Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís. SCU has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1 percent of universities with the highest-paid graduates. SCU has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars as well as four Rhodes Scholars. Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university with more than 8,800 students. Founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus, California's oldest operating higher education institution offers a rigorous undergraduate curriculum in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus nationally recognized graduate and professional programs in business, law, engineering, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministries, and theology. The University boasts a diverse community of scholars offering a values-oriented curriculum characterized by small class sizes and a dedication to educating students for competence, conscience, and compassion. The traditions of Jesuit education—educating the whole person for a life of service—run deep in all of its curricular and co-curricular programs. Santa Clara is perennially ranked among the top national universities by U.S. News & World Report and has a national reputation for its undergraduate program that features a distinctive core curriculum, an integrated learning environment, and research opportunities for undergraduate students.