January 1, 1970

University of San Francisco: Programs, Rankings, and What Student Life Is Actually Like

There's something quietly unusual about the University of San Francisco. Sit down in the Lone Mountain Dining Hall and you're eating with a view that stretches across the Bay, downtown San Francisco, and the Pacific Ocean — all at once. The 55-acre campus occupies hills in the Lone Mountain neighborhood, one block from the geographic center of the city. Founded by Jesuits in 1855 when San Francisco was still deep in gold rush mode, USF has spent 170 years working out how to be both a rigorous academic institution and a university that takes its social obligations seriously. That combination, it turns out, is rarer than it sounds.

A Jesuit University With a Specific Point of View

The Jesuit tradition at USF is not just a historical footnote — it actively shapes the curriculum, the student culture, and the kind of graduates the university aims to produce. Every undergraduate completes a core that includes philosophy, theology, ethics, and social responsibility. Not to convert anyone, but because the Ignatian model holds that educated people need to understand why they do what they do, not just how.

This shows up in concrete, measurable ways. USF placed 59th among national universities for Social Mobility in the 2026 U.S. News rankings, meaning it consistently moves low-income students into economic stability at a rate that outpaces most private schools. Its diversity index of 0.77 tied for the highest among all nationally ranked universities — a function of both the San Francisco location and a deliberate institutional commitment to enrolling first-generation and underrepresented students.

In 2025, Salvador Aceves became the first layperson ever elected to the university's presidency. That's a significant shift for an institution Jesuit-led since 1855. Whether you see it as evolution or rupture depends on your perspective, but it signals a university actively thinking about its identity rather than coasting on it.

The university enrolls approximately 9,000 students total — around 5,287 undergraduates and 3,504 graduate students. That size keeps class sections small and professors accessible in a way that larger research universities struggle to replicate.

Academic Programs: Where USF Actually Stands Out

The nursing program is USF's clearest case of doing something at an elite level. Undergraduate nursing ranks 22nd out of 683 accredited programs nationally in the 2026 U.S. News rankings, placing it in the top 3 percent of every nursing school in the country. The graduate MSN program jumped 45 positions in a single year to 27th nationally — a move that doesn't happen by accident.

For nursing students, the San Francisco location matters beyond the rankings. Clinical rotations at UCSF Medical Center and San Francisco General Hospital expose students to patient complexity that mid-sized regional hospitals simply don't see. Nursing students can also pursue international immersion placements in Vietnam and Guatemala, which adds a global health dimension most programs don't offer at the undergraduate level.

The School of Management ranks 131st for undergraduate business nationally, with an entrepreneurship track that has placed in the top 12 programs in the country. Silicon Valley sits 45 minutes south. The Bay Area's startup density is among the highest anywhere. Those aren't abstract benefits — students who want internships and mentorship networks in tech, finance, or social enterprise have access to them in a way that students at comparable-ranked universities in other cities don't.

USF's School of Law (founded 1912, one of the oldest in California) offers full-time, part-time, and joint-degree JD programs. The part-time track is genuinely useful for working professionals in San Francisco's legal and tech sectors who want a law degree without a career gap.

The Rankings Picture in 2026

Here is where USF's major programs currently sit in U.S. News rankings:

Program	U.S. News 2026 Rank	Percentile
Undergraduate Nursing	22 / 683	Top 3%
MSN (Graduate Nursing)	27	Top 20%
Psychology	130	Top 20%
Business (Undergraduate)	131	Top 25%
Computer Science	154	Top 25%
Overall National Universities	110	Top 30%
Social Mobility	59	Top 15%

Computer science at 154th is respectable but not a headline. Students chasing a top-10 CS ranking should look elsewhere. But for students who want a CS degree with direct access to Bay Area employers and a student-to-faculty ratio that lets you actually talk to your professors, USF is a reasonable choice that won't be dismissed by recruiters at local companies.

Understanding What USF Actually Costs

The number that stops families in their tracks: tuition for 2025-26 runs $60,522. Add on-campus housing, dining, and fees and the full cost of attendance reaches $84,814 per year.

That's a real number. Nobody should gloss over it.

But 90 percent of enrolled students receive some form of grant or scholarship, and the average aid package for those students comes to $30,843 — covering roughly half the tuition. For a family in the $75,000–$120,000 income range, the net price often ends up comparable to attending an out-of-state public university once aid is factored in.

A few things worth knowing before assuming USF is unaffordable:

Merit scholarships are awarded at admission — there's no separate competitive application for most of them
Top academic applicants can receive merit awards that go up to full tuition
USF's Jesuit network includes partnerships with Jesuit high schools that sometimes carry their own scholarship pipelines
Graduate programs at the Sacramento and San Jose satellite campuses can run at lower cost than main campus options

The acceptance rate hovers between 62 and 71 percent depending on the reporting year. USF is accessible, but not a guaranteed admit. Students with strong GPAs (generally 3.5 and above) who apply strategically for merit aid tend to see meaningful packages.

Student Life: San Francisco Is the Campus

Here's the honest take on USF's social scene: it's not a traditional residential college experience. There's no football program. Greek life is quiet — about 53 percent of students describe it as having almost no effect on social life. Weekends thin out as students spread across the city.

If that sounds like a drawback, it depends entirely on what you want. San Francisco offers music venues, hiking, museums, food from every cuisine imaginable, and tech events that double as networking opportunities. Students who thrive at USF tend to be people who wanted to live in San Francisco, not people who got placed there.

On-campus community is more real than the social scene suggests. With 100-plus registered clubs spanning academic groups, cultural organizations, and service clubs, there's structure for students who want belonging close to home. The student-run newspaper, radio station, and television operation give hands-on media production experience — not just resume lines.

Bon Appétit (the food service company) runs six eateries across campus, including the Lone Mountain Dining Hall. Student reviews trend positive on food quality, which is genuinely unusual. Living-learning communities place incoming students in shared housing with peers in the same courses, building cohorts that last past orientation week.

Safety stands out too: 86 percent of students report feeling extremely safe and secure on campus, a number that reflects both USF's tight-knit scale and its specific neighborhood.

Athletics and the Bill Russell Legacy

The USF Dons compete in NCAA Division I as a charter member of the West Coast Conference. Sports include baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field, cross country, and volleyball.

The basketball history here is something else. The men's team won back-to-back national championships in 1955 and 1956, built around Bill Russell and K.C. Jones — two players who went on to win 11 combined NBA championships after leaving campus. The 1951 football team (USF discontinued football in 1951 after that final season) went 9-0 and produced nine future NFL players, three of whom were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For a private university with under 10,000 students, that record is extraordinary.

Modern Dons athletics are competitive at the conference level without the pressure-cooker environment of Power Five programs. West Coast Conference competition against Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, and Loyola Marymount keeps basketball interesting. Club sports fill in the rest, running from recreational leagues to nationally competitive programs.

Bottom Line

Nursing is USF's strongest academic asset — a top-3% undergraduate program with San Francisco clinical access that the ranking alone doesn't capture. If health sciences is your path, USF belongs on a serious list.
Business, law, and social impact programs benefit from the location in ways that are hard to replicate at schools ranked higher but located in smaller markets.
Run the net price calculator before assuming you can't afford it. With 90% of students receiving aid and average packages near $30,843, the gap between sticker price and real cost is significant.
The social scene is city-first. Students who want a big campus party culture will find USF underwhelming. Students who want to spend four years learning to live like an adult in a world-class city will find the trade-off very much worth it.
For its size and tuition bracket, USF punches above its weight on social mobility and diversity. If those values matter to you in choosing a school, that's not a minor distinction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is USF a hard school to get into?

USF's acceptance rate runs between 62 and 71 percent, putting it in the moderately selective category. Admitted students typically have GPAs in the 3.4–3.9 range. USF is test-optional for admissions, though strong scores can improve merit aid eligibility.

How is USF different from UCSF?

They are entirely separate institutions. UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) is a graduate-only research university focused on medicine and health sciences. USF (University of San Francisco) is a private Jesuit university offering undergraduate and graduate programs across arts, sciences, business, law, education, and nursing. Students routinely confuse the two because both are in San Francisco with nursing strengths.

Is the Jesuit identity restrictive for non-Catholic students?

Not in practice. USF welcomes students of all faiths and none. The core curriculum asks students to engage with ethics and philosophy — attendance at religious services is not required. Roughly 40 percent of the student body identifies as Catholic; the remainder represent a wide range of backgrounds and traditions.

What should incoming freshmen know about housing?

Freshmen are strongly encouraged to live on campus. The living-learning communities are worth requesting specifically — they pair shared housing with a shared course load, which creates genuine academic friendships faster than standard residence hall placement. Upper-class students typically move to surrounding neighborhoods like the Richmond, the Sunset, or Cole Valley.

Does the San Francisco location actually help with careers?

Yes, more concretely than most university location claims. The Bay Area's density of tech companies, hospitals, law firms, nonprofits, and financial institutions means internships and entry-level opportunities are nearby. Nursing students rotate through major hospital systems. Business students can network with professionals in person rather than over Zoom. The location is a structural advantage, not just a lifestyle perk.

How strong is USF for graduate students specifically?

Graduate programs vary. The nursing MSN (ranked 27th nationally after a 45-spot jump) and the law school are the standout options. Business and education graduate programs are solid regional choices. Graduate students should compare specific program rankings rather than relying on the overall university number, since variation across schools is wide.