University of San Diego

Overview

Rankings

• #4 Best Business Colleges in California
• #4 Best MBA Programs in California
• #4 Best MBA Programs for International Business
• #7 Best Online Colleges in California
• #9 Best MBA Programs for Leadership
• #9 Best MBA Programs for Supply Chain Management
• #11 Best Biology Colleges in California
• #12 Best Engineering Colleges in California

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into University of San Diego? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

Based in San Diego, California, University of San Diego offers a realistic path to admission, with roughly 52% of applicants receiving an offer. The graduation rate is roughly 83%.

Acceptance Rate

52%

Retention Rate

91%

Full-Time Faculty

54%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$13,201

Student–Faculty Ratio

13:1

Diversity Index

0.72

First-Gen Students

25%

Applicants

14,334

Admitted

7,541

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2024-25

The acceptance rate tells you how hard University of San Diego is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 12% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school most admitted students ultimately pass on.

Yield Rate

12%

of admits enroll

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend University of San Diego? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at University of San Diego is $59,486, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $30,365. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $15,586 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $22,940 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$59,486

Out-of-State

$59,486

Avg Net Price

$30,365

Median Debt

$22,940

Pell Grant Rate

21%

Federal Loan Rate

32%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at University of San Diego — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is University of San Diego Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of University of San Diego earn a median of $86,522, well above the national average for bachelor's degree holders.

6 Years After Entry

$64,995

8 Years

$77,744

10 Years

$86,522

Debt-to-Earnings

0.27x

Earning > $25K

81%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does University of San Diego Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

University of San Diego is a genuine engine of upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 2.30%, among the highest in the country. About 4.9% of students come from families in the bottom income quintile. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 46.8% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $139,300, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

2.30%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

46.8%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

4.9%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$189,260

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is University of San Diego? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at University of San Diego. Its economic connectedness score is 1.85, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.00), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 7% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.85

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.00

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

6.6%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

Patents, inventors, and research influence · Opportunity Insights & Times Higher Education

University of San Diego produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 63 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.36%

Top 60% nationally

Patents Produced

63

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

163

Downstream influence

Inventors From Low-Income

0.28%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Investment Income

$-32,921,000

Top Programs

The fields University of San Diego awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Business & Marketing 40% $82,387 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 12% $53,924 early-career
• Social Sciences 9% $60,427 early-career
• Engineering 8% $89,953 early-career
• Psychology 7% $35,271 early-career
• Communications 6% $45,495 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 4% $99,644 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 2%

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.