Alumni Network Receives Top Marks
By Robert Wear
Santa Clara has been named as one of the top 50 schools in the nation, and it's supposed to keep rising in the charts, at least according to a new college ranking service called the Alumni Factor.
The new organization based this rank on 15 attributes that assessed the status of Santa Clara alumni, including intellectual development, immediate job opportunities, overall happiness of the graduate, social and communication skill development, and whether or not the graduate would choose the same school again.
The Alumni Factor is a new player in the always-competitive game of college guides. The independent organization is the first to offer a perspective from those who have already earned their bachelor's degree, shining light on the outcome these universities produce.
With a 93 percent freshman retention rate and 87 percent graduation rate, Santa Clara landed 43rd among 177 of the top schools listed by the Alumni Factor, and third among the nation's 28 Jesuit universities. The alumni who participated in the survey reported high employment, increasing diversity and financial success among the many reasons they are proud to be a Bronco.
"Today's students and parents are asking more questions about outcomes, about the success and salaries of an institution's graduates," said Eric Hoover from The Chronicle of Higher Education..
Their website explains that they focus on "the customer," or the graduate because they "believe graduates are the most authoritative source of this information."
Abram Dawson, class of 2012 and an economics major and international business minor, recently landed a job at a tech startup investment firm in San Francisco. What helped him most in getting this job was the fact that Santa Clara provided many opportunities to make connections.
"The CIE (Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) helped considerably," Dawson said.
"It opened doors for me and introduced me to a whole network. Without its help, I would have found it significantly harder to find a job this quickly."
Adam Ringler, also from the class of 2012, graduated with a bachelor's degree in English. He recently found a job with a quickly growing startup company in San Francisco, an app called Hotel Tonight.
"(Santa Clara) is a place that fosters innovation and creative thinking in all areas of study," said Ringler."You leave Santa Clara knowing you have something valuable to contribute to the world."
The Alumni Factor has given the college search process a new level of information it has never had before. By providing a direct insight, this new guide gives a fresh look at what a college or university actually offers to a student.
Santa Clara is well on its way to reaching the top of that list, and with the success of countless alumni, it's not hard to see why.
Contact Robert Wear at rwear@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4948.