University of San Diego Overview

Located in San Diego, California, University of San Diego is a private not-for-profit institution. The city atmosphere of San Diego makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

What Is University of San Diego Known For?

• The 2% student loan default rate at USD is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at USD.
• For the 2019-2020 academic year, 51% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, USD bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $74,816 a year. That's about 83% more than their peers at other schools.
• The average USD student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

University of San Diego Rankings

USD landed the #288 spot in our 2023 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 2,018 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

USD has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#88	Best Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at USD.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#2	Best Law Enforcement & Firefighting Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#2	Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Medical Illustration & Informatics Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#20	Best Legal Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#63	Best Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#78	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#83	Best English Language & Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#130	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#137	Best Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards USD has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Business Analytics Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#6	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Schools	College Factual
#7	Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools	College Factual
#102	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual
#136	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual
#153	Best Healthcare Schools	Healthcare Degree Search

Where Is University of San Diego?

Contact details for USD are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110-2492
Phone:	619-260-4600
Website:	www.sandiego.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/usandiego
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/uofsandiego

How Do I Get Into USD?

You can apply to USD online at: www.sandiego.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/application.php

Admission Requirements for USD

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	neither required nor recommended
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into USD?

The acceptance rate at USD is 59%, which is a sign that the school is fairly selective. While it may not be as hard to get into as other colleges, you should not take admission for granted.

Approximately 38% of accepted students are men and 62% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 56%, and the acceptance rate for women is 60%.

Can I Afford University of San Diego?

The overall average net price of USD is $51,972. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At USD, approximately 39% of students took out student loans averaging $7,602 a year. That adds up to $30,408 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at USD is 1.9%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

University of San Diego Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 5,529 undergraduate students at USD, with 5,294 being full-time and 235 being part-time.

There are also 3,332 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 5,294 full-time undergraduates at USD, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of University of San Diego students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	394
Black or African American	164
Hispanic or Latino	1,172
White	2,604
International Students	378
Other Races/Ethnicities	582

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at University of San Diego. At this time, 45 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 79 countries are represented at USD. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at University of San Diego

In 2019-2020, 788 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at USD has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 31st most popular in California for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of USD

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at University of San Diego was $52,864 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how USD is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Information Technology	#72	#72
Medical Illustration & Informatics	#73	#73

Online Growth Rankings of USD

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of San Diego was 14.3%. This is the #1,226 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at USD regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of USD majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Business Administration & Management	9%
Business, Management & Marketing	0%
Computer & Information Sciences	24%
Criminal Justice & Corrections	4%
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	32%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at USD ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at USD.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Other Education	#53
Curriculum & Instruction	#159

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

University of San Diego Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	138	0	161	0	299
Law	0	0	0	227	227
Finance & Financial Management	178	0	1	0	179
Nursing	0	0	89	58	147
Criminal Justice & Corrections	0	0	131	0	131
Marketing	127	0	0	0	127
Legal Support Services	0	102	0	0	102
Communication & Media Studies	100	0	0	0	100
General Psychology	100	0	0	0	100
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	97	0	97
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	95	0	0	0	95
Accounting	79	0	13	0	92
Real Estate	75	0	16	0	91
Educational Administration	0	0	75	15	90
General Education	0	0	89	0	89
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	70	0	70
Political Science & Government	63	0	0	0	63
Mechanical Engineering	60	0	0	0	60
Economics	58	0	0	0	58
General Biology	56	0	0	0	56
Medical Illustration & Informatics	0	0	56	0	56
Natural Resources Conservation	42	0	10	0	52
Sociology	48	0	0	0	48
International Relations & National Security	37	0	9	0	46
International Business	45	0	0	0	45
Information Technology	0	0	40	0	40
Computer Science	38	0	0	0	38
Industrial Engineering	38	0	0	0	38
Legal Research	0	0	38	0	38
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution	0	0	32	0	32
Applied Mathematics	0	0	29	0	29
Architectural History	28	0	0	0	28
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	27	0	0	0	27
General English Literature	27	0	0	0	27
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	26	0	26
Data Analytics	0	0	25	0	25
Romance Languages	23	0	0	0	23
Fine & Studio Arts	23	0	0	0	23
Electrical Engineering	22	0	0	0	22
Mathematics	22	0	0	0	22
History	21	0	0	0	21
Taxation	0	0	20	0	20
Liberal Arts General Studies	20	0	0	0	20
Philosophy	20	0	0	0	20
Human Services	0	0	16	0	16
Music	12	0	0	0	12
Chemistry	11	0	0	0	11
Drama & Theater Arts	4	0	7	0	11
Physics	9	0	0	0	9
Ethnic Studies	8	0	0	0	8
General Engineering	7	0	0	0	7
Religious Studies	5	0	0	0	5
Teaching English or French	0	0	4	0	4
Area Studies	4	0	0	0	4
Legal Professions (Other)	0	0	4	0	4
Special Education	0	0	2	0	2
Anthropology	2	0	0	0	2
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	0	1	0	1
Business/Managerial Economics	0	0	0	0	0
Other Education	0	0	0	0	0
Other Public Administration	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,672	102	1,061	300	3,135

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Walleigh under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.