Welcome
The University of San Diego is a modern university that reveres its roots. Computers are ubiquitous. Students carry their entire music collection in their pocket. But USD also is a community that takes great pride in its past and its Catholic tradition. The University of San Diego has for more than 50 years been dedicated to providing a values-based education that recognizes men and women as creatures of God, and to the continuing examination of Catholic tradition in contemporary life. USD’s 180-acre campus, Alcalá Park, overlooks San Diego’s Mission Bay and the spot where Father Junipero Serra celebrated the first Catholic Mass in Alta California more than 230 years ago. Like California’s oldest city, the university took its name from San Diego de Alcalá, a Franciscan brother from Alcalá de Henares, a monastery near Madrid, Spain. The Spanish Renaissance architecture that characterizes Spain’s five-century-old University of Alcalá serves as the inspiration for all buildings on the USD campus.
Under the leadership of Mother Rosalie Hill of the Society of the Sacred Heart and Bishop Charles Francis Buddy of the Diocese of San Diego, the University of San Diego began as separate colleges for men and women. The first classes met in 1952; the School of Law opened its doors in 1954. In 1972 the colleges merged into the University of San Diego.
Now governed by a board of trustees independent from the founding organizations, USD is a Roman Catholic institution that welcomes students, faculty and staff of diverse religious traditions and remains dedicated to the values originally articulated by Mother Hill and Bishop Buddy. Students choose from more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in academic divisions including the College of Arts and Sciences, and the schools of Business Administration, Leadership and Education Sciences, Law, Nursing and Health Science, and the newly inaugurated Peace Studies. Men aspiring to the Roman Catholic priesthood prepare for their vocation at the St. Francis Center for Priestly Formation.
We encourage prospective students to visit USD. Student-guided walking tours of the campus and information sessions with a USD admissions counselor are offered every weekday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tours also are available on select Saturdays between November and April.
Contact the Office
of Undergraduate Admissions at (619) 260-4506
or (800) 248-4873,
or e-mail admissions@sandiego.edu.
University Promise
The University of San Diego is a leading Catholic institution for
socially conscious students who strive to serve as ethical leaders
and to connect their values to success.
University Attributes
- Rich, Catholic tradition
- Small class sizes taught by doctoral professors
- Rigorous academics that immerse graduate and undergraduate students in hands-on research
- A global perspective that teaches students how to work for peace and justice
- A curriculum that combines learning with compassionate community service
- Classes infused with a focus on ethics, values and standards of excellence
- A classic setting defined by exquisite landscaping and Spanish Renaissance architecture