University of San Francisco Top Questions

USF is a great school. Coming all the way from the east coast to San Francisco, I had a lot to loose. I left my family, friends and home when I came out here. If I genuinely and sincerely did not like USF, I would have packed my bags and went back to New York. Our school is the perfect size, not to big not to large. It is not the type of school where you know everyone, but, is small enough to the point where you see familiar faces just by walking around. Additionally, our school is located in San Francisco, and we are given free bus passes. San Francisco is one of the greatest cities to go school in and is rapidly growing. The rapid growth, and success of the internet and technology businesses of Silicon Valley, speaks for itself, and makes San Francisco a cradle for opportunities. Also, USF is one of the few four-year universities in San Francisco, giving the students an even more bountiful amount of opportunities. However, our school does lack in a few areas. The core curriculum is rather flawed. The ration of social science and humanity classes required to take compared to the science and math oriented classes is blatantly immoderate. The administration is rather slow, unorganized, and annular at times,but that is the nature of bureaucracies. The schools size and intimate location within San Francisco, heavily outweighs the its unbalanced core curriculum and seemingly disjointed administration.

University of San Francisco is unique. It is for individuals who crave a city, yet want a calm place in order to settle down. USF is placed in the middle of San Francisco, which gives students access to exploring the city. Yet USF offers a beautiful campus with abundant places to study and relax. This is one of the many things I love about the university - there is a balance thats accessible for everyone. USF is small, and the size reflects in the size of the campus. All of the professors I have met have been passionate about what they teach; they are eager to help their students. USF is for students who are independent - who can manage their time effectively and engage in a difficult yet interesting curriculum. Unfortunately, there is controversy over how USF spends its money. For example, USF just recently, and suddenly, stopped funding its student run radio station. Besides money difficulties, I would recommend USF to many people: I believe that it is a school that will be highly regarded and known in the future.

I love my University. USF was the first college campus I toured and I just knew it was for me. As cheesy as it sounds I fell in love first with the City and second, with the campus. The best thing about being a student at USF is that the City is really well integrated into the curriculum. With nearly every class I've taken here, I've had an off-campus project/interview/trip that connected theory to practice. I've had "field study" assignments to essentially go out and explore the City, classes held in Art Museums, and Internships in local institutions. I also love our location within the City (we are anything but a college town) -USF is not right in downtown, but about 15 minutes away via bus in a charming residential area near Golden Gate Park. We're a 15 minute bus ride away from anything (the Wharf, Downtown, the beach) so in a sense, we're in the heart of the City. Also, our size is ideal. I come from a small town where everyone knows everything about everybody, so USF is a happy medium between that and a school where I'm just a body in a lecture hall. There's always a handful of people I know coming in to class the first day of school, but at least half the class is new people to meet and get to know better. My least favorite things about the school are a) I can't tell you how many times I've had to correct someone for thinking I go to San Francisco State or University of South Florida and b) our general lack of school spirit. We all have a very big appreciation for our opportunity to study in this wonderful city and on this campus, but oftentimes I feel our passion for our City overshadows that for our school. San Franciscans have a lot of Pride for their City, which is amazing to see in the attendance at different city-wide festivals and events and there's always those moments where your out in the City and you just stop and think with just a mix of pride and disbelief, "I live here."

The best thing about this school is that it has an ROTC program which gives me a full ride scholarship (to include room and board). One thing I would change is the fact that we do not have a football team - fussy neighbors prevent this from happening.. I would consider the school to be too small because it is small enough where the professors will notice if you missed even one class - freedom from roll calls was something I looked forward to for college but I didn't get that here. The usual reaction people give me when I tell them I go to this school is "Oh, how is San Francisco State?"; they don't even know about this place. I spend most of my time either in the library or in the cafeteria when I am on campus. This is definitely not a college town considering there is not much school spirit without a football team and there is a residential area right in the middle of our "campus grounds". With that said, there is unfortunately not a lot of school pride. One unusual thing about this school are the numerous "haunted" sites we have around to include Hayes-Healy 9th floor and the Lone mountain bell tower - due to suicides at the locations. The most frequent student complaint is the cost of this university.

After four years of being at USF, I feel that it accepts an eclectic group of students into its University. I've made some interesting friendships with people I'd never expect through clubs such as Alpha Phi Omega & Hui O Hawaii. Academically, USF provides a pretty well-rounded core curriculum with emphasis on service learning and social justice. We're one of the only schools that offers Philippine Studies as a major and a minor. I do have my reservations on how the school spends its money though. It amazes me that they have all this money, time and effort to make a statue of two wolves in front of our library and place plasma TVs in study rooms, while the science majors have to sit in these really old laboratories that are ancient compared to other places on campus. & the cafeteria? Pretty snazzy looking. But don't be fooled. The quality of the food is just subpar & the prices are... ridiculous for off-campus starving college students like myself.

After four years of being at USF, I feel that it accepts an eclectic group of students into its University. I've made some interesting friendships with people I'd never expect through clubs such as Alpha Phi Omega & Hui O Hawaii. Academically, USF provides a pretty well-rounded core curriculum with emphasis on service learning and social justice. We're one of the only schools that offers Philippine Studies as a major and a minor. I do have my reservations on how the school spends its money though. It amazes me that they have all this money, time and effort to make a statue of two wolves in front of our library and place plasma TVs in study rooms, while the science majors have to sit in these really old laboratories that are ancient compared to other places on campus.

I think the best thing about USF is the size of the school. It is small but that is what is so great about it. It is so much easier to get to know people and professors. With smaller class sizes, you really get the opportunity to talk to your professors which makes it less likely that you will fall behind in your classes. I have loved coming to this school because of where it is located! It is right in the heart of SF and there is always something fun to do in the city. I think one thing I would like to change about this school is the school spirit on campus. Sports wise it seems that our teams don't have that much support from the students. It would be nice to see more students at games and cheering on the Dons.

I am enjoying my time here at the University of San Francisco. I am in the Nursing program, and it is a great experience and I feel good about where I am, preparing for my future career but having a blast in the City!!

When I had first been exposed to The University of San Francisco I noticed it was very clean and calm. It is a quite campus unlike other colleges and that is what I love about it. It is a calm oasis in the middle of the city. There is a good separation between work and leisure, which is what most people, may need- I know I do. I love that I was able to get right into my major courses. All of my classes taught me from the book and then took me into the city to see if come to life like my theology class on religions in Asia. Classes like that made me even more excited about what I was learning even though in previous years I was not as excited about it. My teachers are full of life and always willing to help. When I leave campus, I always come back with a story to tell. On campus, everyone knows each other and if you don’t know a particular person, you know them because of a mutual friend. While attending USF you end up finding yourself and learning a lot, not just in an academic sense. Here you learn about different cultures and religions then get the privilege and honor of meeting people from all over the world. You then are able to appreciate and understand them as a whole person without any barriers. Many people underestimate our school and may think there isn’t a lot going on just by driving by or looking at pictures but the city is our classroom and our event venue.

The University of San Francisco is an amazing place. I came all the way from Boston so I am 3,000 miles away from home. It is so important for me to love the school that I go to because I'm traveling so far. There is an unbelievable amount of diversity among the student body. You meet people from all walks of life and who have different ideas about every topic. One of the most important parts of USF to me is the class size. I have never had a class larger than 28 students and that was in a basic core class. My teachers know exactly who I am and what I do. They understand how I learn and what I'm interested in. I have all of their emails and some of their phone numbers so if I have a question, I never hesitate to ask. My teachers really push me to learn. I want to get grades not only because I want to learn but because I like my teachers so much that I don't want to disappoint them. And I would say the greatest part of the school is the location. We are in the middle of one of the best cities in the world. There is always something to do. You can never really be bored unless you try to be. At any time, I can hop on a MUNI bus and in about 20 minutes, get to anywhere I want. There's always awesome stuff going on in Golden Gate Park, like free concerts or events. And we're surrounded by some of the best restaurants in the country. You really can't go wrong with the location.