Top Ranked Programs
Santa Clara University's program mix is anchored in business and technology-oriented fields — a signature well suited to its location in Silicon Valley and its identity as a Jesuit research university with strong industry ties. Business forms the core of the institution's degree output, complemented by meaningful concentrations in Social Sciences (13% of graduates) and Engineering (12% of graduates). Across 36 programs serving roughly 1,570 students annually, 15 meet Azimuth's ranking threshold — a focused portfolio that concentrates outcomes rather than spreading them thin. The strongest program by aggregate return is Finance, which combines meaningful cohort scale with competitive four-year earnings, making it a key economic driver for Santa Clara University graduates. Among the most popular programs, Finance program graduates 160 students annually with median earnings of $118,737 four years after enrollment, and Azimuth ranks it #12 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Communication and Media Studies and Psychology, General round out the high-enrollment tier, each delivering solid early-career pay that reflects the institution's proximity to one of the country's most active technology and finance labor markets. For the highest-earning programs, Computer Engineering leads with median earnings of $163,765 four years after enrollment — Azimuth ranks it #6 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Mathematics and Computer Science and Accounting follow closely, both in fields where graduates enter the workforce directly and earnings reflect national labor-market demand rather than graduate-school deferral. Several programs at Santa Clara University are high-mobility, direct-to-workforce pathways — particularly in engineering, computer science, and finance — where four-year earnings capture the bulk of the career trajectory. Others, including programs in the social sciences and psychology, tend toward graduate-school-dependent paths where early earnings undercount long-run outcomes. The [supply and demand for college graduates](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/) provides useful context for how Santa Clara University's dominant program families align with national labor-market demand, and the [how Azimuth evaluates programs](/analysis/college-program-rankings-how-to-actually-evaluate-programs/) methodology explains how rankings weight cohort scale alongside earnings.