University of San Diego

The University of San Diego is a private Catholic university in San Diego, California, chartered in 1949. It grew from a College for Women opened in 1952 by the Society of the Sacred Heart and a College for Men opened in 1954 by the Diocese of San Diego, merged in 1972. Alcalá Park is a hilltop campus of Spanish Renaissance buildings above Mission Bay; the university is a Catholic teaching institution with professional schools rather than a public land-grant campus.

Work is divided among the College of Arts and Sciences and schools of business, law, leadership and education sciences, nursing, engineering, and peace studies. Graduate students concentrate in the Knauss School of Business, the School of Law, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, and the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. Engineering, education, and nursing house professional doctorates beside master's programs and the J.D.

About 9,000 students enroll, with roughly two-fifths in graduate and professional programs. International students are a modest share, from several dozen countries. Faculty number in the hundreds. Alumni cluster in California law, business, and nonprofit work; named graduates include former U.S. Representative Susan A. Davis.

Graduate study centers on professional master's degrees, the J.D., and a limited set of doctorates in education and nursing practice. Law, business, and nursing use coursework and clinics; peace studies mixes seminars with field placements. The calendar is a fall-spring semester. Funding is mostly scholarships and professional-school aid. Students live on or near Alcalá Park, with downtown San Diego nearby.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, University of San Diego lists 35 graduate programs across 16 subjects: 28 master's programs and 2 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in law, business & management and health & medical sciences.