig and most of the dorms. There are also a lot of different dorms with different atmospheres because of the different RLC's. If you are very social, like going out and are outgoing, don't mind noise, live in Swig or Dunne. Campisi, San Fillipo, Graham, Sobrato and Casa Italiana are on the "quiet side" of campus, which is also SUPER nice. I would not recommend living in Walsh and McGlaughlin, they are fine, but the other dorms are better. Off-campus campus housing, like Bellarmine, University Villas and Saint Claire's are all good options as well especially for upperclassmen. I would definitely rank the off-campus campus housing 1. University VIllas (brand new) 2. Bellarmine 3. Saint Claire's (old motel redone, not the best option), bad location. The neighborhood next to SCU is the most popular option for upperclassmen. The houses all have names, such as "America", "Zoo", "Oasis", "Cloud 9", etc. I would recommend living off campus as an upperclassmen.

Attractive and Smart

The girls are gorgeous, which makes me very jealous as a girl. Seriously, there are SO many pretty girls. The guys are okay; there's a good mix along the lines of looks. The majority are neutral, not unattractive or super attractive. Although, I have seen some really FINE guys on campus. The upperclassmen, especially the guys, are super welcoming to freshman and invite them to their parties. Freshman and a fifth for example is all about partying and drinking with freshies. As a freshman, it's nice to feel extremely accepted instead of despised.

Good looking

One thing for sure about Santa Clara, some how everyone looks good. Guys and girls. Most people aren't cocky about it either, and are actually nice people as well. Definitely a good looking group of people.

Engineering

Engineering has a heavy workload at Santa Clara, but I enjoy it a lot. The professors are fun and you learn a lot. You enjoy what you learn, and the labs are a lot of fun. And it is easy to get a job after graduation.

Parties Are Great! and Bars Are Fun Too

Off campus parties are a blast, almost any day of the week you can go out. Normal party schedule: Monday night: C&J's bar; Tuesday night: The Hut (Bar); Wednesday Night: lots of house parties (Wednesday's are a huge party day for santa clara based off of tradition), Thursday: Blinky's (Bar), Friday night: House parties. Saturday Day: Day party (during Fall and Spring Quarters there will be day parties pretty much every saturday, and if you don't go to the day parties, you can always find casual drinking throughout the day with almost anyone), Saturday Night: House parties. Sunday, day of rest/studying. The parties are a lot of fun and you can always find some to go to! and unlike other schools, no night parties charges for admissions, all of them are free. (some of the annual major day parties do, but it will only be like $2-5).

different but awesome greek life

Santa Clara DOES have greek life, although not a large percentage of the students here participate in it. Greek life dominates the social scene at Santa Clara and is a great way to get involved and meet people. More girls participate in greek life than boys and it seems that you will meet more girls that are in sororities than boys that are in fraternities. With this said, both organizations are awesome and there the perfect balance between sorority/fraternity life and non-greek life on and off campus. Students are certainly not obligated to join a sorority/fraternity and will do fine without joining, but it has definitely been a rewarding expereince thus far and I have met some really great people by participating. Overall, I would advise looking into getting involved in greek life if you attend Santa Clara, you will most likely not regret it!

Typical Student

General description of the average Santa Clara student: was successful in high school both socially and academically, involved in a bunch of things, 20% involved in off campus greek life, dresses well (boys=sort of preppy, girls= well dressed in general), social life is AWESOME, visitors to SCU always leave the weekend shocked at how hard the students party, # of people in relationships is pretty synonymous to how it was in high school... every student at SCU is friendly and tries to remember you even when they may have met you under interesting circumstances...

Men's Basketball

The biggest sport here at Santa Clara is the Men's Basketball team. There are always newsletters and announcements encouraging people to go.

Their Facebook page is awesome

check out the undergrad admissions Facebook page for all your information. It really was helpful and gave me all the information I could ever need about everything!

They Warn You

Be careful. They give you plenty of warnings and tell you the rules many times but you don't want to mess up because once you do well they put down the law.

General Campus Aesthetics

The campus is BEAUTIFUL! The grass is always green and greatly maintained, there are a ton of roses all around campus. Overall, it gives for a very colorful school. Some of the buildings look the same but each building is still pretty nice!

Majors at SCU

The course load for my specific program (public health science) is challenging, and it is imperative for students to learn how to manage their time and prioritize their work. There are opportunities to earn internships if you work with the Career Center, which is a great way to spend your summer if you are staying in the area. Public Health is a competitive major,and students will be taking science classes alongside biology and chemistry majors, so it is helpful to being open to getting a tutor!