My daughter got admitted to Santa Clara University (SCU) for BS in Civil Engineering for Fall 2025. If any one has any feedback on the the Civil Engineering Department at SCU, Merit based Scholarships awarded (award criteria and what %) and the Career Prospects after Graduation will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
I believe my niece graduated in Civil from SCU a few years ago. She apparently really enjoyed the program. She was able to have a couple of internships that led to part time work during the school year after her Sophomore and Junior years and into permanent positions with some large construction firms. Her work is somewhat like project management. She stayed in the Bay Area. I believe her class was only 20 students and she received a lot of opportunities and attention. I don’t know much about specifics, but she did not receive a lot in scholarship, maybe something like $6000-7000 a year both from the school, awards, and from outside scholarships. I know SCU was a good program for her in her engineering field.
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Hi,
Thank you very much for your reply! Being a small school, and only 20 students in Civil, is really great compared to 400+ students in UC classes. That is awesome that your niece got the internships and finally few offers! The Tuition and Fees are close to $60K/year and without a scholarship its is pretty steep!
Thank you so much again!
For what it’s worth, if your daughter can work during the year, she can definitely chop off some of the costs. It is expensive, but you can definitely make it up with the very high ROI. I believe SCU is a top 30 college for ROI.here it is #12 in outcome.
Here’s a CC post on SCU and ROI:
ROI to me in engineering is kinda silly. Sure some program pay more and some pay less. But first of all the first job is like extended training. They are all taught what the company expects. The pay etc should be in range for their community. West Coast will pay more usually then the Midwest due to cost of living. So it’s silly to say my kid is making X and it’s so much more then Y is making. Sure your apartment is also $3,000/month vs $1,000.
I would take learning opportunites vs pay any day of the week. They are all making good money. But just like picking a college fit is important. Culture is important. Chance of advancement is important.
If there are chances of EDLP(Educational Leadership Development Programs) programs within the company I would highlight that over pay. It’s the companies commitment to the engineer of training, educations and advancement within the company. Not all companies have it but it’s a great way to see the fit etc of a company. Lots of times in these programs the scale pay is higher plus lots of nice perks like them paying the rent while in the program.
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As a structural engineer, I agree 100%. There’s actually kind of a reverse snobbery among engineers, at least in my field. MIT? No thanks. Those guys think they know everything right out of school. 
As a Dad of an engineer, I concur 
…
After graduating from Michigan he was prepared. No question but there is always thing’s to learn. Each company does things “their” way. I recently asked him if he felt he was prepared after college and honestly he was. It was more he wasn’t afraid to take on a project rather then I know everything right now. Every project is so different and now he manages several different one’s in different stages daily. But if your not learning your probably going to be disposed of anyway.
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They say all eng (not civil) is $82k but not how - base, plus bonus, plus sign on ??
What gives me pause is only 50% say they are prepared for life after school. The B School much higher.
I would contact the department and get specific outcomes -% placed, where, and how much. The data they provide is substandard.
I might also ask to speak to a student or two. Or ask them what that means - prepared for life after - and figure out why is it lower than other schools at the university.
I don’t know what it means but as a parent that metric would bug me and I’d want to learn more.
The “what they make” always bugged me also. What’s the package “. To me it’s Whats the base pay” anything else is what’s on top of it and for some companies it can be significant. I think colleges also look at base pay.
Colleges all calculate differently. I like when they note. Some include target bonus or sign on. Some median. Some mean.
Colleges should all have clear and descriptive info and most don’t. It’s bs given what they charge.
Or they’ll say 50 reported but only 20 provided salary. So they are likely inflated.
So if I’m a parent, for any school being considered, I’m asking for detailed info if not available.
You want some level of confidence. SCU business gives me some confidence. Engineering does not. It doesn’t mean I’d not let my student go but I would dig deeper.
It sounds like the consensus is that for engineers ROI is silly or not appreciated. However, I disagree in that it is one part of how students should analyze college selections where ever they decide to attend. I agree that this information must be taken with a grain of salt since it can be misleading or inaccurate, but it can be very valuable when taken as part of the whole. What I actually find to be also important is the percentage of students who default on their student loans. This can be a determining factor of either a student who just does not care to pay their loans or more likely a student who has not completed college or more importantly doesn’t have a job and is unemployed. Unfortunately, I know a fair share of unemployed engineers and STEM majors.
But of course there’s much more to college than ROI, or even future employment which is unpredictable and speculative. I whole heartedly believe in a college that does best fit the student (whatever that may mean), whether it be affordability, the type of college program (direct admit, strength of program), location, weather, and/or student environment, etc.
Finally, recognize that the OPs question was career prospect and overall opinion of the Civil Engineering program. Considering all that we read and see in the news, I can understand why this is an important question for a parent and one that can be very concerning. It was for me as a parent of a recent college grad and a parent of a current college student. And sometimes certain information can be helpful to calm oneself down to realize, after doing due diligence, that things can and most likely will turn out ok.
They also offer this career page. It’s alarmingly poor.
They are AVOIDING data by major and offering of specifics. By saying here’s a few graduate names is really hiding something.
They are not alone but that is a red flag to me. Please please please demand specific outcome data from the department.
Unfortunately, it seems that most colleges and universities would be waving your red flags in terms of giving post graduation survey results by major.
Even College Scorecard is missing many majors at smaller colleges due to small size. When there are only a few graduates in the major, the colleges and College Scorecard may not want to reveal results because the individual graduates may be easily identified.
However, College Scorecard does have enough federal financial aid receiving graduates in civil engineering at SCU: Field of Study Profile | College Scorecard . Median early career earnings listed is $111,831.
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